Change

I remember thinking that changing jobs would make me happy. Then once I changed jobs, I thought changing relationships would do the trick. Then it was moving to a new city.

I can still taste the feeling when I departed MEA in early December: the sense of connection with my fellow compadres; the burgeoning sense of possibility; the openness to new frontiers. I departed in a mild state of euphoria. My boundaries were lowered and I was ready to step into a rejuvenated mental framework about life in “middlessence,” and all it could offer. The flavor was sweet.

“The Great Resignation:” The media love creating sensational labels in order to get more eyeballs on their stories. In any event, the statistics are compelling. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, in the USA, an average of 3.9 million people quit their jobs every month during 2021.

Resilience buys you time; adaptability buys you a future. This concept is just as true for individuals as it is for companies.

The waves came rushing up around us at about the same time all of our phones started blowing up. I had been on a sailboat, learning to sail in the Sea of Cortez (bucket list, checked!) and we were coming back after 5 days with almost no cell service.

Growing up in Lubbock, Texas - some might say a small town - my childhood memories were overall good ones. I had a father who was in a MASH unit in Vietnam and became a nurse anesthetist in private practice and this brought my family to Texas from Washington DC when I was 5 years old.

If you picture a mature Nancy Drew married to one of the Hardy Boys for decades, then you will have a mental image of the Sleuthing Silvers, a fictional Baby Boomer detective couple.

2020 was the year that shook us. Covid, quarantine, anxiety, depression, isolation, burnout. And that was only the beginning.

If you have to ask that question, you might ask about whether you have an adolescent relationship with the idea of permission. Let me be your “permissionary” and say, “dear friend, you can create personal resolutions any time of the year.” However, the real question is, what will you do with these resolutions?

"She may never walk or talk again.." Those were the words of the brain surgeon when discussing options for my girlfriend.