In a society obsessed with staying young, how can we age with confidence?

Today, we are living longer lives, and have choices now as never before about how we will age.

What will make us happy?

What are we frightened of, and what might allay those fears?

What changes, made right now, will help us to flourish as we age?

This book contains lessons Lucy Pollock has learned from thirty years of working with older people and those close to them. It looks at problems that can be fixed with tests and tablets, and problems that require a different sort of medicine. Lucy explains what she has been taught about loss, about impossible families, about becoming older without children, and the important things she has learned about sexuality, race, love and living with uncertainty.

The Golden Rule sets out guiding principles we can all try to live by, in the hope that together we can bring about positive change, and all benefit from a kinder, more compassionate society.

Here is how we may meet our futures with optimism and confidence.

The honest, compassionate and vital guide to getting older, from dementia to finances, medication to care homes 'The most important book about the second half of your life you'll ever read. I wish everyone in the UK could be under Dr Lucy's care' SANDI TOKSVIG 'This warm and compassionate book gets to the heart of older age' THE BRITISH GERIATRICS SOCIETY ________ Now more than ever, we need to talk about getting older. Many of us are living to a very great age. But how do we give those we love, and eventually ourselves, long lives that are as happy and healthy as possible? Dr Lucy's book gives us answers to the questions we can voice - and those that we can't. This essential guide will guide you through those important conversations around growing older, answering every question you might have, including: * How do we start the conversation? * How do we ask whether it's worth taking seven different medicines? * Is it normal to find you're falling out of love with someone, as they disappear into dementia? * Should Dad be driving, and if not, who can stop him? * What are the secrets of the best care homes? * When does fierce independence become bad behaviour? * How do you navigate near-impossible discussions around resuscitation and intensity of treatments? * And who decides what happens when we become ill? Serious, funny, kind and knowledgeable, this readable book helps guide us through essential conversations about getting older that go straight to the heart of what matters most.