For Boomers Moving Into the Second Half of Life: How Do You Know What Door to Walk Through? CategoriesSecond Acts, Cool People · This Boomer's Life

For Boomers Moving Into the Second Half of Life: How Do You Know What Door to Walk Through?

I have begun a book that gives me hope and enthusiasm to move forward, open doors and walk through them! It’s called All the Places to Go: How Will you Know? by John Ortberg. There is an obvious reference to Dr. Seuss, and he happily includes several Seussian style poems of his own, just for fun. It’s an entertaining read!

When we worry and wring our hands over what to do, which way we want to go, maybe asking what is God telling us to do, and further, why isn’t there a sign to point the way?…. The message that I take to heart is, it is not the door we choose to open and walk through that is important, it is the person we will be on the other side.

As I move into life after 50 (love it!) I am realizing that it is a beautiful opportunity that is only given to those who earn it, and you can only earn it by living it. This is a time when I can intentionally choose to open certain doors and walk away from others. And most of those open doors involve, for me, reaching out and populating my world with new friends and deeper relationships, because that is a relatively new value for me. Ortberg reminds us that a closed system results in entropy. That means that the more we shut ourselves off from others, the more we withdraw to find comfort, the less comfort we will find, and our world will become empty. A closed system deteriorates, whereas an open and inviting system has life and joy and gives life and joy.

So my goal is now to make stronger my strengths, and put the weaknesses behind me. And that may result in several open doors. hen, I have the grand opportunity to answer the question “Which of these doors is in sync with my current values and needs as I know them at this lovely age?” And “Will the kind of person I will be after walking through that door be one I believe God can use, for this reinvented life after 50 that he has granted me? ”

I can do that.

 

Susan is the mother of two grown children and has lived in Richmond for 25 years. She is Lower School Dean of Students at the Steward School in Richmond, Virginia. She is also a Family/Life Coach with training endorsed by the International Coach Federation. Her passion is nurturing the social/emotional health of her children at school, the joy of family and friends, and a very interesting and talented husband of 32 years with whom she now shares an empty nest.

 

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Susan is the mother of two grown children and has lived in Richmond for 25 years. She is Lower School Dean of Students at the Steward School in Richmond, Virginia. She is also a Family/Life Coach with training endorsed by the International Coach Federation. Her passion is nurturing the social/emotional health of her children at school, the joy of family and friends, and a very interesting and talented husband of 32 years with whom she now shares an empty nest.