Midlife Surprise: Your Best Years are Ahead!

Is 35 the New Midlife?

I almost didn’t register for “Learning to Love Midlife.” At 66½, middle age is probably in my rearview mirror. We weren’t being ‘carded’ when we joined the Zoom conference; so, I smiled like a bouncy 50-year-old and logged in for an hour of conversation and Q&A. Chip Conley was discussing his latest book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age. (on hold for me at the library)

In January 2019; I was recently laid off. Job prospects selling healthcare consulting were bleak. There was a polar vortex blanketing Indianapolis in frigid temperatures. I was eating all day; unable to sleep at night and checking all the boxes for seasonal affective disorder. Against my family’s well-meaning advice, I headed to Arizona to regenerate by visiting an encouraging cousin and supportive friends.

Southwest Airline’s magazine boasted a full cover of Chip Conley, with the headline “Think younger. And older.” I read the article repeatedly for the entire 3-hour flight. It was my “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear” moment. I stopped at Barnes and Noble to buy Conley’s book, Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder en route to my resort. I returned from Carefree, Mesa, and Phoenix, with a new mindset. Two months later, I found a rewarding job in a new field using my decades of sales success differently.

3 insights from Friday’s conversation:

1) Conley described midlife in three strata: 35-50 “early;” 50-60 “core;” and 60-75 “later.” I belonged in the midlife conversation after all! The World Health Organization, Social Security Administration, and the National Center for Biotechnology Information consider 65 and older as elderly. I prefer Conley’s interpretation.

2) Conley discussed research on intergenerational teams in the workplace. Organizations benefit from the focus orientation of younger employees and holistic orientation of older employees. Outside of today’s conversation, University of Washington professor, Jessica Huisi Li, co-authored a study highlighting 40% of U.S. workers had a younger manager in 2020.

3) Age 54 is a significant midlife point. Conley highlighted there are 36 years between completing high school at 18 years old and age 54. There are also 36 years between 54 and a growing number of nonagenarians, 90-year-olds.

Today’s program was a free event presented through the University of Chicago’s Leadership and Society Initiative. The LSI program assists executives in transitioning into meaningful roles in society after their professional careers. U of C offers both virtual and on-site free events open to the public.

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute offers midlife programs at 125 colleges and universities including Indiana State University. There are non-degree programs for adults and midlife transition programs at colleges and universities throughout the country.

Chip Conley also offers the Modern Elder Academy, helping people navigate their midlife and elder years opening in Santa Fe, New Mexico later in Spring 2024. Alumni association workshops and life coaches also help those in midlife discover their, “what’s next.” Midlife could be more fun than you ever imagined!

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” –Dr. Suess