Our Third Act - Facing Life: Mind, Meaning and Society - Andy Calitz

Episode 19 - Why travel matters more in our Third Act

Andy reflects from Tirana, Albania, while approaching his hundredth country visited. Drawing on Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel, he explores why travel becomes especially meaningful later in life. Travel sharpens attention, deepens observation, challenges fantasy, and creates space for reflection and conversation. From cycling trips and solitary flights to Rome, Jerusalem, Tibet, and the Camino, Andy argues that travel in our Third Act becomes less about conquest and more about curiosity, perspective, gratitude, and understanding ourselves within a connected human story.

Episode 18 - In whose eyes do you live?

Andy reflects on Milan Kundera’s idea that “we all need someone to look at us.” Beginning with a conversation about the Slavic word Soběslav — glory for oneself — he explores humanity’s deep need for recognition, admiration, and visibility. Why do we seek applause, titles, followers, fame, or status? How does recognition drive ambition, achievement, and even human progress? And when does healthy ambition become vanity or self-obsession? Moving from childhood to social media to ageing, Andy argues that recognition matters — but ultimately what matters most is not who is watching, but what we actually contribute.

Episode 17 - I did not choose to be born

Andy reflects on a deeply unsettling fact: none of us chose to be born. From this starting point, he explores existence, parenthood, responsibility, suffering, gratitude, and what he calls the “gratitude paradox” — being expected to feel grateful for a life created through decisions made by others. The episode considers how parents shape children without owning them, and how meaning emerges after birth rather than before it. He argues that life remains profoundly interesting despite mortality, uncertainty, and suffering — and that conscious participation in existence may itself become a meaningful response to being alive.

Episode 16 - Living with the fractures in my familly

Family fractures are common, yet they remain one of the most painful and confusing parts of human life. In this episode, Andy reflects on the tensions that can arise between siblings, parents, and children as families spread across countries, cultures, and generations. Drawing from personal experience, he explores why misunderstandings accumulate, why memories differ, and why the desire to be “right” can trap families in long-running conflicts. The episode considers forgiveness, boundaries, pride, and the ethical question of what we owe one another simply because we share blood or history. Ultimately, it asks how a person can live with family fractures while remaining realistic, maintaining dignity, and refusing to let bitterness define the larger story of love.

Episode 15 - Retiring from work, not from life

Drawing on a moment from his thirties in Madrid, Andy reflects on a question that returns later in life: if work ends, what does it mean to keep living fully? Retirement often removes the structure that shaped our days, our sense of contribution, and our identity. But life itself does not retire. Andy explores a broader view of purpose — serving society, improving nature, and building human capability — and twelve areas in which a life can continue to grow. The real challenge of the third act is not stepping back from work, but choosing whether we continue to contribute, learn, care, and develop. Retirement may end a career, but it need not end the unfolding of a meaningful life