Middle-aged Restlessness

There can be a restlessness that happens at middle age. 

The cliché story of the mid-life career change, of running off with a new lover, of selling everything and living in a cabin or buying a flashy new sports car.

There can be a dissatisfaction - 
a reality that the gap between what you could achieve and what you have settled for.

There can be limits - 
less options of what’s possible if you chose to be limited by your age or your health.

There can be vulnerability - 
a fear of being replaced or even worse - irrelevant!

Maybe you are sitting with the awareness that time is running out. That your best before date is looming. Maybe you have changed addresses or careers or cars?

Maybe you are scared. Sitting waiting for something to happen? Waiting for life to serve you your sentence. I have never been one to wait. Action is one of my favourite things. I have always loved the idea that we are not trees and we can move if we want to! 

One of my favourite quotes is: 

“Action keeps the darkness away.”

The problem is what to do when you don’t know what you want….

I suggest taking some action. Doing something new. Trying something different.

Every year, I run my Repotted Retreat. Repotted is three days to help people to get clarity about what's next. About what they want. About what they really want. Not what the world wants from them. But what they want from life. It’s about clearing out. Making decisions. Moving forward. 

It's surprisingly easy when you take yourself away and surround yourself with like-minded people who are also real and honest about not knowing what's next for them. It’s brave to ‘take yourself away’. It's powerful to give yourself space to consider.

To take stock of your unrealised potential, about what is possible and then to create a plan of how to head towards possibility.

Too many people give up. They stop living while they are alive. They become stagnant. Like an old forgotten pond at the back of a property, they forget themselves. I love pulling people out of these ponds. The look on their faces when they realise that they have wonderful days and experiences ahead of them! 

As Dylan Thomas said - 
I will not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.