A personal guide to the transformations, hard truths, profound pleasures, and infinite possibilities of aging

One May morning shortly before her seventy-fifth birthday, Andrea Gilats awoke to a startling, sudden spike in consciousness that she was about to leap from older to old. Radical Endurance is the story of the reckoning that followed, a candid, clear-eyed journey of discovery through the pitfalls and possibilities of aging. Facing the realities of her age, Gilats explores her fears of failing health and loss of independence while navigating the terrain of an ageist culture. But among such troubling uncertainties, she also encounters the singular pleasures of “growing up again,” of finding fresh and unexpected ways of understanding herself and making meaning during this new era of her life.

Reflecting on moments in midlife, from the painful adjustments of widowhood to life-altering medical diagnoses, Gilats arrives at a valuable insight: the journey toward old age begins sooner and lasts longer than we might imagine. Yet from any moment in this process, old age is the future, brimming with potential. In her account, Gilats combines personal and professional experience, offering firsthand knowledge of a stage of life that we each meet in our own time, in our own way. She also contributes the learning and wisdom of her heroes and mentors, including feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich, poet May Sarton, singer and activist Joan Baez, psychiatrist Gene Cohen, archaeologist Arthur C. Parker, physician Jane Hodgson, and Nobel literature laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Enlightening and deeply moving, alive to the sadness and joy of time passing, Radical Endurance is a guide and a companion through the experience of growing old as well as an unconventional coming-of-age story, celebrating a new stage of life when we need it most.

Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.

Andrea Gilats is a writer, educator, artist, and former yoga teacher. She is author of After Effects: A Memoir of Complicated Grief, which received a Foreword INDIES honorable mention and is also published by the University of Minnesota Press, and Restoring Flexibility: A Gentle Yoga-Based Practice to Increase Mobility at Any Age. The cofounder and longtime director of the University of Minnesota’s popular Split Rock Arts Program, Gilats also created and directed two University of Minnesota lifelong learning programs for older adults, LearningLife and Encore Transitions: Preparing for Post-Career Life.

"Andrea Gilats insightfully chronicles a journey to and through old age that is both deeply personal and universal. It is a biography of roads taken and forgone, of growth and self-actualization despite the agism infusing our society. Radical Endurance depicts old age as embodying uncertain futures, to be sure, but also unfettered freedom."—Phyllis Moen, McKnight Presidential Chair, University of Minnesota; author of Encore Adulthood: Boomers on the Edge of Risk, Renewal, Purpose

"Old age is a time to turn the page and to step courageously onto a new path of purposeful aging. It’s a time to grow up a second time and to commit to actively growing and giving for life. The pro-aging mindset that Andrea models and offers in Radical Endurance will add life to your years."—Richard Leider, international bestselling author of The Power of Purpose, Repacking Your Bags, Life Reimagined, and Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old?

"In this engaging book, lifelong educator Andrea Gilats personalizes her journey of aging, inspiring us to deepen our understanding of our own unique journeys, especially in a society that typically treats age as a hindrance. Most importantly, Radical Endurance empowers and compels us to actively continue the process of creating our own authentic selves."—Mary Nichols, dean emerita, College of Continuing and Professional Studies, University of Minnesota; leader of innovative lifelong learning programs

"Radical Endurance is one of those books that I didn’t want to put down. Every page offered a new insight and personal gift that I felt in my heart and mind. Andrea Gilats shares both her vulnerability and hope for aging through beautiful stories and reflections in a way that is relatable and heartfelt. A must-read for anyone who is aging (which is all of us)."—Tracey Gendron, director, Virginia Center on Aging, Virginia Commonwealth University; author of Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Age Bias and How to End It