This is 50 - Phase 2 of Life
LIFE - Phase I & Phase II. Each with a blank canvas. One starting new and the other going back to find where we started and discovering who we are.
I think it is interesting that people go through a mid life crisis at 50. I wonder if it was more common for our parents generation to go through this crisis than for our generation. For me, I love 50. Yes, my youth is gone and my body doesn't respond the way it used to, but my mind and emotions are better than ever.
Richard Rohr in his book "Falling Upward" talks about the two stages in life. During the first stage you are trying to develop a career, get married, have a family, buy a house etc... During the next stage you have settled in and are able to learn about who you are and determine if you like what you've become or if you want to change to your more authentic self. A time when you seek out your purpose.
“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ... and know the place for the first time.
- T. S. Eliot”
I am there, in the second stage of life. But, I do not believe I have gone through a mid life crisis, I believe I have gone through what author Brene Brown calls a mid life awakening. A few years ago, suddenly I started to take account of my life. I went into the depths and came up excited and energetic for the next phase. I changed the things that were holding me back and really started to notice myself again. Its been a wonderful metamorphosis. One that could be scary to the people around me that are not sure who I have become. But in the end, what I know for sure is that this journey has taken me to who I really am, my true self.
I am grateful that I have had two parts to life. One of nurturing and building a family and a committed life and this new phase filled with new growth and wonder and a desire to find my purpose. I don't know where it will take me but I am open and ready.
I hope each of you have the same experience as you prepare for phase two, which could be the best phase of your life yet.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
Wishing you Grace, Peace & Healthy Living,
Lorraine
