What is The Middlescence Factor™?

For as long as anyone can remember, we’ve associated ‘midlife’ with unwelcome life changes and stagnation, a harbinger of future decline and potential disability, a time when people begin to worry about going “over the hill.” But the truth is, people between the ages of about 45 and 65 are at the top of the hill.

This 20-year period can be a pinnacle of life, the coolest place to be, the place where we can drive change in ourselves and those around us, and contribute to the world in meaningful ways. This time is known as middlescence.

A factor is “a circumstance, fact or influence that contributes to a result or outcome”. The Middlescence Factor™ is a disciplined approach to uplifting and shifting your consciousness, hopes and actions that enable you to harness the potential of this new life stage.

Are You a Middlescent?

Capacity Building

Check the descriptions that apply to you and let’s see:

_____ I am roughly between 45-65 years old.
_____ I feel like I’m ready for some changes in my life but I’m not sure where or how.
_____ Some of the relationships that have been important to me seem to be shifting.
_____ My body is changing—sometimes seemingly overnight—in ways that are a little unsettling.
_____ Sometimes I feel like a teenager with all these hormone changes.
_____ I definitely don’t feel old, but I’m certainly not young either.
_____ I’m too busy spending time on things that are just not that important to me; I don’t think I can keep doing that.

If at least four of these statements apply to you, you are experiencing full-blown Middlescence. 

 What's in a Name?

“I believe in the power and mystery of naming things. Language has the capacity to transform our cells, rearrange our learning, patterns of behavior, and redirect our thinking. I believe in naming what’s right in front of us because that is often what is most visible.”  Eve Ensler

And what has been hiding in plain sight is the reality that too many people feel at odds, lack a sense of direction, and feel a malaise because our culture has simply not caught up with the reality that we have added a new lifestage that is as yet undefined. Without understanding middlescence as a pivotal time we are left confused and unsure.  We need a name to understand this period for what it is: a time of transformation and possibility. Naming middlescence gives it the power and credibility it deserves.

Creating a Middlescent Movement

Barbara is using her experience as a gerontologist and training as a leadership coach, to lead the national conversation on what midlife means and to shift our national conversation about midlife from one of crisis and stagnation to one of potential and growth.  The good news is that Barbara's work only begins with igniting this shift. She goes on to affect change through her work as a leadership coach, speaker, author and workshop leader, better enabling middlescents to harness the power to make this stage their most dynamic yet!

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