About Me — Galen Tinder
What am I up to these days?
I am fascinated by how the stories people tell about themselves and their past shape their present and future life.
On a volunteer basis I conduct extensive personal interviews that cover a person’s entire life from their earliest memories to the present. This usually takes around 10 one-hour meetings, though sometimes more, spaced a week apart.
I find that lots of folks have not yet “processed” their past but can do this by telling their story. It is important that they tell it in granular detail and connect feelings, past and present, with these details. In the last three years I have done more than 25 of these life reviews. I have also discovered that the most essential part of successfully facing present adversity is through talking about it with a trusted person. These kinds of conversations require an attentive listener who can ask good questions.
Other Stuff
I wish I were more of a hobby guy. But I love running and even at the age of 71 still get out there and lope a few miles several days a week. Writing is also a long-standing avocation, though most of it has been for an academic readership. I would like to improve my writing for a general audience. This is one reason I have joined Medium.
I am in recovery, three decades sober in AA. This is where I first learned the importance of personal storytelling. I still attend meetings, and am active with service work and sponsoring other men.
Where Did you grow up?
I was born in Massachusetts and lived there through college. Though I have been exiled in New Jersey for a long time, Massachusetts still feels like home.
Family?
In a year or so my wonderful wife and I are moving into retirement, probably to the Midwest. Between the two of us we have five grown children living in different parts of the country. My daughter lives and works in Charlotte, NC. My son is soon moving from Washington, DC to Fort Sill in Oklahoma where, as an army major, he will take command of a battalion.
In January of 2024 my father died at 100 years old. He was a professor, author, and a wonderful father who has been the inspiration of my life. Dad passed along to me his love of philosophy and knack for abstract thinking. Also his love for classical music. I, in turn, got him interested in the music I grew up with, especially the Grateful Dead. I still listen to what I guess they now call classic rock, particularly Queen and Led Zeppelin.
