Nancy L McCourt

Nancy L. McCourt practices living in Big Sky Country. Human stories and the natural world intrigue her mind and spirit, sometimes inspiring creative forces. Aging and dying are on her front burner:

“Our cultural focus on denial of age and the value placed on maintaining the most youthful appearance, the insistence that medical professionals prevent, fix, and reverse aging is not suitable or comfortable for me.

I’ve no goals related to joining the centenarian club. I think about “do not resuscitate,” “physician aid in dying,” choosing quality over quantity—relative to aging and my changing needs. I wonder how considering benefits to community might impact personal decisions as we age.

What are the implications of our Eldering choices on climate, housing, health care costs, social norms, and expectations? What power and possibility might be discovered in challenging the American cultural norms that render aging invisible?”

“Winter’s Solstice reminds me that I’m in my own Winter, my final season. At age 64, math is undeniable. As a person who has always wanted to be older, I couldn’t be more thrilled... I am Older. So now what?

Here the Sunflower offers alternative ideas of aging, embracing the developmental stage that is our last before we go into even bigger mystery. Here I examine My Soul’s resume to justify my use of time and space and to offer up for whatever comes next.

This is not about dressing in purple or running a mountain marathon, this is about valuing and loving the miles I’ve put on this vehicle I call myself—body, mind, spirit. This is about looking at Nature’s examples of birth, life, aging, death, and building my own roadmap therein.


https://www.instagram.com/nancitamcsnort/