Midlife crisis. It is a term bandied about, which can conjure images of sports car purchases, new gym memberships, flirtations/affairs/divorces, botox and bikinis. Midlife is, for many, a time of transition, including whether or how to retire. It can be a time of more questions than answers, a time in which you feel less steady as you review and revise who and what you find most meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile. Some changes are desired and welcome, while others feel forced or unavoidable.

I believe, as I share in my upcoming book, The Ageless Way, that  “Those of us who are entering, in the midst of or, like me, leaving our rich middle years, are well poised to use such times of transition as opportunities to tap more deeply into our reservoir of innate soulful greatness – what I refer to as our Signature Greatness DNA. As history has shown, change makers and world shakers always deepen their culture and leave a legacy for future generations by confronting the difficulties of such times with invention, insight, and transcendent understanding.”

It is at these times that many people choose, whether out of desire or necessity, to begin a second (or third, or fourth…) career, which is often referred to as an encore career. There are different reasons people choose to pursue an encore career, such as: financial security; personal fulfillment and meaning; the desire to give back to the local/national/global community; flexibility; work/life balance; learning new skills and utilizing those that have been acquired over decades; sustaining social connections; pursuing a long-held dream…

Regardless of the reason(s) for selecting an encore career, those in their middle and later years have garnered personal and professional experience and wisdom which they can offer to employers and clients. In addition, Boomers and Matures (members of “The Silent Generation”) grew up in eras which inspired active, organized involvement in response to diverse current events, such as WWII, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the fights for civil and women’s rights. As a result, these workers are often valued for their efficiency, sense of responsibility, loyalty, hopeful attitude and strong work ethic.

The trend toward an increasingly older and diverse workforce creates multiple opportunities for building successful intergenerational office environments. Encore career professionals offer a variety of abilities and knowledge to enhance the capabilities of the younger generations and benefit, in return, from their colleagues’ perspectives and talents with new work aspects like technology. Such mutually supportive business cultures ensure a more solid future for everyone, from those engaged in encore careers to the generations yet to come.

There is even a movement afoot to support those choosing or hiring for encore careers. Encore.org’s mission is “building a movement to tap the skills and experience of those in midlife and beyond to improve communities and the world.” It seeks to engage the vitality, wisdom and talents of those in the third and fourth stages of life while emphasizing social purpose. Seeing an aging society as a solution to, rather than creator of, problems, Encore.org connects generations in diverse ways, including hosting an annual conference and offering The Purpose Prize for people over 60 who integrate their passion and experience for the betterment of society. Created in 2005, the prize aims to “showcase the value of experience and disprove notions that innovation is the sole province of the young. It’s for those with the passion to make change and the experience to know how to do it.”

I mentioned the term encore career in a blog posted earlier this week, “Second Time Around” , in which I wrote about Barbara Beskind who is now in her third year of work as an inventor, a lifelong dream she achieved just shy of her ninth decade. Additionally, I have met/worked with diverse women and men who have chosen (are choosing) to embark on an encore career. One 51-year-old woman hot shot media executive left her job to pursue what she always wanted to do as a teenager — she went back to school to become a social worker. Another high flying 62-year-old woman left an intense demanding sales executive post to return to the beloved art career of her youth. A 63-year-old retired teacher became a published author. In her January 16, 2015 New York Times article, Older Job Seekers Find Ways to Avoid Age Bias, Kerry Hannon shares the story of a 66-year-old man who was laid off from a high-powered position. After undergoing the unease of transition, questioning his purpose and averting age discrimination encountered in interviews, he ultimately ended up teaching part-time, making money, and feeling valued. And I am one among many who have found fulfillment in an encore career by creating their own business.

Encore.org and the AARP  are just two of the organizations offering programs, resources and information for those embarking on an encore career. In the short term, this transition may require additional investment of education and retraining (including working with a certified professional career coaching and strategy-creation coach). The rewards, however, can be infinite. Following your passion while giving to others can be stimulating, enlivening and offer adventures which demonstrate that, despite pleasurable memories, the best is still yet to come.

When musicians are called by an audience to perform an encore, a demand for more, it is surely a sign of success. Whether you choose an encore career out of need or want, in honoring and utilizing your skills and knowledge you are the one whose success is to be celebrated. Bravo!!

What’s your encore career story?  Please share your experience below.

Let us try to see things from their better side: You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes;
Me, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods That thorns have roses.  

~ Alphonse Karr

Have you ever heard the phrase “Where attention goes, energy flows”? Where we choose to focus our thoughts can impact the quality of our lives. Though I think denying reality under the guise of “staying positive” can be damaging, and I do not believe positive thinking, on its own, will magically change everything, I do believe that our mindset and approach can offset negativity for ourselves and those around us, particularly when grounded in reality and tempered by intention.

A 2012 New York Times article, Older People Become What They Think, A Study Shows addressed this concept in regards to how we age. Among its assertions? “When stereotypes are negative — when seniors are convinced becoming old means becoming useless, helpless or devalued — they are less likely to seek preventive medical care and die earlier, and more likely to suffer memory loss and poor physical functioning, a growing body of research shows. When stereotypes are positive — when older adults view age as a time of wisdom, self-realization and satisfaction — results point in the other direction, toward a higher level of functioning. The latest report, in The Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that seniors with this positive bias are 44 percent more likely to fully recover from a bout of disability. For people who care about and interact with older people, the message is clear: your attitude counts because it can activate or potentially modify these deeply held age stereotypes.”

So how do we shift ages-old culturally ingrained stereotypes about aging? How do we find resilience even when facing downsides to growing older like physical problems or disabilities, issues with illness, grief from increasing losses, and other tender life occurrences? My feeling is that Positive Aging must be rooted in authenticity, a genuine grasp of the up sides and down sides of aging and of yourself, as well as a conscious choice to discard what is not true for you and to embrace both what is true and what is possible. Often, it is precisely those of us over 40, who have garnered the kind of knowledge that can only come with time, who are best poised to face life’s challenges with a deeper, authentic sense of hope, optimism, and fortitude.

I never see what happens to me as tragic. And I’ve surely had my share of challenging times. I always find the silver lining and some positive rationale as to what my takeaway is going to be. So what kinds of benefits come to mind when I consider a more positive aging experience? For starters, as we age, many of us no longer are held back by the same all-consuming self-doubt of earlier years, so we are freer to be true to our inner nature (and in times when we do doubt, we are more aware of available resources for re-visioning our old self-stories).

~ Those of us who have lived through a multitude of experiences often find we know how to be more optimistic.

~ We may have fewer regrets as we learn to be less judgmental and have a broader context within which to examine and assess all that happens in the world.

~ We may tell our truths more courageously given a more solid sense of self.

~ With something learned from every experience and a deeper sense of self-trust, we value that each of us has deep wisdom and are able to be more discerning in our choices, what we share, and with whom.

~ We often feel less self-conscious about exploring and expressing our playfulness and creativity and are more capable of showing up with full presence to ourselves and each other. (Quick Aside: I am excited to share more detailed descriptions of these and other beneficial aspects of aging with you when my new book, The Ageless Way, is published).

Rather than seeing growing older as a reason to be discounted, let’s acknowledge and honor the beneficial aspects of aging so we can move into the future with the sound knowledge of our place in attending to, thus ensuring, a thriving, more alive, realistic and inter-connected (hence healthier) self, community, and world.

What realities of aging are you currently contending with and what benefits of aging are allowing you to find the silver lining in, and work through, your experiences?

In decades of work as a leading GeroFuturist aiming to transform the story around our culture’s approach to aging, I have often spoken and written about this issue. I continue to assert that a large and vital part of our new boldly vibrant story is dependent upon the language we use to define and describe growing older — to ourselves and others, and by those who serve and market to us. When we change or redefine the terminology we use in those descriptions, we change the perception, truth, and dynamics of getting older across the lifespan (for twenty-year-olds, as well as centenarians – and everyone else in between…).

It may sound simple, but it’s not easy. So how do we integrate individual and cultural mind shifts in order to change the “languaging” around adult development and growing older? Something has to give! A perfect example of misplaced, yet commonplace, labeling as we grow older is referring to Baby Boomers as “seniors.” I can assure you that those of us over 40 don’t relate to that at all. In fact, it makes us cringe and run in the opposite direction. Yet, “senior centers” across the country continue to bemoan and wonder why Boomers aren’t banging down their doors for “senior” services and community-building.

We clearly need new terminology to help shift the paradigm. We need a full expression of the affirmative, powerful, and even juicy aspects of aging. Old dismissive stereotypes do not consider the reality of those of us entering or beyond midlife as capable of being fully active physically, socially, mentally and professionally (to say nothing of the fact that the over-40 crowd is the largest adult consumer demographic and, thus, worthy of priority marketing and product development focus). Manifesting such transformation, as with all vital historic movements, will take patience, determination, effort, awareness, intention, time and acceptance.

As is the case with so much in life, there is not just one way to think about growing older or the terminology around that process (a process which will happen to all of us lucky enough to live “to a ripe old age”). My vision for the new story of our times is rooted in an approach toward aging that is “Ageless.”  At this juncture, this word may mean different things to different people.

A retired literary professional recently shared with me that when she hears the term “Ageless” she thinks of it as dismissive of aging, since it seems to infer wanting to avoid looking or growing older. I see the term in a different way, as being age-affirming. Ageless, Ageless Aging, Agelessness (and timeless) to me are all about transcending age at any age… all while owning our chronological age …whether 30, 40, 70…101. Agelessness involves not being defined nor limited by our chronological age at the same time as welcoming/embracing whatever age we are.

Agelessness is about transcending our limited, dismissive and insufficient attitudes toward aging so that we see ourselves and each other as whole and precious parts of a larger evolution with many births, rebirths, endings and new beginnings…no matter what our age or life stage. This does not mean we deny our aging. Instead, being Ageless and embracing The Ageless Way is evidence that we, at every age, own the vitality of life within us and our value, and remove the limits culturally placed on our youth and our elderly.

I feel so strongly about the importance of boldly shifting our definition of the word Ageless (as it applies to Ageless Aging) and proclaiming it as central to our new story of what it means to grow older, that I have titled my upcoming book The Ageless Way.

So, together, let’s re-cognize the abilities inherent in growing from youth to midlife to becoming an elder. Rather than seeing Agelessness as working against the fulfilling life all of us can envision for ourselves, our communities, our world, we will move forward with that word as a testament to our ability to surpass the heretofore ingrained and perceived limitations of aging. Will you join me on that journey?

What does being “Ageless” mean to you and what is your reaction when you hear that word? What are some words associated with growing/being older which no longer have any bearing on the NEW story of our age?

I turned 69 on Monday, and it’s no accident that I’ve just returned from the Sixth Annual Positive Aging Conference, sponsored by the prestigious Fielding Graduate University of Santa Barbara, California, and I’m now attending the highly regarded Boomer Summit, presented by Mary Furlong & Associates, preceding the sponsoring American Society on Aging’s annual conference.

As a professional futurist and transformational gerontologist, I’ve been on the age beat for decades. The field chose me long before I realized it. It’s been a long deep dive and a challenging open-ended solo journey, applying foresight to our shifting demographics as we traverse discontinuous changing times. All the while, I’ve been honing an evolving aspirational view of the future, which dovetails positive futures with positive aging (aka conscious aging).

Born on the cusp of being a true Baby Boomer, I’ve had a unique vantage point as an observer and a facilitator of the impact the Boomer generation has had on our changing reality as they moved past 30 on their way into their 60s. My destiny has been to stand on the shoulders of and along with others in spreading the truth about our future and sounding the call for planning strategically to meet the challenges and needs of this enormous demographic group and the echo effects on our emerging intergenerational workplace, our future economies, our very way of life, and the fate of our planet. Now these conferences are bringing us out of our research isolation, creating new tribes of professionals wanting to change the conversation on aging and the future.

A Positive Aging (R)evolution

Back in the early nineties, the Omega Institute convened two of the first conferences on conscious aging. Unfortunately, the ingrained model of aging as a disease prevailed. It wasn’t until 2007 that the progressive Fielding Graduate University, an innovator in adult learning and graduate education, courageously took on the charge to dismantle this outmoded view in exchange for one of hope and possibility.
This year’s conference theme, Life Re-imagined: New Approaches to Positive Aging, resonates with the question I hear over and over again as I traverse the country: “Who am I if I’m no longer young? What’s next?” The question isn’t new, but the intensity and universality are ramping up.

I joined my colleagues as both a roving journalist/blogger and as an author/presenter, sharing Visionaries Have Wrinkles: How to Serve the Generation of Women Who Are Changing the World . . . Again! What a kick this was for me to introduce my newest work on “aspirational aging” for the Age of Greatness that we are entering and to explore our never-before-imagined Ageless Futures with an audience of professionals in the field of aging.

The conference rocked from the engaging opening by Wendy Lustbader, MSW, author of The Unexpected Pleasures of Growing Older, who reminded us that “Elders dare to enter the deeper realms. . . . The finest audacity is at the end of life,” to an eye-opening exploration of Dr. Brian De Vries’ground-breaking research on the aging experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adults. Then the renowned spiritual teacher we grew up with, Ram Dass, spoke to us via Skype, taking us to a higher realm in sharing his current views on aging, dying, and death: “I’m finding aging very precious. I have no fear of death. Now I have insight to radiate out to the culture.”
Bringing us back down to earth, Andrea Gallagher introduced us to the work of the Life Planning Network. In between plenary sessions, the best of the field’s pioneers and newbie innovators conversed about new approaches to positive aging. Through it all, my professor and mentor from my post-master’s studies and my teaching at the renowned pioneering Brookdale Center on Aging, Harry (Rick) Moody, PhD, was a stellar master of ceremonies, no doubt drawing from his experiences as a professor, lifelong teacher, prolific author, and director of academic affairs for AARP.

It all came together with the closing plenary by James Birren, a six-decade pioneer in gerontology, who was honored with Fielding’s Creative Longevity and Wisdom Award. He sent us on our way with the wisdom to “Always ask questions without answers.” His parting question to us: “What is your life’s metaphor?”

Intergenerational Collaboration

Donning my journalist hat while scanning as a futurist, I kept asking, what is jumping out at me? What are the gaps, what new aha’s are showing up, what’s not being addressed?

Flashing in neon was the paucity of young people in attendance. Not one Millennial (those in their 20s and early 30s), and only a minority of Gen X’ers (mid- to late 30s and 40s, approaching early 50s). How could this be? Quickly surveying the academics present, I heard confirmation that kids are just not enrolling in new gerontology programs.

Why are so few entering the field of aging or other fields serving the enormous Boomer generation?

Are they turning away in disgust and disillusionment because of media fear mongering? The media cause célèbre seems to be to scapegoat all Boomers as the Me generation, responsible for toppling our economy, gouging our kids’ future with our entitlements, and leaving our youth with a planet raped by our rampant consumerism.

With jobs at a premium and careers derailed, have we so brainwashed our citizenry with the disease model of aging that entering the aging field conjures up only the worst possible images of cleaning bed pans and tending to the most infirm among us?
Or is our long-running romance and glamorization of youth keeping us all in denial about the great potential of this new age we are in and moving through?

Perhaps our current reality is just too much to grok, and oh so scary, causing our youth to think, why bother? If we really listen to them, we’ll hear the not-unfounded belief that we are heading into total planetary destruction, with our old institutions and infrastructure crumbling before our eyes, and our once-revered democracy broken. Can we blame them for their obsession with clicking on and partying it out in this NOW reality?

Yet we need each other now more than ever. A survey just released in February showed that 26% of Boomers are financially supporting their children or have them living at home, and more than 20% are supporting aging parents. We are in this together.

Rewriting Our Story

Yes, those of us leaving our 50s and entering our 60s and 70s did put us all in this current tragic reality. We were once an awesome generation with great vision and verve, setting out on what seemed an impossible mission. Boomers were dealt a Joker Card, the unexpected reversal of fortunes, and we toppled from our towers of success, ending up exhausted and frozen in horror, wondering how this could happen to us. Why now, when we thought we’d be coasting?

Amid the breakdowns all around us, most leading-edge Boomers are in shock at having aged. If we are really honest with ourselves and each other, we are living in collective grief and mourning for what used to be. Having been brought to our knees by the Great Recession, toppled from our awesomeness, and stuck in global ossification, we are stunned to find that we are not invincible, that we are not the masters of our universe. Compounding our tragic fall, too many of us are still searching for the eternal fountain of youth, which demands that we stay in denial, unwilling to face the realities of our times and our aging process.

As a generation and a society, we are pooped out, burned, and shattered, but I assure you we do not have to stay stuck in this tragic system collapse, clinging to what we know because it’s familiar, afraid to break out of the box into the light of something new, something as yet un-birthed.

Blame-placing and denial aren’t what we need right now. As in James Birren’s parting query, we all need to ask, what story are we in? Then we can rewrite the ending, or at least come up with alternative scenarios (even aspirational aging futures) and take actions informed by what is so, actions fueled by a new wisdom.

As my dear friend and eco-futurist colleague Maria Katzenbach reminds me, the best of drama and storytelling always has a tragic reversal, followed by a turning point or a rewrite of the ending. As a science educator, my metaphors come from quantum physics and nature, which have some parallels to tragedy and comedy. I liken our current shakedown to a dissipative structure, which can shake into oblivion or enter a new level of evolution. We can and must choose evolution, which means choosing creative destruction and the resulting radical reinvention required. It’s either rebirth a reimagined future or it’s over and out. I know what I’m choosing. What about you? Your business? The folks who keep you in business?

As this year’s conference theme, life re-imagined, alluded to, re-imagination precedes sustainable reinvention. This is what is called for now, ’cause none of us has ever been here before. The challenge of our times is to reach across generations collaboratively to re-determine what is the greatest possible future we want to re-imagine—and then occupy it! Continuously, over and over again, until it’s now!

Our Portal to a Greater Future

This conference brought together a mixture of the creative arts as a pathway to self-discovery and presentations grounded in scientific research. Perhaps planned, this mix of creative inner seeking and evidence-based action is certainly a most appropriate metaphor for what is required to create our future anew as well as what comes with the wisdom of aging. The gifts of age will bring back our lost awe as we unleash our new “old age”—one of greatness, individually and collectively. As Ram Dass exemplified, as we move into our later years, we too integrate the linear and the nonlinear, radiating out true greatness to our culture.

I believe that Boomer aging is the portal to a new future for humanity and the planet. It is our generational reason for being here at this time. It is our fate and destiny and that of our kids. In fact, recent studies show that Boomers are the most entrepreneurial, the most willing to take risks, of any other generation. Our youth was our dress rehearsal. Now we must return anew to our purpose and vision for the future. For we are the visionaries we’ve been waiting for. We get another chance to be awesome! Who better than us to take the lead as visionaries with wrinkles, to give hope to our kids? They need us and we need them. Together we can rewrite the impending ending and craft alternative futures that work for all of us.

Featured image by Garry Knight.