Time For A Change

What do you do?, the person you just met asks.

And you say (fill in the blank) _______.

A variety of reasons should prompt us to rethink the traditional 30-second elevator speech and our tag line(s).

Is this a work in progress for you as well? Care to share yours?

Here is the short list:

I’m the Blog Whisperer, whispering to the world, “Live, before you die.”

I’m the Blog Whisperer, whispering to you, “Live, before you die”.

Changing the world with a single whisper, “Live, before you die”.

Changing the world, one whisper at a time, “Live, before you die”.

Changing the world, one whisper at a time.

Transforming lives, one whisper at a time.

I wake up, write five different blogs, whispering to the world, “Live, before you die”.

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Sensitive Ears Are Everywhere

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w     h     i     s     p     e     r

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Shhhhhh, Not Too Loud

Over & Over (in the name of progress)

Did you catch the blinding flash of the obvious yesterday?

Repetition.

That’s the silver bullet.

A few simple things in life.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Like hardly ever, right?

What do you do?

At the very least, we can pause in our midlife rush, and count what really counts.

Shouldn’t take too long.

What really matters is a short list.

ESPN once named John Wooden the Coach Of The Century. That’s any sport, for the past 100 years. Do you have any earthly idea what mindset that requires. There’s a hidden, and overlooked, secret to life in this video.

Quotes Supply The Essence For Comprehension

Do you enjoy quotes? Most people do. What is it about quotes that draws us to them? For me, it’s the ability to summarize something profound in a small sound bite. It’s the simplicity that does it. What does it for you?

Here’s one of my favorites:

“It doesn’t matter what I say and do, it only matters what you say and do.”

Any guesses on who said that?

We're All Looking For This

Finding your purpose in midlife is a beautiful thing. And it may be as simple as the exercise described in yesterday’s links.

As I was reading them and reflecting on them, it occurred to me why I still had a reservation about the whole idea of writing down, and re-writing until it made you cry, your life’s purpose. A brilliant idea, by the way.

It reinforced Mid Life Celebration’s approach as solid, valid, and important. I was very grateful for the opportunity to have my thinking challenged.

Here’s the secret no one wants to admit. While setting a goal as important as your life’s purpose is critical work, pursuing it with passion and tenacity for the rest of your life is a completely different story.

It reminded me of lofty and meaningful New Year’s Resolutions. They usually fail.

And that’s why this midlife blog is helpful to all of you facing an impending midlife crisis, or those of you smack dab in the center of one right now.

Here, everyday, you’ll find a small insight, tip, or story – in real time – to help you pursue your life’s purpose with passion and tenacity. Every day. Got it?

Need More Time To Take Care Of Your Stuff?

In life, it’s not the material things that matter.  How many times have we heard that?  Makes sense to us too, doesn’t it?  Stuff is not important, people and relationships are.

So then, let me ask you, do you own your material possessions or do they own you?

Please consider doing yourself a favor and read this. It’s not what you think, it’s better. And it revolves around an epiphany from a cross-country backpacking trip. Yeah, everybody is so stinking busy. Busy accumulating stuff.

Crazy Bicyclist?

Are you crazy enough to dream BIG? I mean “Change the World” BIG!

Mid Life Celebration’s vision is to inspire just three percent (3%) of the male Baby Boomers to do something GREAT before they die.

From mending a Family relationship before someone dies, to helping to find a cure for an incurable disease, or something in between.

With roughly half of the 80-million Baby Boomers being men, that’s a target market of 1.2 million.

And then we pray and bank on the ripple effect.  Any idea why?

Always Click The Top Link

No matter which of the five blogs you are on, always click on the Blogroll’s top link to go directly to the next blog. No more confusion. Gonna leave this reminder here for awhile. Scroll past this for today’s post.

What If We Felt This Way About Our Life?

Time marches on.

We ignore this out of fear.

We fear it it because it’s unknown.

It’s unknown because we don’t explore it, don’t study it.

Because we are ignorant, we remain fearful.

And because we’re afraid, we set no lofty goals.  No plans to do great work that makes a difference in our world.

It’s like washing our hair.

Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.

Like going through the motions.

Then we die.

It all goes by so fast.

Spring Grove, Pennsylvania

Mid Life Celebration readers, I am pleased to introduce our Guest Blogger, Lorie Sheffer, from York, Pennsylvania. Lorie and I graduated from Spring Grove Area High School in 1997 1977. Lorie has a spin on midlife that will entertain and enlighten you. You are in for a treat. Take it away Lorie….

My email box usually contains at least one “Stupid, clueless men” joke a week, sent by my gal pals. The most recent: Q: What is gross stupidity?  A: 144 men in one room.

This is one of the kinder jokes. Most involve man parts and the use/misuse of said parts. I’m not so politically correct or dishonest as to say some of this stuff isn’t pretty darned funny. But underneath it all there is this undercurrent of a battle of the sexes as to who has it rougher, especially when it comes to aging. As a woman who has always had male friends, I seem to find myself defending men more and more often these days.

I was out shopping with my grandson a few years ago and the check out girl at the grocery store, when speaking to him, referred to me as “Mom”. “She’s my grandmother”, Carter corrected her. I actually looked into that sweet little face of his and asked him to “Shut it!”  Actually, since I am trying to be honest, it was more of a hiss. Was I becoming so age obsessed that I had hoped if some kid who had an after school job checking groceries mistook grandma for mom that magically made it so?  As if “Grandmother” is a dirty word.  No wonder my grandson looked puzzled. To a small child, Grandma equals magic!

This was about the time the realization hit me. We women are so obsessed with our changing hormones and expanding waist, our hot flashes and our mood swings, we seem to forget that aging is no picnic for the men, either. We tend to talk about it, while men seem to remain quiet for fear of appearing weak. Notice what the overwhelming theme of the commercials are when “guy shows” are on TV. They usually involve a 50-something couple in claw foot bathtubs (I still don’t understand the tubs), baby boomers giving one another “that look” before dancing down the hallway toward the bedroom, or my personal favorite, the teenaged girls advising newly divorced Dad he would be dateable if he used some man-color on that gray hair of his. (Maybe someone should tell Mr. Clooney and Mr. Gere they would be attractive to women if only they hit the Grecian Formula.)

I honest to God have a male friend who colors his chest hair to cover the gray.  If men aren’t lucky enough to have hair TO color, then surely they can send for some Rogain. Because, grand sense of humor that God seems to have, men start to lose hair where they want it around the same time women sprout hair in places that send them running to the waxing salons in droves.

Our age group is being bombarded by an industry that is literally making billions of dollars by playing to our insecurities, when in fact most times all you need is some dim light and a little patience. Most men would be thrilled to have their wives call them sexy or hot of whatever words we use to describe the above-mentioned George and Richard. I would be willing to bet most men are so concerned with their own age related issues that they don’t notice if our legs (or chins) are freshly shaved.

Test it out; say something nice to your significant other. Give a genuine compliment once a day, and let them know you appreciate them. Really, I think that’s all any of us wants. Maybe if we all just stepped outside of ourselves and tried to see through the eyes of the opposite sex, we would realize that we all have our issues. We’re in this together.

A friend sent me an email forward photo of a pretty teenaged girl, circa 1968; below the photo was the question, “Where are the cute hippie girls from the 60s?”

I scrolled down to another photo, this of a totally naked, very overweight, out shape, gray haired woman in her 60s. She was covered with stretched out and faded tattoos of Woodstock era images. She wore only flip-flops as she walked down the street, head held high.  Amazingly, she looked happy.

Humor goes a long way, so long as the object of the joke is laughing WITH us.  As Robert Browning wrote over a century ago, “Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.”

Don't Drop It

“The Juggling Act of Life”

By Erika Liodice

As we get older, life, it seems, becomes increasingly filled with commitments and responsibilities. Most days I find myself running from one task to the next: eating lunch in my car as I frantically run errands over my lunch break, squeezing in phone calls to family and friends during my ten minute drive to work, and agonizing over work assignments and deadlines while I sleep. My car is my virtual office, my Facebook page is my only connection to my loved ones and I tend to think of life in key strokes, wishing I could CTRL + Z (undo) my error in judgement the other night when I added too much detergent to the laundry and found myself swimming in a sea of bubbles. Sometimes it feels like my mind and body never truly rest. And I’m not even 30.

Former CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, Brian G. Dyson, describes it best, “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

So how can we all do a better job of maintaining balance in our lives? Here are a five simple rules I try to live by:

1. Decide what’s most important in your life and don’t take those things for granted.
2. Learn the beauty and the power of the word “no.”
3. Respect your time; don’t waste it on things that don’t matter to you.
4. Do your best and learn to accept when that’s just not enough.
5. Don’t take anything personally.

Erika Liodice is the author of Beyond the Gray, a motivational blog for anyone chasing a dream, and a regular contributor to travel e-zines Lehigh Valley Insite and The Savvy Explorer.

Graphs?

Some simple numbers to show the possibilities when giving up isn’t an option, and neither is dreaming small dreams.

1. 30,000+:  Number of Monthly Visits
2. Five:  Number of Daily blogs written
3. 200:  jeffnoelmidlife You Tubes uploaded, in past 8 months
4. Hundreds of thousands of Monthly Page Views
5. First:  Google Page display for all five blogs
6. Last:  Where I want to be (humble, least, meek)

Raising enough money to find a cure for an incurable disease.

Impossible is nothing.

Thank you for your visits.  There are enormous plans for Mid Life Celebration. This is just the beginning. Together, we can and will help shape the world in a way that teaches young children personal responsibility, beginning in elementary schools.

Midlife Is Like An Ocean

Midlife Crisis is a household name.

There are two Mid Life Celebration Guest bloggers who are not.

Up first, this Sunday, is Erika Liodice, from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

Erika found Mid Life Celebration and invited me to be a Guest Blogger at her blog, Beyond The Gray.

Lorie Sheffer is also from Pennsylvania, and from my hometown of Spring Grove.  Small World After All.

You’ll find their Midlife perspectives similar, but different.

Carpe diem!