Midpoint
This musing of A. A. Milne’s Christopher Robin seems to have underscored much of my life and is even more true as I get a tad older and contemplate what I want - and where I best fit - in my seventies.
Halfway up (or down, as in the title of the poem) is an oasis as well as a transition point. At this midpoint, I have the space to review my options and to plan.
Variety
My friends range from a handful in their eighties to a sprinkling under forty. A few are never-married, a few widowed, a few divorced, many married. They are child-free by choice or circumstance, parents and grandparents - a few, great-grandparents. I spend my time with the unemployed, the fully-employed, retirees, consultants, new and long-time entrepreneurs, and a few with part-time careers or volunteer experiences. As a group, they are all over that staircase.
So many choices!
I’ve wandered up and down the staircase a few times myself. At fifty, I ditched my public service career to move into the world of coaching and consulting. Twenty years later, I don’t regret the choice, yet begin to consider what might be next. When I spend time with my fully-retired friends, I find myself wanting to share that experience. A few days later, I’m equally drawn to expanding my business, as I’m inspired by other entrepreneurs.
I want a little of everything, I find. This is not new to me, as I’ve spent a lifetime figuring out how to have things that seemed diametrically opposed. Now, I see it will be a matter of proportion and scale. I’m figuring out how much work is enough. And how much amusement is enough. And how much just plain loafing is enough.
Resolution?
So, here’s the space I’m in. A little of this, a little of that. How to describe it? Christopher Robin says it best. “It isn’t really anyplace, it’s somewhere else instead.”