Midlife Unpacked
Sense making through time and place
Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.
Rumi
Hello!
What an honour it is to age. What a journey it takes to get here to midlife. Managing kids and life and loved ones dying. Sometimes just coping. Sometimes thriving. All the time living, even when it feels hard.
There is so much focus on how to do life as a young person. But boy, battling teenagers and building new relationships with your kids once they are adults, fighting off the peri/menopausal blues and the despair that comes with feeling all of a sudden invisible, finding meaning and purpose as our roles change… that stuff is harder to come by.
There is so much of life still to live. Let’s live it in all its messy glory. Join me as I try to make sense – to unpack – this crazy stage of life we find ourselves in.
Sharlene
Join me on the journey
Pick your poison. I mostly write about life. But I also travel a lot, so I write about the places we go too and what life lessons lie in their arms. Click on the picture to take you to the page of interest.
Latest Reflections
Out with the old…
I’m recovering from surgery. It’s slow going, but now I have all the time in the world to read. And I remember… I love it.
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Finding myself at home in Zimbabwe
Four days on Lake Kariba is not enough for me. Between lions and crocodiles, the blue water and the orange sunsets and the petrified trees that rise like ghosts from the depths, this is a place you should put on your bucket list.
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The “stuff” of memories and place
We’ve got plans to try a slightly different version of life, sometime soon. A digital nomad version. First, we have to sort out all the stuff we’ve accumulated in the last 30 years. Easier said than done.
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Lessons in living bravely from elephants and lions.
Three weeks spent enjoying the African bush gives you plenty of time for reflection. And there is much they can teach us. Like living life to the full, before we run out of teeth.
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Reframing old memories to change current perceptions
Our experiences shape who we are in the world – and how we react to things. When our responses lead us to a place we don’t want to go, can we reconfigure our memories to move in a more positive direction? Probably. But it takes practice.
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Oh, here I am…Empty nesting is a chance at rediscovery
The kids are out of the house and off to uni and adulthood. My parenting job is done. Suddenly, I feel like a whole new me.
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I think I’ve become addicted to sweat… isn’t life just full of suprises
I think I’ve become addicted to exercise – or at least the feeling of exercise. The endorphin rush that comes with sweating it out to music. Life is full of surprises!
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Notes on Cruising – AKA: Not everyone is a cruising person.
Cruising is all the rage. It has its upsides, and its downsides. And how that plays out probably depends on whether you’re a cruising person or not. This is my take on it.
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Midlife Unpacked 
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