Now that I’m here, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with a better name for this thing called “midlife”. It's the “mid” part that bothers me most. It's got a certain connotation of being, well, neither here nor there. Like midstream. Middle of the road. Fair to middling. As if we’re floating nebulously somewhere along some great continuum.
The thing is, I like being here. Sure it’s got its drawbacks (like skin beginning to drip like candle wax and brain fuzz I can only hope to blame on menopause.) But generally speaking, it’s the best place I’ve ever been. If it has to have a label, I want it to describe not only where we are in life, but how. Still chasing dreams and accomplishing goals. Still crazy after all these years. “Mid” anything just doesn’t work for me.
So I broke out the thesaurus. The most positive synonyms for “middle” I could come up with were heart, core, and center. Then I searched “life”, which took me from life spans to states of being. Lord, I tried every combination to get away from this “midlife” thing.
So here’s what I came up with: either CENTERSTAGE or PRIMETIME. Neither are perfect, but at least they shine a more distinctive and positive focus on who we really are - successful, spirited selves (even if we don’t always feel that way.) And with a little extra-added wisdom, too.
So what do you think? How are you in this thing called midlife? And do you have a better name for it? Let’s get something going here!
