ANXIETY No one alive has escaped the feeling of anxiety. It may consist of that isolated worry but most women admit to at least one or two periods in their lives when their anxiety was overwhelming. Is anxiety something we should avoid or get rid of? Not at all. An anxiety response is a perfectly normal response that we experience when we face the unknown, the difficult, or the unpleasant. I always remind the women in my midlife support group that if they are not experiencing ANY anxiety, they are probably not making any changes in their lives or trying anything... Read More

…by Prill Boyle Have you ever been determined to head in one direction, only to have life nudge you in another? That\’s what happened to June, a 54-year old dental receptionist whose deepest desire is to become an ornithologist, a scientist who studies birds. This September, she was all set to take her first biology course. Now she\’s having to put her dream on hold. Again. Like many late bloomers, June\’s passion began as an innocent hobby. Twenty-five years ago, the Brooklyn native moved to Shelton, Connecticut, a woodsy town on the Housatonic River. She promptly... Read More

…by Julie Clark Robinson “One hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, how big my house was, or what kind of car I drove. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of a child.” –Forest Witcraft              I had been feeling something ugly brewing for days – probably weeks – if I\’m to be honest. And by ugly, I don\’t mean the brownish/grayish sunken circles under my eyes, they\’re a given at this point. (My beloved Sephora catalog still waits for me in my reading pile. Inside, my... Read More

…by Mary Pearsall Remember the good old days when taking off 5 or 10 pounds merely meant eating less and exercising more? I had the formula down pat – if I wanted to get into my “skinny” jeans, I just stopped the double order of onion rings and rode my bike a few extra miles. Whoosh! Off it came. Now that I am in those marvelous menopausal years it just doesn\’t work that way any more. I hear the same lament from my clients and I am sure you have experienced the same if you are a boomer woman. I feel your pain. So, what is the problem here and what do we do about... Read More

Although you may escape the MALADIES, you rarely escape the OVERFILLED PLATE. You find your plate heaped high with a three-layer GENERATION SANDWICH, plus two helpings of EMPTY BIRD\’S-NEST SOUP, and a side of ROTTEN EGGS. An example from my own life amply demonstrates the dreaded GENERATION SANDWICH. I learned first hand in May of 1999 why we are called the Sandwich Generation, caught up in that three-layer concoction of caring for elderly parents while we are still trying to launch our adult children, and finding ourselves smashed by duty and diligence at the filling in-between.... Read More

…by Suzanne Falter-Barnes Got time to read a quick essay about how to find more time? Desperately need more time but you\’re not sure where to find it? First take a nice deep breath, then settle back into your chair and read. I\’m here to share some really helpful info with you that has radically altered how I use my time. Now I not only have more time, I\’m more relaxed and when I am working, I\’m a lot more focused. I got some excellent coaching on this from my business coach, Rich Schefren – some of whose tips I\’m sharing here. Others are ideas I\’ve added... Read More

…by Prill Boyle When we pursue a dream, our spirits wake up. But as our hearts begin to soar and we head off to whatever destination we\’ve chosen, it\’s vital to remember that what\’s most important in our lives is not in the future. It\’s here and now. Jim McKennan knows this all too well. On June 1st he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor—a complete surprise for an active and seemingly healthy man who is the father of four school-age children. The odds are not in his favor. But as dire as his situation is, much good has already come from it. His family... Read More

…by Julie Clark Robinson “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.” –John Lubbock To normal people, a locust\’s cry probably goes unnoticed. It doesn\’t consistently chat like the cricket does – a regular rhythm of chirp…chirp…chirp. It doesn\’t entertain with a sporadic song like a bird does. To a normal person, a locust is that big bug that sheds its skin and freaks you out if you cross its abandoned path. I tend to... Read More

ACT II – MASTERING THE MALADIES The MALADIES are the FIVE most common conditions that make overcoming the CRUMMIES (see my June 2006 NABBW column) more difficult. They are MALTREATMENT, MALFUNCTION, MALIGNANCY, MALPRACTICE, and MALARKEY. You probably have one or more in your life that complicate getting and staying healthy. MALTREATMENT can be past or present. It can take the form of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, domestic violence and verbal abuse in adulthood, or other neglect and privations. When I look back over my thirty-seven years in practice, I would have to say that between 70... Read More

…by Prill Boyle What\’s next? If you haven\’t already asked yourself that question, at some point you probably will. Average life expectancy for women is now approaching 80 years, and with our greater longevity comes more beginnings and endings. Children leave home. Jobs change. Loved ones die. Retirement approaches. Then new jobs beckon when savings run out. Life, in other words, is not so much a box of chocolates as a series of chapters. And when one chapter is over, we\’re often uneasy until we know how the next one begins. The problem is, sometimes there\’s no... Read More