I’ve been thinking about this lately (change and community). I love stability and putting down roots, but I don’t like feeling stuck. Using my garden as a metaphor, I cycle through changing seasons, but each season has familiar routines. And sometimes in that cycle of change and familiarity, I can add something new and surprising to keep things interesting.
A new thing I’ve added into my current season is figuring out new rhythms and routines now that I’m entering an “empty nest” phase for the first time! Something as simple and mundane as cooking and grocery shopping differently is sparking a sense of exploration that is giving me joy.
Yes, recognise that feeling. Getting the balance between stability and growth. Letting in new things and learning and expanding. And boy, does that empty nest open up opportunities for entirely new equations, people and adventures. And i agree, the daily can be delightfully redesigned for joy and self-expression.
I wrote about the joys of the empty nest at the time, I'll repost it on substack... here it is on HBR
Wow, I adore this post, Avivah - it would be impossible, I believe, for me to be any more aligned with everything you’ve said. In fact, the three core principles in my book, The New Old, are “Be the Boss of Your Life,” “Master Your Mindset,” and “Get Good At Change.” We must have been reading the same pages of the Akashic Records. 😏
I got a sense of that in our Elder Kockers call Erika. And a great reason for creating such a group, finding a tribe, and aligning on ideas and actions.
To those who are transforming the experience of growing old. Those who are causing a transmutation, a complete change in form, nature, and substance, a profound and magical transformation in late aging. You are transforming something into a completely different form of aging. I acknowledge you and your accomplishments.
From a death sentence of obsolescence, uselessness, isolation, and being discarded, to a new possibility of aging. You’re causing late age to embody purpose, celebration, appreciation, meaningfulness, value, mentorship, appropriate partnership with death, community development, and the essence of the soul. Amazing work.
You’ve achieved much. A remarkable outcome in a Western culture that is youth-obsessed, me-or-you, profit-driven, and technology-seduced. A culture where knowledge thinks it's wisdom.
We live in a culture that “wounds,’ not just growing old, but in life as lived. I believe it is time for some of us to engage in our next evolution – older to elder.
To go beyond our own conscious and self-determined late aging, beyond building like-kind communities, and beyond intergenerational mentoring. That, of course should continue and expand. But to consider developing ourselves to be fully present in a world where decisions are made that determine the future. To be invited to the table. To be heard. To influence conversations in a way that fosters a better, more common, peaceful, and healthier future.
That’s why I’ve joined this conversation. To be empowered by this community as what I see as possible. We can not only change ourselves and how we age, but we can also change the world.
So, confident people have a strong locus of control.
It's easier to believe you control your life once you're not working sixty hours a week.
Just saying.
I’ve been thinking about this lately (change and community). I love stability and putting down roots, but I don’t like feeling stuck. Using my garden as a metaphor, I cycle through changing seasons, but each season has familiar routines. And sometimes in that cycle of change and familiarity, I can add something new and surprising to keep things interesting.
A new thing I’ve added into my current season is figuring out new rhythms and routines now that I’m entering an “empty nest” phase for the first time! Something as simple and mundane as cooking and grocery shopping differently is sparking a sense of exploration that is giving me joy.
Yes, recognise that feeling. Getting the balance between stability and growth. Letting in new things and learning and expanding. And boy, does that empty nest open up opportunities for entirely new equations, people and adventures. And i agree, the daily can be delightfully redesigned for joy and self-expression.
I wrote about the joys of the empty nest at the time, I'll repost it on substack... here it is on HBR
https://hbr.org/2018/04/what-i-learned-about-working-parenthood-after-my-kids-grew-up
enjoy every bit of it Jen!
Wow, I adore this post, Avivah - it would be impossible, I believe, for me to be any more aligned with everything you’ve said. In fact, the three core principles in my book, The New Old, are “Be the Boss of Your Life,” “Master Your Mindset,” and “Get Good At Change.” We must have been reading the same pages of the Akashic Records. 😏
I got a sense of that in our Elder Kockers call Erika. And a great reason for creating such a group, finding a tribe, and aligning on ideas and actions.
Yes! 😊👏👏👏
To those who are transforming the experience of growing old. Those who are causing a transmutation, a complete change in form, nature, and substance, a profound and magical transformation in late aging. You are transforming something into a completely different form of aging. I acknowledge you and your accomplishments.
From a death sentence of obsolescence, uselessness, isolation, and being discarded, to a new possibility of aging. You’re causing late age to embody purpose, celebration, appreciation, meaningfulness, value, mentorship, appropriate partnership with death, community development, and the essence of the soul. Amazing work.
You’ve achieved much. A remarkable outcome in a Western culture that is youth-obsessed, me-or-you, profit-driven, and technology-seduced. A culture where knowledge thinks it's wisdom.
We live in a culture that “wounds,’ not just growing old, but in life as lived. I believe it is time for some of us to engage in our next evolution – older to elder.
To go beyond our own conscious and self-determined late aging, beyond building like-kind communities, and beyond intergenerational mentoring. That, of course should continue and expand. But to consider developing ourselves to be fully present in a world where decisions are made that determine the future. To be invited to the table. To be heard. To influence conversations in a way that fosters a better, more common, peaceful, and healthier future.
That’s why I’ve joined this conversation. To be empowered by this community as what I see as possible. We can not only change ourselves and how we age, but we can also change the world.