5 Simple Actions to Make Midlife Your Best Life

What if midlife is the start of life?

Not a strange stopping off point in the middle of nowhere, where life is feeling a bit of a slog, the memory seems less sharp, the flab is well, lurking.

What if midlife is the start of your 50 year life?

And here’s the thing. I’m not talking about a standing start. After all, you know yourself well. You’ve learned a lot, you’ve plenty of life-wisdom. So what’s stopping you from forging ahead? We’ll get to that in a minute, but let’s first take a moment to look at the context.

There’s a lot of talk now about the 100 year life, and that’s not just for the youngest generation coming through. If you were born in the 1960’s there a 50% chance you’ll live to 96. And google any life expectancy calculator and if you’re in good health that percentage shoots right up.

And the good news is, as you age you sweat less (!), catch fewer colds and brain power does change which means you might be less good at the detail, but you’ll be great at big picture stuff – kind of handy when it comes to looking forward to that great new midlfe. Oh, and by the way you’re generally happier.

So what’s getting in the way?

What holds you back?

Let’s start with what you think about. Ask yourself how much time do you spend thinking about the past? How much time do you spend thinking about the present? How much time do you spend thinking about the future?

In Philip Zimbardo’s book “The Time Paradox” he talks about where we spend our time thinking and how this affects our perspective on life. Do you spend a lot of time looking back, and very little time looking forward. Though this is not unusual as we age, it’s important to think forward and do so positively.

You’re also up against the hangover of previous generations and social opinion that at midlife it’s time to slow down ( it isn’t!), that you should be thankful with your lot and wherever you have got to is as far as you’re going to get (not true!).

We are a different generation and you can choose what midlife means.

But what is true is that midlife is often a period of personal change, physical change, work change, family and friends are aging around us and with this your roles and responsibilities shift.

It’s healthy to see change as transition. Change is ever present, but when you accept there is a beginning, a middle and an end to all you do, you can ensure you move through each stage. Often it’s the endings we struggle with most,

You must embrace endings

In order to move to new beginnings. It is often the not letting go of something, or the not accepting of something that puts the weight around our ankles and slows our ability to move forward.

So what can you do?

Here are 5 simple actions to make midlife your best life

1. If looking forward feels like some sort of black hole, seek out ways to create purpose in what you do. Ask yourself why are you doing it, for whom? Allow yourself to dream, build plans for the future. Be purposeful in how you lead your life.

2. Decide who you are. Write a list of all the things that are great about you. Your wisdom, your skills, your knowledge. How you make others’ lives better. Note what you love doing, what you’re really good at, what makes you laugh. Be intentionally positive about this. Work on this until you have at least 40 things written down.

3. Check in with yourself. What are you hanging onto that is slowing you down. What endings need to happen. What needs to be embraced for what it is. Accept your endings so that you can create new beginnings.

4. Note where you are spending your “thinking” time. Are you spending too much time looking back and not enough time looking forward? Be mindful of your thoughts. To paraphrase Jung, how you think becomes your truth.

5. And finally, look after yourself. Sleep more, eat a little less, stretch your legs. You’ve a long and wonderful life ahead.

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