Midlife Mastery Journal

Certainly, illicit relationships (going out on your partner) can happen at any time of life. When they do, I believe that they’re always narcotic relationships.

Just the fact of knowing what your emotional reactions to encountering change will most likely be (grief and fear), will also allow you to begin opening yourself up to the possibility of achieving an appreciation for the change process in your own life, and the rich rewards that are yours, if only you can train yourself (and your pesky emotions) to look beyond the momentary present discomfort to the growth experience that awaits you.

Sages, spiritual leaders and we coaches aren’t exaggerating when we insist that challenges are only opportunities in disguise. Properly managed, difficult transitions can be the most fertile ground from which incredible growth and progress can develop.

There’s only one simple (but not easy) approach that we can take that will shelter us from these emotional flash-backs from midlife trauma: beware of free-floating emotions! By that I mean that we can actually train ourselves to spot emotions that come out of nowhere and that seem . . . well . . . just wrong.

Today, as you stand at the crossroads of your own midlife transition, may that gift of God teach you, too, to remember who you really are in the larger scheme of things and, as the invulnerable spirit that you yourself are, to remember that nothing and nobody can really hurt you (without your permission). The spirit of the bold midlife transition is a spirit of acceptance, a spirit of humility, and a spirit of forgiveness. Embrace it: it’s your birthright!