S6-EP7: Kirsten Powers on Changing the Channel From CNN Political Analyst to Easeful Living and Writing

This is Season 6 of my [B]OLD AGE podcast. Thank you for listening! I interview authors, experts, and exceptional individuals to reveal the truths about [b]oldly moving from midlife to old age. You can find over 100 previous episodes on Apple podcasts or on my website. - Debbie

Don’t miss the essay accompanying this episode:

Behind the Scenes with Kirsten Powers

Show Notes

Debbie talks with

Kirsten Powers

, a New York Times bestselling author, a liberal columnist and, most recently, an on-air political analyst with CNN. In 2023, after almost two decades, she left what she calls the “media circus” to pursue a different life as a writer and a life coach. Kirsten, who is 56, is [b]old by any definition.

Prior to CNN she was at Fox (as a liberal voice) and before that she was a columnist for USA Today, The Daily Beast, American Prospect Online, and the New York Post. Her recent bestselling book is Saving Grace: Speak Your Truth, Stay Centered, and Learn to Coexist with People Who Drive You Nuts.

Currently Kirsten writes a very popular newsletter on Substack, called, appropriately, "Changing the Channel." It's about living authentically, unlearning societal conditioning, and how to actually change your life. She published an essay recently about her plan to move to Italy with her husband because, as she put it, the U.S. is unlivable, with school shootings, the frenetic pace of life and because it’s too expensive. Somehow we are societally conditioned to accept this, as if it’s normal. But it’s not, Kirsten emphasizes. The post went viral, hitting a nerve with her many readers. Now she’s working on a book proposal. 

Since leaving her on-air job, Kirsten has been deliberately pursuing what she calls a "more easeful life" that is less striving and less accomplishment-oriented. It includes writing on Substack, which she loves. In this episode she also talks about her transition from evangelical christian to atheist.

 Kirsten is fast thinking and provocative and Debbie loved this conversation with her. 

Mentioned in this episode or useful:

• Kirsten Powers - Wikipedia

• kirstenpowers.com

• Changing the Channel : Kirsten’s Substack newsletter

• The way we live in the United States is not normal: Kirsten’s viral Substack post about moving to Italy  (Nov. 29, 2023)

• Saving Grace: Speak Your Truth, Stay Centered, and Learn to Coexist with People Who Drive You Nuts by Kirsten Powers (Convergent Books; Nov. 2021)

• Kirsten Powers: A liberal working for Fox News (Washington Post, June 17, 2015)

• What are the Nine Enneagram Types?

• CP Enneagram where Kirsten is studying for an Enneagram certificate.

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)

• Jonathan Merritt on Personal Transformation and the Complicated Intersection of Faith and Culture:  Season 5, Episode 19 of the podcast.

• Behind the Scenes with Jonathan Merritt  by Debbie Weil (Substack, July 7, 2023)

• My Complicated Feelings About Tim Keller by Kirsten Powers (Substack, May 24, 2023)

• MEA: the midlife wisdom school  in Baja, MX and Sante Fe, NM where Debbie and Kirsten met.

Our Media Partners:

• CoGenerate (formerly Encore.org)

• MEA and with thanks to Chip Conley

• Next For Me (former media partner and in memory of Jeff Tidwell)

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Credits:

• Host: Debbie Weil

• Producer: Far Out Media

• Music: Lakeside Path by Duck Lake