3 Thoughtful Questions To Help You Take The First Step To Discovering Your Midlife Purpose

Episode 49 | (00:00):
Hey there, friend. Are you looking for your midlife purpose? Maybe you're an empty nester or retired, or maybe you're a caretaker for an elderly parent or two. Here's the deal: As much as we would like for our midlife purpose to just magically show up, it's going to a take a little more thought than that.

(00:17):
That's why I'm going to leave you with three thoughtful questions to help you take the first step to discovering your midlife purpose. Are you ready to do this? Are you ready to find out your midlife purpose? Alrighty then, let's go!

(01:06):
Hey there, Easy Ager, if you are not already on the Easy Aging® Insiders list, go to TheEasyAgingShow.com right after this episode and sign up today.

(01:15)
In the last episode, I gave you a simple formula for living a more creative life. That was episode 48. So if you haven't heard that yet, you might want to hop over there and listen to it.

(01:27):
But if you're still not sure how to get started, you're still not sure about this creative life or creativity or any of it, let me give you a few more little baby steps to take, all right? You can buy yourself fresh flowers. This is my favorite one, try a bolder color of lipstick. Wear a hat or a scarf or something you don't normally wear, or try a new perfume.

(01:50):
Living a creative life doesn't have to be this huge grand gesture. Living creatively comes in the little things too. And these little fun-sized actions are tiny, but they can make you feel different and daring and, best of all, alive. So check out episode 48 if you haven't done so yet.

(02:11):
And if you're wondering why I'm talking about creativity again, it's because it plays a huge role in helping us find our purpose. Being creative helps us think bigger. It helps us step into possibility, and that's what discovery is all about...

(02:26):
Because believe it or not, your purpose is already laid out for you. You just need to do a little work to uncover it and figure out what it is, but it's out there waiting for you to find it. I say this because one of my favorite verses from the Bible is in Ephesians. It's also the blessing that I pray over my business every day.

(02:47):
It's Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Emphasis mine)

(02:57):
I don't know about you, but just knowing that God has already laid out the path for me and all I have to do is follow it makes things feel a little lighter and a little easier, don't you think?

(03:08):
Granted, it is still my responsibility to do the work, to discover that path, but it's always nice to know that there's somebody significantly more competent than me who's in charge and who is putting the big plan in place. Doesn't that make you feel better? :)

(03:22):
Today, I am going to be talking about that path, which is your midlife purpose. I know there are a lot of you that are empty nesters or you're retired or you're caretakers of an elderly parent or two, or maybe you're still working.

(03:42):
Wherever you are, there is a reason for you to be on this earth and it is your responsibility to go find it, to go find that path, that purpose, that God has you here for.

(03:54):
I have three questions for you today. I'm keeping them kind of high-level, but I want you to start thinking about this part of your life. For some of you, you may do these questions and you may find your purpose in two hours. For some of you, it may be two months.

(04:08):
For some of you, it might be two years. That was me. It took me over two years to find my midlife purpose. And you might think, "Oh good, heavens, I don't want to wait two years. This is horrible."

(04:20):
Ah, but I've got to tell you, I don't regret one moment of it. During that time, I was experimenting and I was trying on different hats that let me step into possibility and think about what I really and truly wanted in midlife.

(04:35):
Part of finding your purpose includes making space, creating a space for you to explore and experiment and just have some fun and see what feels right for you at this point in midlife. So don't beat yourself up if you don't get it right away. It's okay.

(04:51):
Remember: Michelle, the "slow one," took over two years to find hers. So hey, if you find it less time than that, congratulations, you beat me!

(05:02):
And I want to point out that that's what Easy Aging® is all about. It's all about answering the big, "What Now?" question for midlife and beyond.

(05:09):
The reason I give you all these little, simple, bite-sized nuggets of information, and I recommend fun-sized actions is to help you focus on the three things. These are the three basics of my proprietary process.

(05:22):
Step one is Awareness. Paying attention to what's going on inside of you as well as outside of you. Step two is clarity, which means getting crystal clear on who you are and what you want at this point in midlife.

(05:38):
And the third step is ease, which is getting a plan by using small, fun-sized actions that are easy to implement and don't overwhelm you. So those are the three main topics that I generally talk about.

(05:52)
But during my break, I decided I'm going to add in creativity because that's simply going to help you get where you want to be even faster.

(06:01):
You'll probably want to get a pen and paper to jot these questions down. To start, we're going to look at our past to help us determine our future. The first question is, when was the happiest time of your life and what were you doing then?

(06:24):
Now stay with me. Let's walk through this for a bit. Were you dating? Were you married? Were you a new parent? Were you starting a new job? Maybe it was your dream job. You can answer that at a very surfacey level, but then I want you to go to the next level and think about the why.

(06:41):
Why were you so happy? Why did life feel like it was going your way? What parts of your life made you so happy? These are the important questions to look at.

(06:51):
So for example, if you were happiest when you got married — maybe it was your wedding day — were you happy to fulfill a dream that you had since you were a child? Or were you just so crazy in love with him that you couldn't believe how amazing you felt.

(07:05):
Being in love is great, you know, but figure out the why. Why were you so happy at that point in your life?

(07:13):
Number two, what activity or situation made you come alive in high school or college? Were you doing something artistic, maybe you were drawing or painting? Were you volunteering? Maybe you were a junior candy striper. I'm not really sure what they did but if you enjoyed that, why did you enjoy it? Why was that so much fun for you?

(07:45):
Did you enjoy being around kids or do you prefer adults? Where did you feel needed? Where did you feel you were really making a difference in someone's life?

(07:53):
A really good time for you to ask these questions is right before you go to sleep. Just as you're dozing off, start asking yourself these questions. Your subconscious is going to start coming awake as you're sleeping, and you'll be surprised at the answers you get when you wake up in the morning. :)

(08:11):
For the third question, I'm going to say it a couple of different ways depending on if you're going through a life transition or not, but it's basically the same question.

(08:19):
If you're going through a life transition, what did you love to do in your previous role as a parent or an employer or an employee or a caretaker? If you're not going through a transition, what do you love to do now as a parent or an employer or an employee or a caretaker, or whatever role you have at this point in time.

(08:40):
For example, if you're an employer, you probably have a number of different types of responsibilities. Which one do you like the best? Do you like running the meetings or coming up with the solutions or managing the people or increasing your profits?

(08:58):
More than likely, this is where you're going to start seeing your skill sets or gifts and talents start rising to the surface. The reason you enjoy doing something is because it comes easily to you.

(09:09):
For me, I love writing. I love sitting down to craft some great content. I love thinking up the ideas. I love being creative. And why do I love it so much? Probably because it comes so easily to me. God blessed me with a very vivid imagination and the ability to put a few sentences together.

(09:26):
Most people don't like writing but there is something else that they're crazy good at. And most of the time it's something that I'm really not so great at. Actually I'm probably pretty horrible at it. But we all have our own gifts and talents and skill sets that were given to us at birth or that are things that we acquired along the way, new skills that we can use in our lives.

(09:47):
Those gifts and talents and skills are exactly what's needed for your unique purpose that is sitting there waiting for you. God has already laid out that path. Now it's your time to follow.

(10:01):
So that's it for today. Let me recap quickly by repeating these questions. Number one, when was the happiest time of your life and what were you doing then?

(10:11):
Number two, what activity or situation made you come alive in high school or college? And number three, what did you love to do in your previous role or, what do you love to do now in your current role as a parent or employer or whatever role you have right now?

(10:28):
Remember, the most important part of all of these questions is to ask the why, the why behind each question. Why were you so happy? Why did you feel like you came alive? Why do you love it so much? This is going to help you get one step closer to your purpose.

(10:46):
Once again, if you're not already an Easy Aging® Insider, go to TheEasyAgingShow.com right now and sign up today. I will see you in the next episode and until then, peace, love and blessings to you and yours. Take care. Bye-bye!