Often, we just become wiser about transitions based upon witnessing our own foibles as well as others.
In 2007, after more than two decades of running a company that I’d founded, I knew something wasn’t right. My inspiring calling had turned into a dreary job and, having written my third book, I realized that I was dreaming about writing and speaking more than I was being CEO of my boutique hotel company. Occasionally, I would shut the door of my office for a couple hours and just write. I’d plow through my day job looking forward to the speech I was giving that night. I felt like I was cheating on my 3,500 employees.
But, I had no idea how to extricate myself from this situation. I didn’t realize that a healthy transition has three stages and that I could quite consciously prepare for a new life ahead. Instead, I dreamt of cancer or car crashes, something that would give me the excuse to hit the eject button. And, of course, as is often the case when we’re supposed to go through a major transformation, the rest of my life – beyond work – was falling apart as well.
It took a horrific experience of going flatline, on stage in St. Louis after a speech, for me to find the courage and wisdom to not just welcome change into my life, but to master a major midlife transition. I was 47 years old and it was the summer of 2008 when the Great Recession was becoming a tsunami. I had no idea at the time that this experience would contain the seeds of why I ended up selling my company, joining a little start-up named Airbnb, and ultimately creating the Modern Elder Academy.
Our society does not have schools, tools, rituals, or rites of passage to help people in midlife understand how to master the transitions that inevitably force a face-to-face reckoning. It is time we changed that.
The transitions of midlife are meant to be shared. And if you’re looking for tools to shift your mindset and create more resilience and adaptability (without having to travel), you might want to check out MEA Online’s new course.
For eight weeks, you will center, learn, reflect and connect with our core faculty, guest experts, and an eight-person cohort of like-minded travelers. And each week you will meet one member of your group to cultivate new friendships and build community.
MEA Online explores our unique wisdom at midlife. You know about IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional intelligence). Well, we’re on a learning path to TQ: Transitional Intelligence. Through the navigation of challenges at this time of life, we gain access to our deepest wisdom. Together.
MEA Online’s next course starts on Feb 27th and runs until the end of April. The price is currently $999, but we’re offering an introductory price of $750 for February’s course.
For an additional $75 off, use Wisdom Well code MEAXDD during checkout. Please remember that this $75 early bird discount will expire on Feb 1st, 2021.
We’re expecting to fill up quickly like we did last September. So if this speaks to you, enroll now to save your spot.