Boomers In Second Bloom
“Where do I want to go from here and how do I get there? What happened to my dreams? Is it too late to follow them?”
As boomers, we are faced with a myriad of possibilities, many of which previous generations never had to consider: Retirement, or the start of a whole new career? An empty nest or a houseful of grandkids, or even your own young kids? Chances are you wonder from time to time how to make the most of the rest of your life.
How do you begin to fulfill dreams you may have thought were unattainable until now? After a lifetime of stuffing them in the sock drawer with your other hidden valuables or unmentionables, what do you do with these balled up, long-ignored mementos of who you once were or passionately believed you could be?
Maybe your life is still so busy you’d be happy just to bring a little balance to it, or rediscover your lost sense of purpose. Maybe you have been so caught up in the “doing” that you haven’t taken time to celebrate a huge win, acknowledge and mourn a significant loss, or simply just “be.” Is your calendar brimming full of distractions because you’re scared to be still? Please note that I said “still,” and not “dead.” “Dead” is still, but “still” is definitely not dead. It’s just that some of us are so used to running, we are actually terrified of slowing down and looking around at what’s here and now.
Maybe, you say, “None of this applies to me.” You just want the motivation to open the sock drawer in the first place and throw out the holey ones, or fling open the lingerie drawer and finally burn that old bra that’s been in there since…well, the days of bra-burning!
Whatever new questions are surfacing as you experience the shift of perspective that comes sometime in our mid to late forties and becomes more pronounced after 50, you cannot ignore responding forever. One day the person in the mirror really doesn’t look like the twenty-something you remember, no matter how healthy your lifestyle or large your cosmetic-surgery budget. So then you ask that person, “What’s next?” If your mirror image is snarling at you about this time, you may be screaming back, “Work with me here!”
All of this is okay, really, because one day you will find you have to say “no” to the twenty-year old wannabe in the mirror in order to say a resounding “yes” to the person you are becoming—and that person has got nearly everything Mr.or Ms. 20-something had, plus a whole lot more. Okay, go ahead and get that face lift or those hair plugs if it boosts your spirits. There is nothing to be ashamed about–the point is no matter how young vs. old you look and feel, this is the perfect time to pause, reassess, reevaluate, and discover whether the former you still serves your present self. It’s time to try on fresh perspectives. They are every bit as important as the cosmetic improvements, and more so.
The dreams you resurrect and reexamine may or may not turn out to be the right ones for the person you are becoming, but if they’re not, they will shed light on some new ones worth pursuing. The adjustments you make to catch these dreams and live them are the real treasures in the sock drawer. Once you take the time to unfurl what’s in there, you will be glad you went looking. So go ahead, open it.