By Suzanne Braun Levine,
“Happy Anniversary,
SheWrites.com™!”

Finding material to write about is not always easy. One route is the memoir, which is built on revealing material you know well. Or you can write about something you don’t know well but would like to learn about. I combine the two by weaving some – but not all – of my own life story with answers to the question “What’s going on with women?” I have spent most of my professional life chronicling that transformation of women’s lives at different stages, and the experience has, in turn, inspired and empowered my own. Every time over the past forty years that I posed the question “What’s going on with women?” the answers were different.

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.

Mary Eileen Williams. Reinventing the
Spirit and Style of Aging

Mary Eileen Williams, the warm, lively and informative host of “Feisty Side of Fifty Radio,” promises her listeners: “Give me just fifteen minutes of your time and I’ll give you interviews with authors, actors, and experts who will inspire you to make significant and positive changes in your own life.” And, she delivers on the promise.

By Enid Weishaus, MSW, founder
Smarter, Bolder. Older™

Women Redefining Life after 50…

Smarter, Bolder, Older™ – a one-day event for women 50+ – grew out of my own experience of aging and conversations with other women. I am committed to changing the stereotype of aging and loss in midlife to one of vitality, embracing new opportunities and possibilities as women in midlife and beyond get clear on what matters and makes the most of this stage of their lives.

Introduction by Louise W. Knight, author
“Jane Addams: Spirit in Action”

By now it should come as no surprise that our foremothers did know a thing or two, but it is always stunning to come upon words of wisdom that are totally relevant today.

My friend Louise Knight, who has written the definitive biography of the reformer Jane Addams recently passed along the essay below. What is stunning here is how these words written almost a century ago speak to the current conversation about Second Adulthood or the Encore stage of life (just check out www.encore.com) in which we have an opportunity turn the wisdom, expertise, and confidence of our pre-fifty years – what Addams calls “moral energy”- to making our world a better place.
– Suzanne Braun Levine

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 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…

By Mary Eileen Williams, Founder
Feisty Side of Fifty

There’s one special club that embodies our celebrated joie de vivre and legendary spunk, The Red Hat Society, and this remarkable organization has become the largest women’s social club in the world.

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.

By Mary Eileen Williams
Founder, Feisty Side of Fifty

Boomers are the first generation of women to openly claim our rights to personal power and parity with men since the decline of the Goddess cultures. The first feminists fought long and hard for women’s suffrage. But, once they got the vote, many seemed to lose steam and returned to stoke the home fires.