TRANSITION & MY NEW BOOK – Now Available

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

It’s been way too long since I’ve written a post! Laser- focused on finishing my new book and navigating another personal transition, writing new content fell by the wayside.  I’m happy to say that at last the paperback version of Life Transitions: Pathway to a Happier You is available for purchase on Amazon. An eBook is forthcoming. If you get a chance, I’d love it if you’d hop on over and check it out. If you write book reviews, please email me (AgingAbundantly@gmail.com) and I will send you a review copy.

This book is essentially a collection of the most popular Aging Abundantly blog posts from the last ten years. When I first started thinking about putting my blogs into a book, I was thinking about ease of access. It is so much easier to read a book than to sit at a computer and read a bunch of blog posts. Putting them in a book made sense to me. I thought it would be a quick and easy process. It didn’t turn out to be so!

THE PATTERNS OF OUR LIVES

As I read through each blog  patterns began to emerge. The most obvious pattern and overarching pattern was that of change. It became abundantly clear to me that midlife, and the aging process, is about navigating transitions and change. And, external change, although not always welcome, offers us a tremendous opportunity to grow in both our understanding and perceptions of who we are on the inside and out. This is, in my way of thinking, what aging abundantly is all about.  To embrace the aging process with an eye to the expansive qualities it offers is a gift of vast proportions.

My book in its final form follows the themes as they presented themselves to me in my life. Readers can select the sections that are most relevant to them at any given time.

GRAND-PARENTING – ANOTHER TRANSITION!

Throughout the months I’ve been putting the finishing touches on my book, my first grandson entered the world and my sons and their wives moved back to North Carolina. It’s been a whirl wind year and I’m still adapting. For the last three weeks I’ve been taking care of now 14 month old bundle of energy love-of-our-lives Emmett. Wow! I had no idea how much energy is necessary to take care of little people. I crash and burn every night and think I can’t do it another day. But I always wake up invigorated and eager to hug, hold and love our precious bundle of joy.  It’s not a permanent arrangement and I will soon be returning to my calmer, more relaxed life.

Even as I love loving Emmett, identifying myself as a grandmother is a major transition for me! I still think I’m a “mom”. So my lack of energy and flexibility still surprises me when I take care of him. It’s also been a challenge to have him all day and then send him off into the world without the ability to keep an eye on him. I was a stay at home Mom and if a child is in my care he/she always had 110% of my attention. I could not figure out how to do it otherwise.

Fortunately, after smacking into the wall of compassion-fatigue-burnout-times-ten, I learned to identify the signs of depletion, and I have tools to deal with it. Much of what I learned and how I learned it is in my new book. I hope you’ll take time to read it. If you do, let me know what resonates. (And a review on Amazon would be greatly appreciated!)

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