.... A free newsletter about midlife transition

Your Next Chapter: When Life Says "Let go." A story about release, ritual, and the quiet work of midlife. Something interesting happens in midlife. We get wiser.We get clearer. And we also carry more. More responsibility. More memories. More inner turning points with nothing to mark them. Childhood gives us rituals without asking — birthdays, first days of school. But midlife? Midlife is full of transitions that happen quietly inside us. We lose parents and try to keep life steady. We evolve...

Your Next Chapter: What’s Your Why? In early October, Marcia and I were one of seventeen couples sitting in a circle at the Modern Elder Academy in Baja. The air was warm, the sea roared with the energy of twin hurricanes, and the room was filled with curiosity, courage, and just a hint of shared anxiety about what might surface in the week ahead. Everyone there had lived enough life to have both stories and scars. We came from different paths—executives, educators, entrepreneurs, and...

Your Next Chapter: Midlife restlessness is a signal. Maybe you know the feeling: you’ve worked hard to get where you are, but instead of feeling settled, you feel restless — like you should be doing something else, something more. Restlessness can wear you down — or wake you up. The choice is yours. We’ve gathered experience, climbed ladders, checked the boxes — yet we feel the urge to shake things up. Sometimes that energy is exciting. Other times, it just leaves us tired. I’ve been there....

Your Next Chapter: It's never too late to trust your inner compass. Not long ago, I had an “aha” moment that surprised me. At 65, I discovered that I meet the criteria for a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) — a term I hadn’t heard until recently. That discovery didn’t erase anything from my past; it reframed it. Suddenly, so many random or frustrating career moments made sense: • Why I sometimes felt exhausted by noisy offices and chaotic workplaces • Why I replayed difficult conversations long...

Your Next Chapter: Face your fear, one stroke at a time. Fear doesn’t vanish — it’s managed, stroke by stroke. Here’s how to keep moving when there’s no shore in sight. W. T. F. am I doing here? Half a mile from shore, alone in a Central Florida lake. The pack has disappeared ahead of me. I bob in the open water, chest heaving, wetsuit pressing tight, the question rises with every heartbeat: “What if I can’t make it?” When Fear Hits ... When you’re treading water this far out, you have to...

Your Next Chapter: Is your imposter a barrier to self-acceptance — or a bridge? Twenty years ago this week, I stood on the side of the road in handcuffs. The counselor who once guided others through relapse and recovery… … was now the man doing the hokey pokey in a field sobriety test. That night felt like the end of everything. And in truth, it became the doorway to something else. Not quickly. Not neatly. But eventually. One Day at a Time ... In the 1990s, I was active and visible in the...

Your Next Chapter: Does age bias start in the mirror? Sometimes the barrier isn’t HR — it’s how we frame our own story. On a recent episode of Achieving Success with Olivia Atkin, one of the topics we covered was age bias in today’s workplace. When she started at a major defense contractor, seasoned team members were often seen as “just hanging on” until retirement. But she soon found they were the steady hands in pressure moments, mentors for younger staff, and the ones who kept projects on...

Your Next Chapter: Reinventing Retirement - You’re not done, you’re just in a new chapter Reinventing retirement isn’t about winding down—it’s about showing up differently. Last week I went to a memorial service for a friend’s sister. At one point, the family shared a moment of wisdom from her young grandson; words that helped guide them through their grief. But first, let’s set the stage. Barton Springs pool in Austin is a landmark. Its water is a crisp 68 degrees year-round. In the summer,...

Your Next Chapter: The Portfolio Career Path: From Chaos to Clarity I didn’t plan on a portfolio career. It unfolded through 20+ jobs, setbacks, pivots, and a lot of self-discovery. Some people design a portfolio career on purpose. Mine evolved through pivots, missteps, grit, and growth. I recently joined Laura Bennett on the Coach’s Corner Podcast (you can listen to the episode here) to talk about midlife clarity, what it really takes to build a career that fits, and how to navigate today’s...