Change

Quite a few people were surprised when I told them that I was leaving my career at the Bank of Montreal, leaving our home in Newmarket and heading out to a new role in Kingston, Ontario. I retired early from the Bank and we packed everything up and moved to our new home.

This was a big change. It is hard to describe in words but it feels like we are living a completely different life. Different and completely refreshing.

A friend of mine serves as a transition coach. He works with people in mid-life — 50 and better — who are, either by choice or circumstance, transitioning into their “Third Age”?. He helps them discover their true passions and unlock the unique gifts that will make this transition the most fulfilling and meaningful of their lives.

He had this to say:

Many baby-boomers are approaching mid-life with successful careers but without ever following ”“- or even understanding ”“- their true passions. Driven by the demands of career and family, they”™ve spent years pursuing “success”? only to discover that now, when they should be feeling most fulfilled they in fact feel directionless and in a state of quiet crisis. For some, this is triggered by the looming prospect of retirement and the loss of identity associated with career, or by the realization that the image presented in advertising ”“- a life spent on the golf course or dozing in a hammock ”“- doesn”™t ring true for them, for financial reasons or because for them this represents a life bereft of meaning. For others, it is triggered by the thought of 10 or more years in the same career and by a growing sense that there should be more to life than just “more of the same”?.

There is more to life than just more of the same. It can be tough to take that first step. But once you take it, you never look back.

I have been reborn and it feels great.