Getting Old Quickly

In Episode 110, Billy Donnelly tries to process his emotions stemming from yet another mass shooting - this time at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 kids and 2 teachers dead - and asks what, as a society, are we doing to allow these things to continue happening. 

In Episode 109, Billy Donnelly talks about a recent experience of pushing himself past some limits - in order to go to brunch - and how it didn't end particularly well for him. With a not-great day of ulcerative colitis hitting, he ignored a bunch of the warning signs, in order for his chronic condition to not be the center of attention, to not feel as if he was disappointing others by not going and also to not miss out on the good time. As a result, he learned the hard way that those things have to be less of a concern for him and consideration for his own health needs to be top priority. He discusses the pressure he put on himself to try to be "normal," and why some sacrifices - including brunch - will just have to become the new "normal" moving forward. 

In Episode 108, Billy Donnelly dives into his religious/spiritual journey over the years, starting with his upbringing before turning into some more formative institutional experiences and ultimately settling into his current belief system. He recalls memories with the sacrament of penance and the red-blooded prayerkerchief, his learning from the Jesuits and his exposure to the weaponizing of religious beliefs as he charts a path through his life dealing with faith. In addition, he has a COVID health update and has some thoughts on the tragedy in Buffalo as it pertains to guns and how we talk about race in America. 

In Episode 107, Billy Donnelly talks about COVID finally getting to him after all this time. He details his experience with symptoms and his overall health throughout the week, reveals where he let his guard down to probably contract it and stresses why people should still continue to take precautions as best as possible. From there, he has some things to say about the latest news from the Supreme Court and the inevitable overturning of Roe v. Wade. He lets the fury fly, as he tells the brutal truth about the "pro-life" movement and what they're really after, and expresses his rage at how badly we have let generations of women down by taking away their bodily autonomy. He lays out his concerns about where things are headed and why it's now-or-never in fighting for many of these rights. 

In Episode 106, Billy Donnelly decides to switch up the focus of this week's show after learning some pretty tragic news concerning the death of a family friend. With that, he explains what he initially was planning on talking about and why it shifted due to what's truly important to him suddenly being put into perspective. He also discusses May being Mental Health Awareness Month and what he hopes comes from that distinction as opposed to being just another one of those awareness months that people only care about in the moment and then quickly forget about soon after. 

In Episode 105, Billy Donnelly really contemplates the idea of a mid-life crisis when it's reframed as grieving the loss of the life one had envisioned. With that, he looks through the five stages of the grieving process - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance - and can easily track his progress over a lengthy stretch of time to know where he's stuck and why it's so difficult for him to move onto the next and final step. However, with this new perspective on being unhappy with where his life may be at in certain aspects, it may actually be helping him move much closer to the end of his grief than originally thought. 

In Episode 104, which marks the two-year anniversary of the show, Billy Donnelly reflects on the journey of Getting Old Quickly. He discusses the podcast's beginnings and the uncertainty of how long he'd even want to do it, and the surprise he's gotten over time that he's still doing it to this day. He reveals how he recently thought about bringing the show to a close and discusses what re-energized him to keep going for as long as he sees fit. He offers up his thanks and gratitude to those who have supported the show along the way and made it possible for him to want to keep doing it, and he celebrates a milestone for him in having committed to doing something that he enjoys for this stretch of time and beyond. 

In Episode 103, Billy Donnelly takes a look at how his life isn't exactly what or where he expected it to be, and explains a bit about the mid-life crisis that he finds himself in as a result. He discusses the facets of his life that he's good with, but also elaborates further on those he still hasn't figured out and the strain that comes with that uncertainty. He talks about the dangers of expectations and how that can lead to disappointment, but also puts into perspective the fact that life is not a smooth line from beginning to end and, with that, things don't always go according to plan. 

In Episode 102, Billy Donnelly centers a lot of his discussion around WrestleMania. First, with the event having just passed, he talks about his history attending the popular wrestling event and how having chosen not to go this year made him realize just how much he missed be around the entire atmosphere of it. However, he also opens up about the downside of going to such experiences, namely struggling to meet up with friends and people he knows in the hopes of building further connection with them. He explores feeling like both the catalyst for trying to make these interactions happen but also the afterthought when they don't or when he is the only one putting forth all the energy and effort, which just further leads to feelings of rejection. He talks about his need for emotional connection and not being able to find it even among a community with similar interests, which is where he's been told is a good place to try to make new friends. He elaborates on the problems of social media in building friendships, particularly how it may connect us with more people but leaves us more isolated because all of our interactions occur over a screen. He talks about wanting to move from more "friends"/"followers" to real-life friends. He then ponders the various ways one could go about trying to make new friends, all of which sound like bad ideas when it comes to implementing them in-person, and he wonders deeply what the answers or solutions might be in order to feel less lonely. 

In Episode 101, Billy Donnelly discusses the importance of speaking up with your feelings. He talks about some of the impediments one might throw up in order to keep things to themselves - be it fear of judgment or mockery or not wanting to cause a problem or confrontation. However, he dives into where the benefit rests, and why you being open about how certain words, actions and/or behavior make you feel is really the only way for you to create opportunities for potential change. He reveals a recent example where he felt it was imperative to speak up about what he was feeling, and, in doing so, he felt heard and also understood, given that those feelings were reciprocated by the other party. He jumps into how freeing it can be to really speak from the heart about your emotions, as it can also allow you a whole range of options as to how to proceed once they're out there.