Your Second Act - After 50 (okay, maybe even 40)

The first act (the world of work) has come, or is coming, to its final curtain and you’re left looking out over the empty auditorium seats wondering what’s next. What’s the next act? Thankfully, there are so many options to be had, and if you are like most people in the 50 and over crowd, the rocking chair isn’t the path your jumping with excitement to travel. The question is, which path do you take? What are the possible scenes?

When I speak to those who are about to peer into “retirement”, they tell me they are looking to do something, but that this something isn’t going to be what they spent their life doing up to this point. It’s going to be something different. Something they love. Then the blank look comes over their faces as they begin to search inside of themselves for what that some thing could possibly be. Why the confusion?

As a life coach and business coach I encounter individuals every day who have over the course of their life lost touch with their passions – what matters most to them personally. This isn’t to say that you haven’t been passionate about things to this point, but your passions may have temporarily emerged from the roles you’ve played. Let me explain. You have played roles in your life such as your profession, boss, mother, housewife, caretaker, father, sister, brother, son and daughter, to name a few. That’s a lot of roles to fill, yet they have all been important roles in your life and al were needed at various chapters of your life. And, often times you have been absolutely passionate about filling these roles because they were in service of your talents, strengths, interests and loved ones. Okay, so what?

Well, there is one role that we haven’t discussed. And, most frequently this one role has become the understudy who waits for the day when he/she is allowed to step onto the stage. This is the most important role of all, yet is has been pushed to the back of the stage. That role is – YOU! Now is the time for YOU to shine, to step into the spotlight and sing the song that you have inside of you. You have this wonderful opportunity in your life to reconnect and reignite your unique song within. Seems easy right? Yes! It can be with a little dreaming, visioning, and decisioning.

Here are some helpful tips to get you started in the right direction:

Discover – Write down those things you value and include the things you are passionate about. Take some time and go to a place where you feel inspired – a place where your free to be with your thoughts. Think back upon the stages of your life beginning with your childhood and connect with what made you come alive. Notice the “wild and crazy” dreams you had when you were 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. Think of the things you loved to do, such as hobbies, talents, things you were told couldn’t make a solid living. STOP! Don’t allow the “responsible adult” in you to come in and squelch the dreaming of that younger YOU, because there is wisdom to be gained by this past youthful you that still resides inside. Begin to write those passions down as they come to you. Notice how it make you feel to remember. Take notice as you observe those dormant dreams wanting to be reignited. I can see you smiling right now. Or, you may actually be experiencing grief as you visit these “long lost friends” – your dreams. Your okay, because now you get to reconnect and reignite.
Envision – Now look at the list that you created and begin to envision ways you could fully express these passions in your life, community and world today. Where does the world (holistically speaking) need more of what you can bring when you give yourself full permission to express your passions and dreams?
Create – Begin to look for organizations, charities, and communities where you can leverage your passion, your dream, your ideas. Look for entities who are aligned with your passion and values, because there is power in the congruency of these passions. It’s like being plugged into an electrical source where the power flows freely and effortlessly because it is driven by the resonate energy you feel when you live life in flow with what is felt deeply in the core of your being.
Oh, and by the way, let’s not forget that you are brilliant when you give yourself permission to embrace what you love. Hey! You may even want to start your own business centered around these wonderful passions in which you have reconnected. Wouldn’t that be exciting and make you want to hit the floor running every day? As Nike says, Just do it!

One thing I do with my clients is what I call a “colossal reinvent”, which is a dreaming bigger exercise. Look back at steps 2 and 3 above and suspend your inner critic, or gremlins as I sometimes call them, and dream even bigger and envision what it would be like to have an even bigger impact? What would be possible if you were able to express your dream in an an even bigger way?

Now go and do it! No excuses. Your world is waiting for you.