What Midlife Crisis?
Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Reinvention | 11 Comments
What constitutes a bona fide, howling, 3-D midlife crisis? For men, it’s become a cliché:
1) Buy a convertible sports car
2) Begin harboring evil thoughts about your wife
3) Have an affair with someone 20 years your junior
But, what about us? What are the signs of a woman on the verge? We are too complex to fall into easily categorized behavior patterns (of course). First, we don’t need to wait for the midlife point, which, thanks to increasing life spans, now begins neatly at fifty. Secondly, we can have several midlife crises if we feel like it. I think I had my first at age 43. Read more
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Reinvention | 8 Comments
Haven’t we all fantasized about suddenly and magically being able to exploit some hidden attribute to the astonishment and envy of our friends? Leap on stage and play brilliant jazz piano, grab the mike and really rock a song like Amy Winehouse or Sassy Vaughn, or in a critical lifesaving moment, fluently burst into the right foreign language—all without the years of practice, not to mention having the actual talent in the first place. Waltermittyosis is a condition that I am certain affects 99 percent of the population. What about the other one percent? They include the aforementioned chanteuses, Marion McPartland, Diana Krall and thousands of well-studied multilinguists—all who know what it takes to get to Carnegie Hall.
I have always wanted to have some form of certification for the type of legal work I do. Read more
And You Think You Got Change?
Filed Under All Posts, Connie Stetson, Reinvention, Technology | 7 Comments
Evolutionary art by Cristian René
Being in one’s fifties is a revelation and I am reveling in it. Though I never had as much energy in my life as I had in my thirties, I never looked as good in my life as I looked in my forties, I’ve never been smarter, more confident, more willing to say, “yes, I can” in my life than I am right now, and besides; my friends who love me and who wish to live long, tell me I look great! I am in the middle of C-H-A-N-G-E, change of career, change of habits, change of mind, change of life. The whole enchilada…the big megillah…seeing the larger picture…well, it’s all happening for me right now. Read more
Dear America
Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Politics, Reinvention | 3 Comments
Photo by Autumn Leaf
Dear America,
We are well into spring, and Los Angeles once again has us gasping at the beautiful, painfully purple surprise of May’s unexpected streets lined with blooming Jacaranda trees. And, now that I’ve had some time to stretch into the season, I’d like to suggest that we mimic spring while we can, with the following tips:
Let’s imitate the peeper frogs that head to newly created pools to breed, catch bugs and avoid predators. It’s easy! All we need to do is make love; work to silence the buzzing voices that clamor for prolonged conflict; and avoid predator politicians who lie their way to war. Read more
New and Improved!
Filed Under All Posts, Cathy Fischer, Group Posts, Reinvention | 2 Comments
I’ve been doing some poking around about this midlife reinvention thing.
My research reveals that reinvention is big! I’ve learned that you need not have stage freight for life’s second act; reinvention coaches are waiting in the wings. Boot camps, conventions, websites, books and CDs—it’s a baby boomer bonanza. Read more
Long Live the Late Bloomers
Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts, Melissa Howden, Reinvention | 3 Comments
I’ve been entertaining the possibility that I am a late bloomer. Lacking the list of the accomplishments I thought I might’ve had by now—articles published, peace accords brokered, one-woman shows—I Google others and think, while reading a long list of their worldly accomplishments, that I’ve frittered away time. Not that I’ve exactly been flapping in my own breeze, I’ve earned two advanced degrees, seen much of the world and contributed my talents to a number of efforts important to me, hopefully also for the betterment of my community and the globe. Read more
Stepping Off Cliffs and Other Acts of Midlife
Filed Under All Posts, Family, Group Posts, Prudence Baird, Reinvention | 4 Comments
I didn’t even tell my closest friends until I was absolutely sure. After all, there is no turning back from a decision of this magnitude. Either you’re on the bus or not.
The first person I confide in is my hair stylist.
“I’m moving to Vermont!” I holler over the cacophony of blow-dryers and snarky conversations.
“Are you gonna open a bed and breakfast?”
Okay, cliché, but a fair assumption.
Vermont at my age—okay, fifty and change—must mean I feel a need to reinvent myself, right? Leave behind the expensive highlights, the freeway traffic and slip into a more relaxed lifestyle. Read more
