The Joy Document: Creating a Midlife of Surprise and Delight
Jennifer McGaha
Nov 2024 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Dina Pearlman
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6 hr 17 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
When Jennifer McGaha's grandmother was in her late eighties, Jennifer asked her what her favorite age so far had been. "Fifty-five," her grandmother answered, as though there were something magical about this stage of life. So, in her own fifty-fifth year, Jennifer began to take note. She jotted down her impressions of simple, everyday things that struck her as beautiful or humorous or intriguing and kept a list of all the accomplishments, large and small, that actually mattered to her. These observations became Jennifer's Joy Document, a radical act of reclaiming joy and an exercise in paying attention. When you are determined to find joy, almost anything can become revelatory-an Earth Day Whole Foods errand, Claire Saffitz's fruitcake recipe, a harrowing ride in Twinkly Taxi, an evening picnic at Dvorák's Symphony No. 8, or cartwheels in the driveway. While many of us at midlife have found all the things we've strived for (the career, the better life, the organization tools), those things only go so far. And the search for something greater, something truer, begins. Life after fifty becomes not the end or even the middle of life, but a new beginning, another grand adventure with endless opportunities to find joy. The Joy Document includes fifty rollicking and often humorous essays exploring the art of joy and inspiring the rest of us to do the same.
About the author
A native of Appalachia, Jennifer McGaha lives with her husband and a menagerie of dogs, goats, chickens, and cats in the North Carolina mountains. Her work has appeared in many literary journals and magazines, including the Huffington Post, the Good Men Project, Lumina, PANK, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Dina Pearlman was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, and went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University. Based in New York City, she is an actress, stand-up comic, and the Audie Award-nominated narrator of over 300 audiobooks.
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