In a few months something dramatic will happen. I will turn 50. More than half of my time will probably be behind me. We, the Golf generation, belong to the old-timers. I now wear progressive lenses, my sciatic nerve hurts. In cafés where young guests are addressed informally, the waitress addresses me formally. In the company I suddenly belong to the older ones. How will the younger people view me? And how can I avoid becoming a “back-in-my-day, everything was better” know-it-all? How can I become a cool older person who sees the modern world as enriching, who is curious and open?
(Alexander Kühn in his book “Älterwerden für Anfänger”)
Alexander Kühn is a Spiegel journalist—and highly experienced at coaxing secrets about aging from his high-profile interview partners. Until his 50th birthday draws near and it becomes obvious that aging does not spare him either. He realizes that he’s unprepared for it. “The nasty thing about aging is that it arrives stealthily. It sneaks in like a burglar on ‘Aktenzeichen XY ungelöst,’ only that this culprit doesn’t flee when you catch him, but settles in and stays.”
Conversations with celebrities, relatives, and strangers
So, how does one manage good, cheerful, relaxed aging? In his book “Älterwerden für Anfänger” the journalist asks questions of friends, relatives, and prominent interlocutors. He finds answers without slipping into a “back in the day” mode. Because that is his real goal: aging without becoming embarrassing.
“Sorry, you’re turning 50” — that’s how the official diagnosis feels to him, that more than half of his time is probably behind him. Not being able to do anything about it offends him. In “Älterwerden für Anfänger: What I Want to Learn from Nana Mouskouri, Thomas Gottschalk and My Mother — and What I’d Rather Not” (Amazon affiliate link) Alexander Kühn talks about the year when he turned 50—and how he managed to make his peace with aging. For this, he did what journalists do: he talked to interesting people, famous and lesser-known, older, older and very old, including billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne and Otto Waalkes, Barbara Schöneberger and Nana Mouskouri, Thomas Gottschalk and YouTuber Rezo, a secretary, a trans woman, a master baker, and his mother. From some he wanted to learn something, from others perhaps not. And he ponders his life as a whole: how he became the person he is, what he still hopes to achieve—and what not.
Alexander Kühn, born in 1975, has worked as an editor at taz and Stern, and has been with Der Spiegel since 2010. In his profiles and conversations he approaches showbiz stars, business leaders, and patriarchs—and learns, among other things, how one can grow older without becoming embarrassing. For a research project on former Bild editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt, he was part of a Spiegel team that was awarded the prestigious Stern Prize in 2022. (dd/pm)
