Today is the first day of the rest of my life...

“There is a fallow time for the spirit when the soil is barren because of sheer exhaustion.” – Howard Thurman

I am exhausted.

I'm tired of the political rhetoric from both sides. This country will either flourish or fail under the upcoming leadership - for the sake of all of us I really do hope that it flourishes, but I can't help but have my doubts.

Some of my family and friends don't like what I write or don't understand what I write because they have quite different views. Frankly, my "right of center" views and beliefs embarrass them and some have even chosen to take it personally. That's OK - right now in this country we are all entitled to our own thoughts and opinions.

So - this blog will no longer be about things political... it will be about some of the things that 50+ women go through as they begin the second journey of their life. Some of the things many women are afraid to talk about: their feelings about spending the first half of their life caretaking and nurturing and trying to be whatever everyone else wanted/needed them to be, only to arrive at this point in their life pretty much used up, worn out and no longer needed; the guilt of not being the perfect mother or wife - no matter how hard they tried; and, hopefully, about what we can do to make the second half more meaningful for us, as well as those around us, but mainly for us.

The following excerpt from "The Second Journey" by Joan Anderson kind of sums up where I am at today.... not sure where I am going, but it should be an interesting journey... the first half sure was!

"Most of us, halfway to a hundred, confront a need for great self-awareness. We reach a point when the power of youth is gone, the possibility of failure first presents itself, and the dream of earlier times now seems shallow and pointless. And then we find ourselves asking the tough questions: What am I meant to do now? What really matters? Who am I?

For many years I had ignored these questions because I had too many responsibilities—too many other lives to consider. But all of a sudden, there were no more excuses. Old truths and ideals no longer served me. I was restless, unhappy, and full of an undefined ache, standing at a crossroad with no clear idea of what path to follow. I only knew that I needed a change. So I took a leap of faith, walked away from the mainstream of life and dove headlong into the unknown."

Rox