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 …

DEFINING A NEW WAY OF LOVING IN SECOND ADULTHOOD
Do you have a partner or a project or a person who moves you deeply? Someone you trust totally? Have you heard yourself use the word “love” in circumstances you hadn’t before? Do you connect love with sex? If you feel you are missing love in your life, what is it you miss?
The reason I ask is that everywhere I go, I hear from women who are experiencing love, intense love, in new ways. In some cases, they do not label …

We’re Celebrating…Join Us!

With the launch of this website we are celebrating the new home for Women in Second Adulthood along with the publication of my new book: FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY: 10 LIFE LESSONS FOR WOMEN IN SECOND ADULTHOOD. In my books, I have collected anecdotes, insights, and wisdom from women at a new frontier of self-discovery; their stories, along with front-line scientific research and understanding from those professionals who are monitoring our journey, offer practical guidelines for all of us. On this website we can do the …

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 …

It is always stunning to me to realize that an event that still lives in my contemporary memory actually took place decades ago, so when I was invited to a 35th anniversary celebration for Ms. Magazine it was as though my life was flashing before my eyes. I joined the magazine in the summer of 1972 for the very first monthly issue. When we put Wonder Woman on the cover, we felt empowered and protected by her magic bracelets. But I had no idea what a life-changing and world-changing adventure …

Because I am working on a new book about the unprecedented stage of new life that women are discovering, I have an excuse to indulge in my favorite pastime: talking to women. And because our conversations get real pretty fast – even if we’ve only just met – I have heard a lot about sex in this strange new world of Second Adulthood. The responses can be sorted into three general categories: “Who needs it!” “Where do I get it?” and “What took so long?” (Perhaps this is the next-stage …

I have just finished screening purposals for the Purpose Prize, a cash award to be given by the terrific organization called Civic Ventures that promotes civic engagement on the part of people over fifty. The entries I saw were all impressive and I wish they all could win, but what really struck me was the theme that was taken up by several of them – the growing care-giving crisis in our society, which is particularly accute among women in their Second Adulthood. Many have given up everything – relationships, jobs, …

Like most of you I am sure, I keep a file of juicy tidbits and quotes picked up from random reading. I especially love it when I find something that confirms what we know, but can’t prove about ourselves. Here are some recent favorites:
The increasing use of both sides of the brain for cognitive processes – bilateral brain involvement – can support a more balanced perspective on life that draws on both our logical, analytical powers as well as our nonverbal, intuitive capacities…..Evidence for this kind of development comes from …

Traveling the country and meeting women who are inventing the rest of their lives is the best tonic for the front page of most newspapers these days. The headlines all seem to be about greed, duplicity, cravenness, selfishness, meanness and what Big Daddy labeled “mendacity” (in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”).
The women I meet, on the other hand, radiate humor, courage, generosity of spirit and purse, community and optimism. They are forthright and bold.
Recently in Phoenix, over 150 women came to hear me and ended up listening to each …

Like many of you, I approach a technological adventure such as blogging with trepidation. But I also relish the opportunity to communicate with people I haven’t met about our common life experience. If I have learned anything in over thirty years of editing, writing about, and living “women’s issues,” it is that we do best when we share our stories. In fact, studies are finding that when a woman has the support of a “circle of trust” – women she can count on – the stress-reducing and pleasure-enhancing hormone oxytocin …