Living the Could Life

Life becomes different for those who experience later-in-life challenges. Living The Could LIfe offers tips adjusting your life so that you can still travel and do all the things that you love. No toxic positivity here, just lived experiences from hosts and guests.

Latest Episodes:

Could Has Two Meanings Mar 17, 2026

Show notes

The active could helps us travel with body changes

Living the Could Life focuses on the meanings of "could". One is polite or passive while the other "could"results in action. Learning to travel with a compromised or changed body takes some adjustments, but with small steps, there is still the possibility of being able to travel in an acceptable manner. Traveling with body changes will become the new norm.

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Transcript

Click Here for Transcript one selected Robert: Welcome to Living the Could Life. Today we are discussing the two definitions of could and how it applies to adaptation. I'm Robert. Theresa: And I'm Theresa. In linguistics and behavioral psychology, there's a well-documented distinction between the two ways could is used. It essentially comes down to modal strength, which we will call possibility, and the direction of the focus, which we will call agency. This takes me back to many years ago when I studied linguistics and actually Robert and I were in the same class. Robert also continued on with linguistics. Robert: Yes, I did. I actually minored in linguistics with a specialty in algebraic linguistics. But back to the topic at hand. There's a moment in every reinvention when you realize you're not trying to go back anymore. You're trying to go forward. And that shift doesn't happen all at once. It happens in small, meaningful increments. Theresa: Today we're talking about how all those pieces come together. Through the way our brains store meaning, through the way we adapt over time, and through the power of one small word, could. Robert: We're bringing in some ideas that help explain why could works so well. That's the fuzzy trace theory. How we remember the meaning of things, not the details. We'll get to that a little bit later. Theresa: Okay, so we are now going to discuss the two different coulds. And we'll be talking a lot about the two different versions of could. There's the polite, hesitant could. The one that avoids commitment. And then there's the possibility could. The one that opens a door. Robert: The possibility could is the one that helps us rebuild after life changes. It's the one that says, I could try this, instead of I should be able to do this. Research, particularly in the fields of neurolinguistics and cognitive psychology, categorizes these coulds as follows. First, the possibility could. The suggestion. It highlights that an option exists in the external world, but doesn't necessarily link it to the person's internal drive. The research on linguistic hedging shows that this type of could creates a mental safety net, because it implies something might not happen as much as it might. The brain processes it as a hypothetical or a gist. The effect is excellent f

About Living the Could Life Mar 10, 2026

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About this Episode:

This episode introduces who we are, why we created Living the Could Life, and why we are here. If you’ve suddenly found that your body's performance doesn't sync with your mental attitude, you have come to the right place. Navigating disability, chronic illness, aging, or any kind of life change was not in your plans? Join us.

This is basically an introduction to us and what we hope to share in upcoming episodes.

Transcript

Click Here for Transcript Theresa: Welcome to the very first episode of Living the Could Life. I'm Theresa. If you're here, you're probably someone who's had to adapt your life several times, maybe by choice, maybe not, or maybe you're still figuring out what the next chapter looks like.Either way, you are in the right place. Robert: And I'm Robert, your co-host, the guy who scopes out the area, takes photos of inaccessible places, and who's trying hard to earn his seeing-eye guy vest. Yep, you sure are. Theresa: You should have your vest really soon. You're getting really good at this. The show isn't about pretending everything is fine, easy, or trivial. It's all about adaptation. It's about the difference between what travel should look like, no pun intended, and what it could look like now. Don't expect any toxic positivity from us. We are here to support each other, be realistic, and share ideas. And since this is our first full episode, we want to start with the heart of the brand, where this idea came from, what it means, and why we're choosing to tell these stories now. By the way, we should tell you a bit more about ourselves. I'm Theresa, a travel writer who, in later life, suffered NAION, also known as Non-Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optical Neuropathy. Basically, it's a stroke of the eye, and I started with that happening in my right eye. But did you know you can still be fairly independent with one well-functioning eye? It took a bit of adaptation, but I did okay for several years, until one day, the vision in the other eye rebelled. Maybe it thought it was being overworked. There was just a 20% chance of the same thing happening in my good eye, the left eye, and I never expected it to happen twice. I had no pre-existing condition that made me a candidate for it in the first place. But that second eye has a blurred tiny crescent moon area. So now, what was my good eye is now my bad eye, and vice versa. I didn't see that coming. Although I lost my independence, my ability to drive, and the ability to do many things that I took for granted, my condition is considered an impairment rather than a disability. Not sure who decides on that classification. It's obviously somebody without this impairment. Robert: I'm Robert, a former high school math teacher, now enrolled in the Seeing Eye Guy certification program. I even have a business card for proof of that. I never expected to be a caregiver so soon after my early retirement due to how COVID had changed teaching. We both enjoy travel, and now I have suddenly started noticing things that I never really paid attention to before. Like finding escalators and elevators, looking for trip hazards, and such. Theresa: Likewise. The idea of this podcast started spinning in our

Trailer Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

We are in the process of producing Living the Could Life, a podcast for travelers whose wanderlust doesn't let disabilities get in the way. Keep your eyes posted for our official launch date.