Mid-Life and Beyond: Discovering Your Relevance
Devote the back half of your life to serving others with your wisdom. Get old sharing the things you believe are most important. Excellence is always its own reward, and this is how you can be most excellent as you age. — Arthur C. Brooks
Remember the days of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal when people were pondering whether Clinton was still relevant? For anyone, that's a disheartening question to face because it implies a loss of purpose. Whether you hold the highest office in the land or are the unsung hero at the bottom of the corporate ladder, your role carries a sense of significance as you fulfill a vital function. If you were to step down, rest assured, you'd be replaced.
However, many individuals in their later years grapple with a poignant struggle - the feeling of dwindling relevance. They find themselves no longer indispensable to their workplace, and sometimes even within their own families. What's more, their absence doesn't prompt anyone to fill the void left behind.
Renowned author Richard Leider, in his insightful book "Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old?" highlights two critical phases in our lives: the mid-life crisis and the late-life crisis.
The mid-life crisis is marked by a sense of missed opportunities. There's a persistent feeling that life hasn't unfolded as we hoped, and time is rapidly slipping away. Life's trajectory doesn't align with our expectations. The typical remedies, like purchasing a new car or finding a new spouse, often fail to provide long-term satisfaction.
The late-life crisis, on the other hand, is about losing relevance and identity. It's a feeling of hopelessness, a conviction that life is on a downward slope from this point onward. Studies reveal that one out of every three people experiences this crisis. These are the individuals you likely encounter, perhaps even your own parents, and it might include you in the years ahead if you don't transition gracefully into growing old.
As we shift into retirement and advance deeper into the second half of our lives, it becomes evident that this is the ideal time to relinquish our ego-driven operating system. It's time to embark on a spiritual journey, one not necessarily tied to religion, to uncover our true selves and the unique gifts we possess, gifts that can still contribute to the world.
In the latter part of life, it's important to understand that, unlike in your earlier years, no one will hand you relevance on a silver platter in our culture. You must seize it for yourself. Recognize your talents and wisdom, and use them to assist others on a path you have already traversed. Your relevance persists; you simply need to embrace it wholeheartedly.