About Our Third Act - Facing Life: Mind, Meaning and Society - Andy Calitz
Our Third Act — Facing Life: Mind, Meaning and Society is a podcast for the later chapters of adulthood—when time feels more real, relationships matter more, and the big questions stop being theoretical. Each episode takes one human theme—family, purpose, memory, hope, creativity, loss, dignity—and turns it into a steadier way of seeing. This isn’t medical advice, financial advice, or life hacks. It’s calm, plain-language reflection that helps you name what’s happening, hold complexity without panic, and choose your next step with more honesty.
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.
15 May 2026
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.
8 May 2026
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.
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