Morning, Greg here!

Welcome to Midlife Male, the fastest-growing, #1 newsletter and lifestyle brand for men 40+. In this issue, my How I See It shares the story of my 25th anniversary and the unfiltered secrets it takes to stay married for the long haul, Jon’s Manologue shares an alternative Oscars list of 6 movies for guys who miss 90s movies, and we share our curated list of recommendations, as always, in the 6Fs. If a fellow MLM reader shared this with you, subscribe here:

It was my 25th wedding anniversary on the 26th.

If you had told me, a Jewish kid from New York, that I’d get married, have kids, stay married, and build my life in Houston, Texas, I’d have called bullshit. Anyone who really knew me back then would’ve agreed. I was not the most stable young man. And yet, here we are.

I woke up next to Kate, like I’ve done almost every day for the past 25 years. I checked my phone, which I know better than to do, and immediately read an email from a client canceling our contract two days before our annual kickoff call. Not good. Then came the JibJab anniversary card from my mom and stepdad with dancing coffee cups (so personal), a reminder that property taxes are due by the 31st (lovely), and a notice from LMU that Harper changed his meal plan, which somehow costs another $2,600. Damn that kid eats. Then the hits kept coming.

The dogs were scratching at the door. It was freezing outside. We were out of their “we feed raw” food inside, so I had to head to the garage fridge and freeze my ass off. 

After that, I got into my routine, made my coffee, sat in my Epsom salt bath, and let Kate keep sleeping peacefully.

Around 7:30, I got back into bed. We kissed good morning. I slid a couple of anniversary cards over to her that I’d written the day before. We told each other how much we loved one another, how grateful we were for 25 years together, and how committed we were to another 25. To spare my boys who are likely reading this, I’ll just say things got romantic after that.. And then…

Read the full How I See It and see how we made 25 years of marriage work HERE:

There was a time, probably two decades ago now, where I gave a shit about the Oscars because I’d actually seen the movies that were nominated and I liked a bunch of them and I had opinions about who should win.

Think about a year like 1998. There were only five nominees for best picture back then. Three of them were great, mainstream movies: Titanic, Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential. The fourth starred Jack Nicholson doing his thing in As Good As it Gets.

If you’re reading this, and you’re over forty and you love movies, there’s a good chance you saw at least two of these movies in the theater, most likely three, and I’d bet that you’ve quoted Good Will Hunting at some point in the last year.

Now fast forward to this year. The Oscars now nominate TEN MOVIES and if you’re like me, year-after-year, you’ve only seen one or two. Last year I’d seen zero. Case in point for 2026:

Did you enjoy Sentimental Value? How about Hamnet? Or Bugonia? 

Have you even heard of Train Dreams or that there was a Frankenstein movie?

Likely, no.

I’d guess that if you like movies you’ve heard of Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another and Sinners and F1.

Of these, I only saw F1 (awesome) in the theater and Sinners (impressive, interesting) at home.

But I did see a bunch of movies this year that if I were running a sort of “Oscars for Guys who Like Guy Movies” that I’d nominate.

So this isn’t a “best movie” Oscars list. It’s not about prestige or awards or what you’re supposed to like. This is an alternate Oscars list for guys. These are the movies I saw this year that I genuinely enjoyed, that I would tell a friend to go see. That, in my own favorite description of whether I’d recommend a movie or not, I simply say, “Yeah, it was a good time.”

Read the full Manologue and get my Oscar’s List of the 6 most awesome movies for guys like us HERE:

Author Jonathan Goodman has been on the cover of Midlife Male (read it here) and we’re thrilled to share his new book, Unhinged Habits. While Greg is more of the self-help/lifestyle design reader (check out his list of book recs here) and Jon is more into historical non-fiction/fiction (read his list of book recs here), both of them agree that Goodman’s new book is loaded with gems.

One concept that Goodman explores deeply is the idea of 8:4 seasonal contrast, which, in basic terms, is about dividing the year into 8 months of frenetic energy and 4 months to regroup and change things up. Work. Life. Location. All of it. Goodman does this by traveling the world with his wife and three kids. One of his great quotes about this strategy is that he says “you can have it all, just not all at once.” 

For those of us juggling a million things, think about that. Really think about it. Maybe every day isn’t about everything, but just one thing? The book is filled with ideas and thought experiments like this. Pick it up here.

This is a story about pro-aging, not anti-aging. We’re not chasing that here.

What we’re about is relatable, credible, aspirational men over 40 putting in real work and getting real results, while still running businesses, being good husbands and fathers, and not neglecting themselves in the process. This is exactly that.

Jason Wachob is a friend, and he’s also a quintessential Midlife Male. He walks the walk. And as the founder and co-CEO of mindbodygreen, he knows how to talk the talk too.

I interviewed Jason last year when he was in a very different place in his health and longevity journey. He recently turned 51 and just put out a banger chronicling how he’s become biologically younger, along with the exact steps he took to get there. No shortcuts. No gimmicks. No excuses.

It’s honest. It’s disciplined. And it’s a great example of what pro-aging actually looks like when you commit to the work.

Check it out HERE.

Jon here. If you have kids over eight years old and under, let’s say, twelve, you likely just finished a phase where they were obsessed with Logan Paul’s Gatorade alternative, Prime. For a few years, that drink was everywhere, with secret bottles, celebrity flavors and a taste so sugary (without sugar) that it felt like you were drinking pure syrup.

I never got on board. The most recent “trendy drink” my kids “had to have” was Poppi soda. Cool name. Tons of fruit flavors. They all seemed okay. Then I tried the classic cola flavor and, as someone who likes Coke but never, ever drinks it, I have to say, I was impressed. Better than Coke Zero even. Root beer is solid, too. Plus, it’s got prebiotics. If this sounds interesting, try it.

This video is just a guy in a shirt and tie and white board explaining women to his son and it’s brilliant. He puts together an easy-to-follow chart that will make sense to every single one of you. Valuable life lessons for our boys haha. Watch it here.

The country’s been hit with a deep freeze: record snow, black ice and everyone’s being told to stay inside and stay warm. That’s when I turn to Quince.

Quince offers high-quality, expensive goods at low prices. I picked up this incredible cashmere sweatsuit, full-zip hoodie with the joggers. They’re basically luxury, stylish pajamas, at a fraction of the cost of name-brand cashmere. And yes, you can wear them indoors or out. Check it out here.

Each week, Greg and Jon pull back the curtain on the Midlife Male articles that got the biggest reaction, and tell you the stuff that never makes it into print.

On Midlife Lately, they break down where the ideas actually came from, what readers loved (and argued about), what they’d change if they could rewrite it today, and why men over 40 keep hitting reply. There’s insight, real talk, a few strong opinions and a guaranteed amount of trash-talking each other along the way.

It’s loose. It’s honest. It’s the thinking behind the writing that’s moving the needle for midlife men. Watch the latest episode here:

MLM Founder: Greg Scheinman / Follow Greg on Instagram & LinkedIn

Love Greg’s How I See It column? Visit the full How I See It Archive HERE where he shares his personal insights, experiences and perspectives on everything affecting midlife.

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MLM Editor-in-Chief: Jon Finkel / Follow Jon on Twitter/X and Instagram

Love Jon’s Manologue column? Check out the full Manologue Archive HERE where he writes about pop culture, parenthood, sports, nostalgia & everything in between.