Midlife Blogs – Page 3 – Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker

Midlife, What’s To Celebrate?

Midlife, what’s to celebrate, by Blogger Lorie Sheffer:

Midlife Celebration. Sometimes we wonder what there is to feel celebratory about. Life can seem so hectic we find it hard to find the time to sit for a few minutes and enjoy some quiet time. We may wait for a reason to go out for dinner or take that day off. We wait for a real reason to celebrate. We wait for an occasion.

If you woke up today and were able to sit up in bed, swing your feet to the floor and walk across the room, you have a reason to celebrate. If you didn’t need help showering, brushing your teeth or using the toilet, you have a reason to celebrate. If you could reach down and pick up the morning paper from your doorstep, look at the sky and then go inside to brew yourself a pot of coffee, you have a reason to celebrate. If you could smell your breakfast and feed yourself, if you were able to chew and swallow, you have a reason to celebrate. If you can breathe without a ventilator, you have a reason to celebrate.

Sometimes we take for granted those little things we do every day, so easily and without a thought, until we are no longer able to do them.

I am on week six of spending an average of six hours a day, at least five days a week, with people who can’t do some of those things we take for granted. Sometimes I feel tired and stressed. When I leave for the day, I walk through those hospital doors into the sun or the rain. I look at the gorgeous crepe myrtle that is planted around the perimeter of the parking garage, and then I see the coneflowers and ornamental grasses and small trees that fill the landscaped areas. I breathe in the summer air. I hear birds and cars and people talking. I hear and see life outside. I think of the people in the hospital behind me. My thighs may be larger than I would like, my rear end wider, but I am walking. I am leaving. I get in my car and I drive away, putting more and more miles between me and Them. I drive into the real world, a world where people are pissed off because they can’t find a parking place that is close to the entrance. People who think it a hardship to have to run to their car in the rain. I now see those things as a privilege. When I walk in to my house and see the sink full of dirty dishes that I left I actually feel blessed to be able to stand at the sink and wash them.

Take time today to celebrate. If you had a boring, uneventful day, then you have a reason to celebrate. If you had to mow your lawn, clean your house, wash your car, or do laundry, and you did so without assistance, you have a reason to celebrate. You have a reason to feel filled with joy and to feel blessed. You have reason to thank God for the glorious day, and you have reason to celebrate.

(next blog)

Midlife Learning

There’s a midlife stereotype of the middle-aged man getting a red, convertible sports car and a younger woman.

Mid Life Celebration isn’t traveling that path.

Mid Life Celebration is for those that experience this – you spend your life pursuing your big, important goals, only to reach them.

And the first thing that comes to mind?

“This isn’t what I wanted!”

“Now what do I do?”

Smile, You’re On Candid…

Sometimes, Life's A Beach — Sometimes, Life's A...

Not sure I have to tell you it’s Sunday, and every Sunday, Central Pennsylvania’s Lorie Sheffer is our featured Guest Blogger. Take it away Lorie:

Last Friday was one of those days that was just so bad I sort of got the idea that I may be on Candid Camera. I spent the day visiting my Dad in the ICU. On the way home I saw a woman in a car hit a man on a motorcycle. When I got home my six-year-old fantail fish was dead, and then while I sat on my deck to relax my right eye turned bright red and swelled shut for no apparent reason. I told myself that things could have been worse, and that tomorrow would hopefully be better.

Saturday morning there was a public auction being held next door, and it was distracting and sort of fun. My doorbell rang around 10 AM, and I answered it wearing my leopard print pajamas, a horrific case of bed head and a still slightly wonky eye. A lady who was about the same age as my mother was standing on my doorstep. Shaking and near tears, she told me that she had just run over my mailbox. I laughed. I told her about the lady who hit the man on the motorcycle the day before, and said that the mailbox was just a thing that could be repaired or replaced. She offered to give me her name and pay for the damages, but my husband and I told her to just go to the auction and have a good time. It was then that she told us her circumstances. She never put a dent in her car in her life, but her husband was admitted to the ICU over five weeks before, and she had decided that maybe a beautiful summer day at an auction would take her mind off of her situation for a few hours. Her nerves were shot and she just wasn’t functioning normally. Her husband was in a room just across the hall from my dad.

The economy isn’t great and we get to see millions of gallons of oil pumping out into the Gulf every day, with no end in sight. We have troops in dangerous places. With all the big deals going on, it would be easy to feel pushed over the edge by the small stuff. But maybe this is the perfect time when we need to recognize those minor irritations exactly for what they are: no big deal. In the grand scheme of things, who cares? Perhaps we need to think before we lash out. Sure, that guy who cuts you off in traffic may be a giant jerk. But maybe you would feel a bit less anger if you heard his story. I remember a day last winter when a man screamed at me at the top of his lungs in line at the grocery store. My crime? I was in the “12 items or less only” line. I apologized to him, telling him that I very honestly didn’t see the sign, and that my mind wasn’t focused because I had just come from being with my seriously ill brother. He continued to scream at me, and I stood there in full view of the now very attentive crowd and started to sob. His tirade continued while I was loading my groceries into my trunk. Now that I think about it, I worry for him. I wonder what his issues were. People who handle stress by acting out in anger over what amounts to nothing must certainly be putting themselves at risk for heart attacks, strokes and God knows what else.

We all have those candid camera days. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, when someone does something that irritates us, we would react with some compassion? Even if their life is going incredibly well and they are just an obnoxious jerk, I’m sure they will be taken aback by the more Zen reaction. Added bonus? We didn’t allow them to cause us more stress. I wonder what would have happened had the man, who was so enraged by my grocery store faux pas, pulled into traffic in anger and a motorcycle had been in his path?