the art of mid-life

i have had several conversations with bryan lately about the term

"midlife crisis"

i see photos of people with motorcycles, tattoos, travel-trailers, hear of people on retreats,

travels, journeys....doing something new and adventurous, fun or creative,

and i hear/see them labeled as having a

"midlife crisis"

it seems to me that we have overused the term.

i got married when i was 20,

had our first daughter at 21,

second at 23,

third and fourth at 25 and our fifth child was born when i was 27.

that was my amazing life.

married life, working side-by-side with my husband raising five children,

trying to take care of their needs, wants, hopes, dreams, heartaches, and anything else that came along....and we took our life and our responsibilities very seriously.....and we have had the most wonderful/amazing/enriching journey sharing that for lots and lots of years......

so....

i guess i view it differently now

when something calls my name now

be it

harley riding, learning to hoop, wanting to be a bit of a gypsy, faraway places with strange sounding names, painting my fridge with a mural, buying an airstream and taking a major roadtrip, buying land and learning to live from it....at least raise our own food....and on and on.

point is.....i may never do half of what my soul might yearn to do...

but i think at this point in my life...

i should be able to choose to enjoy new experiences

without them being labeled a

"midlife crisis".

some have suggested using the term "midlife transition" and that you can

raise the odds of having a successful "transition" by doing whatever you have to do to integrate the lost parts of yourself.

look back and remember what you loved, what gave you joy, what your dreams were. that the next stage is identifying old parts of yourself that you've suppressed. those needs and desires can become very important at midlife.....the steps of relinquishing what was, reconnecting with yourself and having the courage and creativity to go forward.

just sayin!