“Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm.” - Helen Keller

After completing an eight-week MEA online course on Navigating Midlife Transitions in November 2021, I was automatically eligible for MEA alumni membership.

I recently heard Seth Godin being interviewed and he shared a story about an experience he had swimming in the ocean in which he almost drowned. He said that although he was a strong swimmer, that morning, he found himself struggling with a serious undertow.

This animated short won this year’s Oscar, and I recently got the chance to watch it with a couple of MEA alums, Michael and Debbie Campbell. The Campbells asked ChatGPT what the most meaningful thoughts expressed in the film were, and here’s what AI offered:

“Purpose is the middle of the compass. It’s the arrow pointing to the true north; the values are the four cardinal points (north, south, east, and west). Values serve as the roadmap to tell us how we will achieve the purpose. They guide and tell us how to make decisions. Purpose and values together increase engagement, someone’s willingness to make a strong contribution to work.” - Anne Loehr

What is the purpose of college? The dictionary suggests "an educational institution or establishment, in particular one providing higher education or specialized professional or vocational training." Not surprisingly, the definition says nothing about being purely for those who have just entered adulthood.

When we’re faced with having a difficult conversation, it’s easy to freeze up and freak out. And as long as performance anxiety takes hold of us, we’ll never be in the right frame of mind to have the conversation that needs to happen.

In his 2014 Ted Talk, Simon Sinek sheds light on the concept of knowing a company’s “Why.” He examines “Why they do what they do” over simply “What they do” or “How they do it”. With over 66 million views, it is among one of the top Ted Talks.

I recently returned home to my wisdom watering hole at Modern Elder Academy. As the guy, who was once dubbed the ‘Youngest Modern Elder,’ I get a true sense of gratitude knowing I have started this migration earlier in life and get to continue to meet those who also chose it for themselves for years to come.

On January 2 after having a lovely fever dream about the common thread of my personal narrative, I published this blog post, Designing Your Own Hero’s Journey. Since that time, this idea of writing one’s story evolved into a full chapter in my book that will be published next January, “Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better With Age.”