Fall schedule for individual life design appointments
Beginning in September, I’ll be available for individual online appointments on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and evenings, and some weekends. If you’re feeling stuck, unsure of your next steps, or are interested in learning more about life design, please reach out to have a chat.
Last call for Fruitful: Design your Midlife
Thank you to those of you who have expressed an interest in the Design your Midlife course. Please get in touch over the next week if you would like to register for this free online course or have a chat with me about it. If you would like to continue receiving information about it, let me know so we don’t lose touch.
What you can expect from this course
I shared in a recent newsletter that I was motivated to offer a free online course aimed at supporting women in midlife, in part because of my own unexpectedly stormy and difficult midlife experience. My relationship to almost every part of my life was impacted in some way, including my family, marriage, work, money, and health and well-being, and changes in my relationship with myself had me reconsidering what was most important and meaningful (also learning about healthy boundaries was a game changer ~ Set Boundaries, Find Peace, by Nedra Tawwab, or chat with me).
From my own experience, and from stories shared with me, this is what I have come to believe is most valuable in supporting women in midlife, and what is guiding this course:
· Connecting with other midlife women. For me, this was an essential source of support and connection. It helped me feel less alone as I figured out how to navigate this new stage.
· Making course corrections based on a deeper connection to our authentic selves (rather than the expectations of others). Dedicating time to strengthening our relationship with our evolving selves while considering in what ways our roles, relationships and default patterns are or aren’t serving us.
· Being guided through a structured process for building a regenerative, joyful, and meaningful midlife. After 7 years, I continue to see evidence in my life design work that a design thinking and ecological systems approach offers a great foundational framework for navigating transitions and figuring things out, coupled with a toolbox of other evidence backed knowledge and research.
· Accessing clear, consistent, and science backed information and helpful resources from each other and from those with knowledge and expertise in supporting midlife women. In our course, this will also include a range of guest presenters.
Getting Started
For the first session, we’ll borrow from Joanna Macy’s three stories framework from her Work That Reconnects that I shared about in my last newsletter.
Story 1 ~ Life as Usual: This is the story of your midlife at present ~ what are the core themes at this time of your life; what questions do you have; what is going well; what is challenging; what is surprising you, what you are drawn toward, what you are finding energizing and engaging.
You will be guided through a series of writing (or drawing!) prompts and questions as you reflect on your Life as Usual midlife story. This will allow you to ‘start where you are’~ an important principle in building a good life. You’ll be invited to share your thoughts if you wish, but there will be no expectation to do so if you’d prefer not.
I’ll leave you with this lovely excerpt from Mary Oliver’s poem, Wild Geese. While the well known poem, The Summer Day, may seem more seasonally and thematically relevant (Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?), my 62 year old self is loving these lines this summer.
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
