Why Women Over 60 Need to Get Nosy Again
Your nosiness might just be the best anti-aging secret you’re not using.
Why Women Over 60 Need to Get Nosy Again
Part 1 – The Starter Pistol
When was the last time you asked a question that had nothing to do with your to-do list?
Here’s the surprising truth: curiosity isn’t just a personality quirk — it can literally rewire your brain, sharpen your memory, and keep you feeling younger than your driver’s license says.
And most women over 60 were raised to do the exact opposite.
I learned that the day a single nosy question in my high-rise lobby turned into a spontaneous conversation, a $50 gift, and a reminder that curiosity opens doors you didn’t even know were there.
Recently, mine was… beef. Not just any beef. Wagyu beef — the kind whispered about in posh circles like it’s a secret handshake.
I’d never heard of it until a neighbor casually mentioned he owned a Wagyu cattle ranch just outside town. And when I say “neighbor,” I mean someone I share a lobby with. I could’ve nodded politely and gone on my way.
But instead, I thought, Well, I wanna know more about Wagyu beef.
So I asked.
Turns out, he was delighted to talk about it. One curious question became an impromptu masterclass in cattle care, culinary luxury, and—out of nowhere—he handed me a steak.
On the spot.
And not just any steak. We’re talking $50-a-pound, melt-in-your-mouth royalty. I walked back to my apartment feeling like a queen.
Curiosity had literally fed me.
It got me thinking about other things that light up my mind—like quantum physics through the lens of spirituality. I could read and ponder that for hours. Which is wild, considering I grew up in deep South Louisiana where “good girls” were taught not to ask too many questions.
If I asked something mechanical? I got sent to do chores.
If I asked how to make gumbo? I got the royal treatment—seated on the kitchen step stool and taught every sacred secret.
And yes — I can cook gumbo.
But now I also give myself full permission to explore whatever fascinates me. From black holes to brain waves, if it catches my curiosity, I lean in.
Because here’s what I know: curiosity keeps my brain firing.
Literally.
When you’re curious, your brain releases dopamine — the feel-good chemical that makes you want to keep going. That dopamine activates the hippocampus, which is the part of your brain responsible for forming new memories.
Research from UC Davis shows that curiosity doesn’t just help you remember what you’re interested in — it helps you remember everything around it. Like mental cross-training.
Neuroscientists call this neuroplasticity — your brain’s ability to rewire itself by forming new pathways. And here’s the kicker: while general curiosity may decline with age, focused curiosity — that deep, specific interest in something — often increases in midlife and beyond.
That’s the kind of curiosity that builds cognitive reserve. That keeps you sharp, flexible, and creatively alive.
Every week, some bright-eyed twenty-something hears my age and says the same thing:
“You don’t act like an old lady. You don’t look like an old lady.”
And almost every time, it’s followed by:
“Can we talk?”
Yes. We can.
Because curiosity? That’s my real anti-aging secret.
And I’m just getting started.
And here’s your invitation:
Curiosity isn’t just for learning about Wagyu beef or quantum physics — it’s for rediscovering you.
What lights you up now?
What dreams are still tugging at you?
And what strengths have been quietly waiting for a second act?
That’s exactly what my REFOUNDATION guide will help you explore. It’s a self-paced, soul-focused manual that walks you through your own becoming — with clarity prompts, practical exercises, and space to surprise yourself
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And if you choose to become a paid subscriber to Monirose Soul, you’re invited to our Sunday night Zoom circles, where we bring our curiosity together. Real talk. Real women. No fluff.
It’s nosiness, elevated. And it’s never too late to start asking better questions.
Next in the series:
How Curiosity Keeps Your Brain Younger Than Your Driver’s License Says – the surprising brain benefits (and a few tricks to fire yours up daily).
At 81, I fully agree. My life is enriched by several groups of women who meet on Zoom and in person, as often as we are able.
Most of us are in our late 70s and 80s, one who is 93 has always been in the lead, stimulating curiosity and cultivating talents in the rest of us. She continues to do so. We celebrate her and each other as we pass it on to others.
One group explores books that are deep in content, that make us think in new ways about the world and the environments we live in. We check with deep interest and caring about each other’s lives. We witness for one another as we explore what it means to be living into our final years: be they a decade (or more), a year, month, a day. We are witnesses to increasing numbers of friends and families dealing with sudden deaths and with deaths that seem unwilling to release those who are suffering.
The 80’s are rich with learning new things about ourselves and the world around us.
Thank you for what you are doing to enrich lives as they grow through their 60s & 70s and beyond. It is important work.
The longer we embrace our aliveness, as you encourage, the more alive we will feel each day we have remaining in our lives.
Why not get nosy about your own life?
Not just the surface stuff — but a deep dive into who you thought you were, who you used to be, and who you might still become.
Get curious about the memories that shaped you.
The dreams you set aside.
The joy you once felt without permission or apology.
What if the version of you before your 60s is holding a few keys to the life you still want to live?
When we let curiosity lead, we stop seeing our past as something we "got through" — and start seeing it as a treasure map.
And the benefit?
You reconnect with the most alive, creative, powerful version of yourself.
Not to go backward — but to go deeper.
Let’s get nosy. About you.