Saturday, September 26, 2015

Midlife Opportunity

In Chinese characters, the word "crisis" comprises of danger and opportunity
危機

Yesterday, a colleague mentioned that he was heading for lunch with a friend of a friend who experienced a "midlife crisis". He wants to go into "environment protection", and wanted to brainstorm with someone what kind of opportunities are out there. I didn't say anything, but I was wondering to myself, why do we always talk about the midlife crisis and never about the opportunity? 

I openly admit that I am going through a "midlife opportunity". Things that were important to me for decades like the drive to figure things out, or the desire to be smarter than others, has pretty much disappeared. It has been a while in the making, and often I just wanted to leave all of that what has defined me as a successful person behind. Actually, in some ways I already did when I started my avocation as spiritual writer, like the note you are reading right now. Yet, I still have a mission to fulfill at work as well. I no longer just try to prove how smart I am, I now lead and mentor others; I build a team that hopefully will stand the test of time. One day my work will be done there, and I will be thankful for the energy shift I received when I was in my forties.

There is a lot of wisdom in the Chinese characters. While it is not pleasant to experience an energy slump or to question everything that ever was meaningful for you, the opportunity in this shift is enormous. Sure you can start over just like the friend who wants to move into environment protection, but you can also just sit there, and do what you have been doing all your life, while shifting your priorities in the process. Either way, you have an opportunity at hand. After a long journey defining who you think you were, it is time now to come Home!


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