Midlife: Standing Between Who You Were and Who You Are Becoming

Reflections On Life’s ‘Halfway Point’

Big life changes don’t happen overnight. They unfold over time, charting the trajectory of your move towards, through, and beyond the "midpoint" of life.

It might feel like the ground beneath you is cracking open. At first, it’s a hairline fracture - easy to ignore. Then it grows, bit by bit, until you’re standing on the edge of a chasm. The ground continues splitting, and you never know how wide the gap will become in the end. You’re standing at the edge between the old life you know and the new life you can only vaguely sense, feeling in your body the growing urgency of having to make a choice.

“Should I stay or should I go?”

And as the ground eats away at your old life, you realize staying might not even be an option anymore:

“Am I just biding time until it all collapses beneath my feet?”

Eventually, you surrender. Life is finite, and holding onto the way things are becomes impossible. Kids grow up. Jobs change. The world moves forward—and so must you. Two choices appear: you either leap, hoping you’ll land safely on the other side, or you build a bridge, unsure how far it needs to stretch as the gap keeps expanding.

Both choices bring uncertainty. The kind of uncertainty your mind is not equipped to handle on its own. The kind where you need to trust your gut.And your gut tells you: the only way is forward.

Resisting being moved by life in this direction might seem like it’s at winning you time in your old life but it’s not. In truth, it’s losing you time:

• Lost time not being who you now need to be.

• Lost time not doing what you now need to do.

• Lost time not being with the people you now need to be with.

Whatever your circumstances - whether you’ve built careers, families, or dreams (or not) - midlife asks you the same question:

“How do I want to spend the rest of my life?”

Maybe you long for work that feels like a calling. Or to work less and have more time for something else. Maybe you dream of living on a farm, traveling the world, or homeschooling your children.

There are so many possibilities, and so many questions.

Congratulations—you’ve made it to the “messy middle.” Getting here is no small feat, and it’s a blessing to have arrived. 😊

Midlife is fertile ground for transformation - an invitation to shed what no longer fits and step forward with clarity, courage, and purpose.

If you’ve found yourself standing in the corridor of possibilities, staring at doors you’re afraid to open, you’re not alone. This time of life isn’t meant to be figured out in isolation. It’s meant to be explored—creatively, courageously, and with others by your side.

The way forward isn’t more thinking. It’s listening to your gut, finding your people, and putting one foot in front of the other.

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Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash