Modern Midlife Shifts… It’s Natural
(Based on excerpts from the Book Wisdon@Work, by Chip Conley)
Just before my 50th birthday, I let my baby go.
Not exactly that dramatic. But it was a big deal in the sense that I’d nurtured my business (not my love life, health or family) for over 20 years. The recession of 2008 had taken its toll on my emotional well-being as well as the death of my father.
And it was clear to me that I was ready for a change.
In my 40s and nowhere near ready to retire, I found myself temporarily in-between desires & goals…
Dr. Laura Carstensen, founding director of Sanford Center on longevity shows that people will prioritize “present time” when they in a phase where they have constraints on their horizons. Accordingly, she was surprised to find that people in their 70s are often happier and more content with life than those in their 50s, 40s, and even 30s.
She says, “By midlife, we have slain most of our internal dragons and have healed many of our youthful wounds.” & she goes on to say, “all kinds of happiness surveys demonstrate a U-curve of adults satisfaction with younger adults starting -out pretty excited about life. Then happiness starts to dip in ones late 20s and 30s when the mash-up of responsibilities associated with friends, families, infants, finances and finding time for oneself begins to take a toll. It can hit a low point in our mid-40s when midlife disappointments may lead many towards buying new sports cars or wrecking marriages. In the general leaving them to a feeling of what’s going on.”
And then in your 50s, where a grand and glorious reset can occur. Leading you to feel… this sense of lightness and a sense of humor that you’ve learned from the cumulation of years and along the way. An inter-calm has started to emerge after decades of frenzy juggling. You finally feel an increased capacity to be yourself.
But as with everything… It’s all about how you preserve it. They said what makes a good wine is not only its age but also the way you store it, the way you serve it and the reason for raising the glass.
So lets toast to the next chapter!
