The book The Happiness Curve talks about the myth of having a mid-life crisis. Apparently, people are happier in their fifties sixties and beyond. There’s an uptick in joy in our later years.
We have the balls or breasts to defy other people’s expectations:
We go back to school, remodel our kitchen, get a divorce or do any number of new things when we’ve had enough of life as it’s always been.
Today I reckon with this new requirement to stop caring what other people think.
It’s true no one’s going to like you or approve of you for speaking out, for having a diagnosis, or whatever you do or have that they can’t wrap their head around.
Only here’s the truth:
No one changed the world for the better (or even just their world for the better) by sitting on the sidelines and waiting to be called into the game.
Readers, mid-life is our game to play. We own this particular playing field at forty and beyond.
Only you have to be okay with your newfound bravado.
The secret to success at mid-life is indeed doing what gives you joy that comes easy to you. Other people might be envious that you’re happy. That shouldn’t concern you.
The older we get our time here becomes shorter. To steal the Maxwell House Coffee advertisement from the 1980s, we need to make each moment: “Good to the last drop.”
At 40, at 53, at however old you are, it’s time to pay attention.
Life will tell you what to do, if only you stop to listen.
So, remodel your kitchen or your self. It’s all good.
Left of the Dial 