My Plan

Many of us get to our 40's and re-evaluate our lives.  The picture of how we saw ourselves as a young person when the slate was clean and the future was fresh and open is not exactly how it turns out.  While not always a bad thing, some of us have this nagging feeling of missed opportunities or adventure-not-taken about our lives.  That, coupled with pain in our knees, aversion to late-night events and frequent heartburn puts many of us in the spiral of depression, marked primarily with the thought that it's-too-late-for-us to do anything crazy, big, adventurous, etc.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network have been studying this phenomenon since 1994.  Their findings, interpreted by Lifetwo.com, say that the data suggests that only 5-12% of middle-aged people actually experience a midlife crisis.  I would hazard a guess that this number is low, but hate that I'm in that group.  I'm going to do something about it!

I am reading two really good books, "Life is a Verb" by Patti Digh and "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin.  Both of these books (and the many others on store shelves about how to fall in love with your life again) have great ideas about putting into place a plan that will help you "see" your life differently.  You have to exercise these plans daily and be committed to change.  It's really all about changing your thinking, not necessarily your life.


In my case, I hope to get in better physical shape, eat better, do more adventurous things, write more (and try to publish), reduce my stress, improve my relationships,  and get a sense of serenity in my life.  Those are the goals for now.  I'll let you know how it goes.