divorce, family illness, bereavement, abuse, bankruptcy, mental health problems, challenging children, empty-nest and redundancy are just a few things on this list. Coupled with these challenges is the fact that our own health can often start to feel a little less robust in our fifties. Every stiff knee or steeper-seeming hill only serves to remind us that we’re slowly becoming more physically vulnerable.
Often these challenges hit us all at once and can mean that you’re left starting the day feeling like you can’t quite muster enough oxygen or energy to face what you need to get through.
Men seem to have a well-trodden path at this point in the life cycle. Without doubt, men and women go through the same stage at this point in their life, but men do more consultancy, they’re considered older, wiser and more distinguished. Men seem to be able to reinforce an identity that they’ve built across their lives rather than needing to reinvent themselves.
When women hit their fifties, they seem to become less visible in the eyes of the world; they’re considered out-of-touch, of less value and hormonally volatile. Yes, I notice the gender divide is still there but feel that my generation of women have hit their fifties at a time of greater equality but that leaves us being trailblazers for what life can look like from here.
Am I done. Am I ready to happily live out the rest of my life by following the same path or have I got more to give. Is there something I’d like to do with my third quarter and what does this look like.