What Are The Basics for Living Contentedly?
As I learn to embrace the second half of life, I find the secret to being truly content often involves coming back to the basics. I think we complicate our world far too much and we need to redefine what is important so that we can find contentment in where we are today, rather than always looking for what's coming next that will finally make us happy.
These three choices are intrinsic to finding contentment in Midlife:
Finding The Gift Of Self-Acceptance
Accepting the changes that come with age is a challenge for a lot of women.
As I move through the second half of life I hear women around me bemoaning the
demise of their youthful looks, the advent of "laugh lines", and the
relentless onslaught of menopause with all its associated issues.
What
I've come to realize is that you can put a lot of time and effort into
fighting the ageing process and trying to pretend you're still thirty, or you
can redefine beauty. I don't find a botox-ed, primped, preened and makeup
laden older woman particularly beautiful. Yet, when I see a vibrant woman
living in her own identity and investing in the lives of those around her, I
am always brought up short in admiration, and I'm often a little
envious.
When Your Get Up And Go Has Gone
Most of the time I'm an "up and at 'em" kind of gal. I go to work when I need to, I don't take sick days unless I'm on my death bed, I turn up when I say I will and I don't mind any of it. Then there is the occasional day when I reach the point where I've had enough and I'm tired of being little Mary Sunshine. My usual approach to that sort of mood would be to push through and put on my "happy face" and often we have to do that because we have responsibilities and no choice.
The Journey of Life Isn't Always Comfortable
I read an Anthony Bourdain quote that was referring to travel and it said:
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
