Reinvention. Makeover. Redesign.
Add ‘midlife’ to any of these words and there you have the issue on the minds of most women in their midyears. It’s certainly constantly on MY mind, I can tell you, both personally and professionally. After all, I’m in the middle of my own midlife reinvention.
A little over a year ago, right at my 50th birthday, I launched a web community to inspire and support women to make the most of midlife. WomenBloom.com was my answer to the unsettling question that had been nagging me day and night for some time, “What do I want the next half of my life to look like?”
And, I thought I was the only one stuck on this question. Silly me. Through the conversations with friends I had before WomenBloom, and the many conversations since with midlife women, you all have spoken.
It is THE question we’re ALL asking in some form or other.
You know, I’m no stranger to reinvention, in fact, at 51, the last 15 years have been one transition after another. Widowed at 36, having lived in a small East Texas town for the previous 12 years, a big change was forced on me. With no kids, my life felt like a scary, blank slate in many ways. And, sometimes too many options are almost as bad as none.
Making the decision to move to Austin, a town where I knew no one, I spent my 40s building a new life, trying various jobs—economic development, tech, organizational development and human resources--and getting a master’s degree in leadership and ethics. Being a gal who likes knowing where she’s going, it all seemed worrisomely random. At 49, I thought, WHEN do I figure this OUT already??!?
Ha!
Note to self: Reinvention isn’t a linear process. Or a finite one. Sigh.
Bad news: I don’t have this reinvention thing all figured out. Sorry.
Good news: I know what I’m passionate about and that is, helping us all learn how to find our way to our own personally meaningful answer to The Question.
