By Stefanie Weiss,
VP Communications at
Civic Ventures

Some of the most inspiring Encore stories come from Civic Ventures Purpose Prize winners and fellows, people in their 60s who are tackling society’s toughest problems.

By Suzanne Braun Levine

I’m not big on change. Most of us aren’t. That becomes a bigger problem the more choices we have and the more restless we feel. Second Adulthood is about choices and restlessness and trying something new, but that means change, and many of us get stuck at the edge of the diving board.

By Robin Morgan, “Upstairs in the
Garden: Poems Selected and New,”
1990.

“Sometimes you don’t have no control over the way things are. Hail ruins the crops, or fire burns you out. And then you’re just given so much to work with in a life and you have to do the best you can with what you got. That’s what piecing is. The materials is passed on to you, or is all you can afford. But the way you put them together is your business. You can put them in any order you like. Piecing is orderly.”

– An anonymous woman quoted in The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art

By Suzanne Braun Levine,
FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY
10 Life Lessons for Women
In Second Adulthood

FEAR!!!!

We each have our personal demons that show up in the middle of the night shrieking a litany of worst-case scenarios: What if I don’t have enough money to support myself? What if that nagging ache is something really serious? What if I can’t figure out what to do next? What’s wrong with meeeeeee?

By Ruth A. Wooden,
Chair, Civic Ventures

Shift Happens. It’s probably happening to you right now

My big shift started when I retired last year, and it’s still going. I’m not sure where I’m headed, but it’s been a pleasure to hit the pause button while I ponder. Lately, certain life moments have hooked my attention, turning points that mark shifts not only in the world around me but in the way I view it.

By Suzanne Braun Levine,
FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY,
10 Life Lessons for Women
In Second Adulthood

Second Adulthood is all about change…the changes that befall us and those we generate. The first without the second creates a miasma of disappointment. The second, if it doesn’t incorporate the first, is frustrating and discouraging…

Marc Freedman, Founder & CEO
Civic Ventures, THE BIG SHIFT: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife

What is so special about Marc Freedman’s new book, THE BIG SHIFT is that it shares a vision for a new stage of life that will be rich and full for both the people entering their fifties and sixties and the society at large.

It also shares stories of people who have entered that Encore stage. I always think one story is worth a thousand words. Here is Anne Nolan’s from THE BIG SHIFT…

By Mary Eileen Williams, Founder
Feisty Side of Fifty

There’s no official vacation day, very little media coverage, and you won’t even find it on the calendar—but this holiday commemorates a movement that’s made a huge impact on our lives both personally and professionally. March 8th is International Women’s History Day.

By Suzanne Braun Levine

March 8 commemorates the one hundredth anniversary of the official recognition of the world’s women. Over that century American women got the vote, became economic entities, and were granted equal rights in most spheres. And we found our voices. We have been speaking up and speaking out about the conditions and experiences of our lives, and as a result much of our story has emerged from the obscurity that history has relegated us to.

By Suzanne Braun Levine

With your kids finally leaving home, your vision of the years ahead beginning to come into focus, and your relationships narrowing down to a precious few, you are just beginning to explore what it means to care for yourself –– when the call to care-giving comes.

Parents who had been taking care of each other suddenly lose it; partners who had been mighty oaks crack; friends who had been there for you suddenly need your support; kids in crisis show up on the doorstep.