Midlife

As morning follows night, ending often foreshadows a new beginning. The John O’Donohue poem below has proven to be a catalyst for many of our Modern Elder Academy grads. Hope it proves to be inspiring to you as well.

I was honored to be the finale speaker at the annual TEDxMarin a couple months ago. The video was just published and offers answers to some of the following provocative questions: What are the three 20th century life stage inventions and why hasn’t midlife been given the same public policy attention as the other two?

When America declared its independence, we embraced our inalienable right to pursue happiness. In some dictionaries, “pursuit” is defined as “to chase with hostility.” It describes a shopping mall around Christmas or the energetic, type-A behavior of a newly-minted MBA. Pursuing happiness, often on the hedonic treadmill of life, is what we do during the first half of our lives.

Life used to be so simple. We learned till our early 20s, earned till our mid-60s, and then retired happily to our La-Z Boy. We paid our dues early in our career so we could coast with our three-martini lunches (especially if we were male and pale). Society’s outdated three-stage model (learn, earn, retire) taught us...

We learn in our teens. We earn in our twenties. We yearn in our thirties. We burn in our forties. We discern in our fifties. And, we adjourn in our sixties. But, what if we lived life as a mash-up? Maybe we ought to “unlearn and return” to new subjects and experiences throughout life. Live by the “learn, earn, yearn, burn” rule and I promise you heartburn and a midlife crisis. The Game of Life was created by Milton Bradley in 1860. Isn’t it time you deviated from that linear, one-size-fits-all board game?