Empty Nest & Empty Desk.
In the more than five years we’ve been running MEA, we’ve seen people show up “running on empty.” Society used to assume that we were supposed to fill up our education tanks in early adulthood and run on that same tank of gas for the rest of our careers.
Of course, now we know better. Life is at least a two-tank journey, and it’s around age 50 that we need to do our “midlife pitstop.”
But, I’ve noticed a new phenomenon amongst our MEA workshop cohorts. Men and women (and sometimes couples) arrive at our Baja beachfront campus with an “empty zest” due to their “empty nest” AND their “empty desk.” For many of these compadres, the two most important roles in their life—being a parent with kids at home and being a successful professional—got ripped from them simultaneously. Their kids have left at the same time they’ve left their jobs. This emptiness can leave a midlifer dazed and confused.
And if this is you (or soon to be you), there is an alternative. What if you saw this as an opportunity, not a problem? I can think of quite a few peers who would love to trade positions with you.
What’s something you’ve wanted to learn or do for quite a long time, yet it didn’t make sense when you had such a full life? How might you use this “midlife atrium” as an opportunity to reflect on how you want to curate the second half of your adult life?
