“Welcome to the Mid-life Revolution” by Andy Ferguson
Everybody has a “Mid-life Crisis” and that’s a good thing.
Most people will have a number of these during their lifetime and they can start as early as mid-20’s.
The world is experiencing a series of social, political, technological and economic crisis which are particularly challenging for the current generation of “Mid-lifers”, roughly 44 – 63 year olds.
Mid-life can be “the best time” of our life but only if we embrace the challenges it brings.
There’s never been a better time to be Mid-aged even if your world has been “turned upside down” by things like the 2008 financial crisis.
For twenty five years after 1990 the world chugged along in a reassuringly familiar manner. The end of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, South Africa’s peaceful transition to majority rule and the end of the cold war which brought a peace dividend created, if not a Golden age, then certainly a feeling that things were going in the right direction. During that time the internet was born and the world went global. Even 9/11 and the odd mild recession seemed like blips on the climb to a better future, as teenagers became adults with careers, families and more opportunities than their parents ever had. And then the war on terror, the 2008 banking crisis, the Arab Spring leading to ISIS and the return of Cold War posturing woke us up the the reality that the future might not be so easy after all. For many folk entering or experiencing their “Mid-life” this world presents a very different outlook to the one they imagined only a few years before. Stress has two major contributing factors: firstly when we find it difficult to predict what’s going to happen next and secondly when we have insufficient influence over what is going to happen to us. Mid-life can be stressful at the best of times as our family circumstances, jobs and careers and our health/fitness all seem to be changing at the same time. We all think about what we are or should be doing through out our lives but not since our teenage years do so many changes seem to happen all at once. The good news is that by “flipping” how we look at things we can turn these challenges into the sort of excitement we haven’t experienced in a long time. There are plenty of individuals out there who are having The (mid-life) Time of Their Lives … They’re having fun, doing meaningful, rewarding work and they’re contributing to building a brighter future for future generations. The future isn’t any less bright it’s just going to be different to how we thought it was going to be. We’re going to look at how you can join in the fun, whatever age you are.
About Andy Ferguson:
Andy’s been many things; a musician, salesman, trainer, teacher and coach, travel adviser, guide and expedition leader. He studied electronics and mathematics but he cleaned toilets too. When he was younger he worked in hotel kitchens and bars and was unemployed, but never for very long. Andy first learned how to become an effective teacheras a Ski Instructor, in Scotland and then the French Alps. Then there were years teaching (the so called) “soft-skills” – communication, selling, influencing and leading which led back to the Stage: as a Professional Speaker and then on to a book deal. Somewhere along that journey he also tried his hand at picture framing, adventure photography and gardening. And hefitted in work with the Police, in England, to support serious and persistent offenders turn their lives around and with surgeons and religious ministers to transform the way they go about their work. Nowadays his job is to help folk discover it’s alright to have fun whilst doing meaningful rewarding work, and that is what makes all the difference.
