MEMO TO MYSELF
I’ve been advised to write an upbeat end-of-year note – to reinforce the message of my writing, which is that women over fifty are feeling upbeat about themselves and their prospects. And that certainly applies to me. My kids and friends are good; my husband has opened the art gallery of his dreams; and my mother is drifting off peacefully (so far). I have reconnected with old friends, which is an amazing gift; my longtime friends continue to nourish me and one another (one had major back surgery, …

Because I am trying to chronicle our experiences as we define a new stage of life, I feel free to ask impertinent questions, and I am always rewarded by honest and thoughtful answers. No surprise, really, from women who are discovering the joys of not caring “what other people think anymore.” Much of what they tell me begins with an astonished “I can’t believe that I am telling your this…” or “I can’t believe I am doing this…” but we are surprising ourselves at every turn.
My latest line of inquiry …

Women in Second Adulthood Are Doing Just Fine, Thank You.
In a country that gorges on “happy meals” and concludes correspondence with a “smiley face,” it is safe to suggest that happiness has been devalued as a meaningful state of mind. Asking about it is like asking “How are you?” Fine.  Nevertheless Marcus Buckingham, who describes himself as “leading expert in personal strengths and best-selling author,” decided to assemble all known happiness surveys (On a scale of 1 to 3, how happy are you?) and report on Huffington Post that his …

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
I know that I am not the only one who thinks of Fall as the beginning of the New Year. It’s that embedded back-to-school schedule – ours then and our children’s now. I am much more inclined to get going in October than in January.
What’s more, while my January resolutions have more to do with self-improvement (or self-criticism) – perennially “go on a diet” – my October plans are more about taking care of business and beefing up the rewarding parts of my life. …

GLORIA STEINEM, ISABELLA ROSSELLINI, REP. DONNA EDWARDS (D-MD), MODERATOR LESLEY JANE SEYMOUR AND ME.

FREE BOOK Fifty is the New Fifty, First 10 Comments
I don’t think there is anything more nourishing than an hour spent with a group of bright, funny and honest women friends. I got to do that – big time – last June when Gloria Steinem, Isabella Rossellini and Rep. Donna F. Edwards joined me for a discussion of the ideas in my book Fifty Is the New Fifty on a panel moderated by Lesley Jane Seymour, More …

I Love Your Term the Fertile Void…
Suzanne Braun Levine has been a hero of mine since age 16, when I was a charter subscriber to Ms. Magazine, where she was the first editor. Just as Ms. had many things to teach me about myself as a woman and a feminist, so Levine decades later continues to teach women about themselves, through her writing (in books like Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood and her contributions to MORE Magazine) and speaking. I was privileged to talk …

My friend Joanne Edgar is a 2009 Trek Women’s Triathlete!
She’s in our FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY video in her Nia class and “Nia — Why I Keep Coming Back for More…” Now, she is going for it all!
FOR THE CHALLENGE, THE FUN . . . AND FOR ME!
By Joanne Edgar, #1312
What does it mean to feel good about your body? To me, at age 65, it means feeling strong and healthy and optimistic, knowing I can meet the challenges I set for myself.
On September 13, 2009, I completed …

DO YOU FEEL IT? DO YOU FEAR OR WELCOME CHANGE?

Second Adulthood is all about change. It’s about a restlessness that creates a non-specific “itch” to make changes. Life in the Fertile Void, as I call this period, may feel like a free fall; it is alternately exhilarating and terrifying.
The changes you choose to make may not be as dramatic as parachuting out of a plane or as operatic as running off with the cable guy, but they will probably feel as momentous. Though some women are overcome with …

We Can Only Learn from Each Other
When the first copy of my new book FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY arrived from my publisher, my emotions were mixed. On the one hand the book embodies the long-awaited launch of my ideas into the public conversation. On the other hand, it makes me vulnerable to the public’s response. Curiously, though, I feel somewhat less vulnerable this time out than when INVENTING THE REST OF OUR LIVES was published several years ago.
This is due in part to the fact that I was …

When Gloria Steinem famously proclaimed “This is what forty” – and then fifty, sixty, and now seventy – “looks like!” I totally endorsed her message: if each of us stops trying to hide our years, we will liberate each benchmark for all of us. And in all my writing about women’s Second Adulthood I have passionately put forward the conviction that for many women, myself included, the years after fifty are the most dynamic, authentic, and fun of all. In fact, I have just signed a contract to write a …