MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ The second half of life is even better than you expected #midlife #bestlife

MIDLIFE ROCKS!

If that message hasn't sunk in by now, let me repeat it - Midlife absolutely Rocks! I'm not sure why a lot of us thought it would be a dull and gray time of life where we slowly descended into old age and incontinence, but we were so wrong! Midlife is an amazing stage where we start seeing the fruits cultivated through the first half of our lives.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ DISCOVERING MIDLIFE BLOGGING

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ Discovering a whole new world of Midlife Bloggers #midlife #blogging #tribe

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

How can a whole world exist and a person have no idea about it? A couple of years ago I was going quietly about my fairly mundane life - the wheels were falling off all over the place and I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth. Midlife didn't look all that fabulous to me and I was wondering how to make sense of it all. I had always kept a journal, but I thought it might be nice to put some thoughts down somewhere to get them out of my head and into some sort of order.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ TRAVEL

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ Travel now or dream of travel later - midlife is the time for travelling. #midlife #travel

MIDLIFE TRAVEL

Midlife is the time to go to all those places you have on your bucket list. You might not get to all of them straight away, but it's a great time to make a start and tick a few off. Living in Australia means that most overseas travel can involve long haul flights and lot of money. You can't pop across the Channel for a weekend in France or jump on a plane for a few days in sunny California. It takes a considerable amount of planning to launch off to one of these (very attractive) destinations.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ GRANDBABIES

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ getting to see your children's children is so special #grandkids

GRANDBABIES

What is there not to love about grandbabies???? And you can't have grandbabies without being in midlife, so one of the biggest reasons Midlife Rocks is the joy of sharing in the blessing of the next generation. To see your children's children and to be allowed to participate in loving them and reveling in their cuteness is beyond words. To see our son and his wife become great parents who are raising a happy and sun-shiny baby fills my heart with gratitude.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ WATCHING YOUR KIDS MARRY

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ Watching Your Kids Marry - learning to let go and watch them make their own lives. #midlife #emptynest

MILESTONES

It's always a joy watching your children reach different milestones. We think back fondly to when they started walking and talking when they were really little, and the days they started school, got their drivers licence, moved out of home, graduated, began their career ....and the list goes on.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ REDEFINING YOUR RELATIONSHIP

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ it's a great time for reconnecting and redefining your relationship with your partner. #midlife #marriage

KEEPING THAT SPARK ALIVE

It's so easy to take your relationship for granted when you've been married forever. I know I was guilty of this and nearly lost it all in the process. You live in the same house, you see each other every day but you need to wake up and make midlife a time where you find the spark and the connection again. Once those kids are out the door and the distractions are gone, you need to make your relationship a priority.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ A HIATUS IN CARE-GIVING

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ having a break in between caring for your children and then caring for your parents. #midlife #eldercare

A LOVELY HIATUS

I know that there are a lot of midlife women out there who are still caring for little children or for teenagers, and there are others who have the responsibility of aged parents who need extra time, attention and a whole lot of care. But for my husband and myself, we are in a very pleasant stage of hiatus where our children have left our care and are doing well, and our parents are still managing to be self-sufficient (most of the time!)

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ TRUE FRIENDSHIP

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ it's all about finding those meaningful friendships that you treasure #midlife #friendship

SPECIAL FRIENDS

I talk about friendship quite regularly on this blog (Choose Your Friends Wisely and Embrace Friendship) and I think that's because it is one of the most valuable commodities we have in life - and because there is the freedom to choose what to do with the extra time I have, I choose to invest it in those people who are special to me and hold a place in my heart.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK?

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ There has to come a time when you say to yourself "Who Cares What They Think?" #midlife #authentic

PERFECTIONISM

The culmination of a lot of things happened for me when I reached midlife. One of the biggest of these was to stop my need for everything to be perfect. I had perfectionism on a pedestal it did not deserve to be on. Perfectionism sucks big time! I was so busy trying to have my Brady Bunch life that I almost missed out on having the life I really deserved.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ FINDING THE REAL ME

Midlife Rocks! ~ Finding who you really are - having confidence in yourself and liking yourself #authentic #realme

AUTHENTICITY

One of the biggest lessons midlife has taught me over the last few years is how empowering authenticity is. Once I gave up trying to be what I thought others expected me to be, my life opened up and the sense of relief was palpable. It took a weight off my shoulders that I didn't even realize I was carrying. No expectations is so liberating!

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ ALL THAT FREE TIME

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ Once the kids are off your hands there's so much more free time #midlife #leisuretime

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THAT TIME?

Once the kids are off your hands you find you have so much more free time. The only question is "How are you going to use it?" Sitting around and looking at each other and saying "we really should do something..." isn't really conducive to an active and interesting midlife relationship. Expecting your other half to entertain you for the next 40 years is hardly the stuff of healthy relationships.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! ~ FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Midlife Rocks! Reaching the stage of life where you aren't controlled by your finances. #finances #financialindependence

LIVING FRUGALLY

We've never had buckets of money - we don't lie in bed throwing handfuls of cash in the air to watch it shower down on us (does anyone do that other than in the movies?) We've always run a tight ship financially and worked on the principle of not living on credit. If we didn't have it then we didn't spend it. We lived frugally and things were often a bit tight, but we managed fine and the bills were always paid.

MIDLIFE ROCKS! LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT

Midlife Rocks! There is so much to Midlife to be grateful for. Here's 12 different aspects that are fabulous. #midlife #midliferocks

MIDLIFE ROCKS!

All my blogging over last week or so about the joys of the empty nest has reminded me of how much I'm loving this stage of life. For me, Midlife has been a time of finding myself - discovering who I really am under all the different hats I've been wearing over the years (wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, employee etc). It has been a real time of waking up - opening my eyes to all that has gone before and all that is yet to come. Now is the time to live in the moment, seize the day, grab life with both hands - because Midlife Rocks!