Really, I was afraid of making the wrong decision. At the age of 43, I didn’t want to start down a road, using up precious time and money, and then realizing it was a road I didn’t want to be on after all.

Here she was — the latest in the string of middle-aged women laid off, retired, let go, fired, since the economy nose-dived last year.

We’re at different stages at different times of our lives. We may go back and forth through being out in the world and being inward.

Last year when I started MidLifeBloggers, a small lust lodged in my brain. More magazine would come calling…and offer me untold wealth to sell them the site. I believe this fantasy included a home in the South of France–and the body to go with it.

My days are filled from morning to night, but never with just one thing. I am, in fact, constitutionally incapable of any kind of singular focus. My life has been lived, and what successes I’ve had, follow a shotgun methodology: I spray the woods and where the buckshot lands, I go gather the goods. I resist the sneers of those who call me dilettante and I insist my way is The Way. But secretly, as I said, I feel guilty. Now, here comes Ingrid E. Cummings telling me that not only do I have a place in the world, more people should be like me! In The Vigorous Mind, Cummings argues for “a return to a Renaissance perspective, when the ideal was to be well-rounded.” Her thesis is contained within the subtitle: “Cross-Train Your Brain to Break Through Mental, Emotional, and Professional Boundaries.”

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the first night of this season’s American Idol auditions with teenage son, Jacob, and I found myself paying particular attention to the words Simon, Paula, Kara and Randy used to tell rejected contestants that they wouldn’t be moving on to the next round. Interestingly/scarily, some of the judge’s words resonated with me.

by Celeste Lindell of Average Jane
It all started when my husband was in his mid-40s. He’d spent most of
his life as a musician, but had recently become a regional sales
representative for a wholesaler. That …

by Denise, of Not What It Seems

“Latency is a time delay between the moment something is initiated, and the moment one of its effects begins or becomes detectable. The word derives from the fact that …

by msmeta of Adventures at Midlife
In a recent story in the NYTimes, participants in a three-hour training program called Xtreme Aging held at an retirement care center were suited up as old folks:
Along with 15 …

by Karen Batchelor of Midlife’s a Trip
I used to think I was on the proverbial “ladder of success”.  I had the corporate job that many people dream of.  But I wasn’t living in sync with …