A survey from her high school, asking for alum feedback about giving a Lifetime Achievement Award to a person who graduated before 1970, inspired this episode, as Dr. McCoy wonders what kind of life, what kind of achievements, might merit such an award.
She wonders whether it makes any sense at all to value one life over another, especially for women. From the 1950's phenomenon "Queen for a Day" when the woman with the worst, most miserable life would win home appliances and a nice dinner to media fueled "Mommy Wars", women have suffered a great deal being compared with another. This episode explores the value of a variety of lives and what matters most.
Dr. McCoy discusses realities of relationships that involve physical and/or emotional or verbal abuse. The first truth is that no one likes being abused. But the challenges are many: how to recognize abuse when it happens, why the emotional impact of abuse can crush a person's spirit and make it harder to leave, and ways that friends and family can hurt or help the victim. She discusses how to support loved ones who are facing abuse in ways that are truly helpful to them.
There are some mistakes people make in preparing for retirement that can lead to disappointment, even disaster, in retirement. In this episode, Dr. McCoy discusses five of these: acting on impulse, acting on assuptions,retiring without a plan,failing to resolve lifestyle differences with your spouse,and running away instead of running to something. She talks about how to avoid these pitfalls in order to build a happy, satisfying retirement lifestyle together.
While some major marital problems like infidelity, abuse or financial disasters due to gambling can lead to marital distress and perhaps to divorce court, little cruelties can also add up to marital estrangement.
In this episode, Dr. McCoy, speaking from her perspective as a marriage and family therapist, talks about little cruelties and betrayals, like belittling, blaming, the silent treatment, diminishing a spouse's achievements or making him or her the butt of jokes, can erode love. She makes suggestions for couples who have fallen into the habit of little cruelties in order to improve their relationship and long-term prospects for a happy life together.
Are you afflicted with FIPS or Formerly Important Person Syndrome? In this episode, Dr. McCoy discusses how to overcome deep feelings of loss over a stalled career, an empty nest or a working life left behind, either through job loss or retirement. She talks about how you can build a lifelong identity that is not dependent on a career or a life role and that endures when all else changes.