The Moment That Turned My Midlife Into An Adventure, Not A Crisis

This Is YOUR Time To Dream Again

By Suzy Rosenstein, MA — Written on Oct 30, 2015

Photo: Weheartit

When you think about midlife, do you think about reading glasses, colonoscopies, weight gain, boredom at work and empty nest syndrome?

I did, too.

Most aren’t comfortable admitting to something called a 'crisis'.

I wasn’t, that’s for sure.

But many of us start to feel like life is passing us by and we haven’t accomplished everything on our list yet.

I remember when I realized this. It was an odd little encounter at my gym and I didn’t see it coming. I recognized a neighbor at the front desk. I had never had a single conversation with him before, but I recognized his daughter and said hello. We started talking and he told me that he had just come back from a white water rafting trip in the Grand Canyon.

BOOM!

What he said hit me like a ton of bricks.

I had always wanted to do this and here I was, smack dab in my midlife chapter and a trip like this wasn’t even on my agenda or radar. That was the moment I realized I wasn’t living an intentional life. I was responding to my hectic, chaotic, busy life with my three teens, husband, job and pets, rather than figuring out exactly what I wanted and making it happen.

Time was ticking by … and I was definitely starting to feel that life was short and I needed to get going!

I hadn’t allowed myself to dream in decades. Probably since college. This chance encounter at the gym changed my life. (And I don’t even remember that neighbor’s name.)

Needless to say, it didn’t take much convincing to get my husband on board. So I booked a six day white water rafting trip with Western River Expeditions during the summer when all three kids were at camp and we had a fantastic adventure!