A woman introduced herself to me at a monthly women's networking group last week. She was turning 50 and wanted to take a different direction in her career path only she wasn't sure about the specifics and how to go about doing it. She had been laid off of her corporate job for about a year and was hiring herself out as 'I'll do whatever you need done" which ranged from doing errands, dog walking, and cleaning homes to get them ready for sale.
She wanted to talk with me because she wanted something to do with the aging population. Her goal was to give back to that generation.
That brought me to thinking about the many nagging questions there are for those between the ages of fifty and sixty and for some up to seventy. They are sensitive questions and often too sensitive for someone to discuss openly. However they are familiar questions to most women and men who reach their fifties or sixties and are thinking about what happens next.
You may be familiar with some of these questions:
- Is it too late to start over?
- What do I need to do to take charge of my life?
- How can I find something to do about which I'm passionate before it's too late?
- Will I lose my job?
- Will I have enough money when I'm not employed?
- Will I face a major illness?
- Will I lose my health? my mind? my ability to walk and drive?
- Do I need to compromise on my ambitions? How about my goals?
- Will my family still want me? love me?
- Will I have friends?
- Will I be living a meaningful life for me?
These are frightening questions because they reach down to the core of our identity. Yet the 2 decades in our lives in which we try to answer these questions and assert our identify have been invisible, unexplored, and not discussed.
How about you? Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Have you talked about your answers with others?
I would like to know what you need to know so that I can help you explore possible answers. Tell me what you want to know about in the comment box and I'll put an outline together with the other readers' comments.
To your successful aging.
Ruthan
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