It took me several years to truly understand that what happened with my friends was not malicious or intentional; it was the unfortunate by-product of change. It was the natural shift that occurs when people are no longer moving in the same direction. Like a road that reaches a fork, I went left while they went right.
Brenda is part of a tribe of women who were the first to enter the professional world in large numbers, and are the first to encounter the hazards surrounding retirement. Defining themselves largely through their careers, they have challenged traditional models at every stage of their lives, and are now being challenged by their own negative stereotypes about retirement.
If I were to draw a line down the center of a piece of paper and write "Gifts" on one side and "Flaws" on the other side, I'm embarrassed to admit which side would fill up the fastest. Why is it that we are able to pick up on our faults so much easier than we are our skills, talents and abilities?
I wanted to get a better handle on what ignites a fire in the belly of a high-achieving, soul-driven midlife woman, and I wasn’t disappointed. Everyone I talked with was wonderfully open, unreservedly frank, and touchingly vulnerable. While these women may have taken any number of divergent paths as a result of choice or circumstance, there are a number of places where these various paths intersect, and when standing on that sacred ground, their voices sound particularly unified.
That was the year as a midlife woman that I felt the undeniable call of my soul’s desire. That I felt the undeniable need to live with Intention, which meant casting aside so many things I’d been tolerating that were keeping me from becoming the woman I wanted to be. If you find yourself feeling this same sense of urgency, get ready to start your own [R]evolution™ by jettisoning these 17 things from your life. How many of them are you currently tolerating?
For women, the second half of life brings with it many career choices and questions. For some women, continuing in a current career doesn’t fulfill personal, spiritual or financial needs as it once did. For others, re-entering the workforce has become a necessity due to the changes in the economy. In either case, a ReCareer may be the answer. What is a ReCareer?
"Paging Evelyn," I heard over the loudspeaker. "Paging Evelyn: your life is calling." I don't mean I literally received this message over a loudspeaker. It was more like one of those messages the universe likes to send us now and then when we're busy making other plans.
So many high-achieving women strive for this impossible state of being. But trying to do things perfectly takes much more than it can ever give: It robs your time, energy and sanity and doesn't make you happier or richer. But there's a way out. 10 ways in fact.
I like to think in more positive terms about what it is I want 2022 to look and feel like. That means sitting down (or walking or whatever gets your mental juices flowing) and consciously deciding on the areas of your life you want to make the most impact on. And that impact doesn't have to be monumental. It can be subtle, barely perceptible shifts in the way you think, feel, act and plan.
I refuse to refer to the transition that occurs for most women in midlife as a "crisis." While it's true that the word "crisis" means a crucial or decisive point or situation, or a turning point, it also has about it an air of instability bordering on hysteria.
Professional Coaching for the Midlife Woman 