Women's Midlife Journey - A Fork in the Road

 ByDeborahHayes:                                                                                                                                     

We all come to a point in our life when we sense that things haven't turned out quite like we expected. That moment in time when we look up and realize that many of the things we thought we would do or have or try or be "when the time was right" have not occurred and don't seem to be anywhere on the horizon. For many of us when these thoughts occur we choose to either ignore it or we may think it's too late and we should be happy for the good in our life and put those thoughts back in the junk drawer where we found them.

A woman's midlife journey today is very different from the path our mothers and grandmothers walked. We have had educational and lifestyle advantages that simply were not an option in their day. Today boomer women are the largest demographic group and each year our numbers rise. We control the majority of all consumer purchases and the majority of household investments. We are responsible for almost half of the nation's small businesses and our median incomes are growing. According to the US Census we are the wealthiest demographic and given the fact that we will inherit more from our parents and outlive our husbands by an average of 7 - 15 years our wealth and consequent influence is increasing.

We are a totally unique demographic and very diverse. We can be mothers, grandmothers and caring for our own mothers all at the same time. We can be large or small business owners, retired, still working or just retiring. We can be grandmothers raising our grandchildren. We can be starting second or third careers at age 50 and beyond. Never before has this occurred.
These are very exciting times for us. We have the opportunity to look at the second half of our lives with fresh eyes. We women of a certain age will live healthier and longer than any time before. Think about it; if you are in your 50's you could possibly have 20 productive years of living to do. Maybe more! That's a long time. Building and fulfilling our dreams with our life lessons, wisdom and passion in the second half of our lives is a very real prospect if we choose it.

This is all great news, right? The question is how do we go about finding it? Sometimes, with all this experience and living we have been doing, our lives can feel like a giant house filled with cluttered rooms. There is so much accumulated stuff in these rooms it can be overwhelming to decide where to start. What do you keep and what to discard? You've heard it before but the simple truth is before you can change anything you have to know what it is you want to change. You need to be very clear about what joy is for you in order to achieve it.

Genie adds:
 I think one of the ways to get started on a new chapter of your life is start downsizing  everything. Your home if the kids are gone, your possessions, clothes, toys, responsibilities, debts if any. Start by cleaning the basement or attic out. You know you don't need all that old stuff. You need breathing space.  Have the mother of all garage sales. It will get you in the mood for changes. However you make a change, good luck friend.