Have you gone back to your roots?

I realized last week when someone made a joke about a “mid-life crisis”, I’m actually right there in that demographic of those whose crises could qualify as “mid life”.?

And subsequently be dismissed and devalued as an emotional outburst (especially as a woman).

It’s not that I’m in the middle of a crisis or planning to have one any time soon (though the early part of this year may very well qualify), but the part that gave me pause was the “mid life” qualifier.?

Somehow once you cross that imaginary threshold of middle age, all things that concern you are deemed silly and irrelevant and not pertaining to the “real stuff” going on with the rest of the (younger) crowd.?

It makes me laugh, how naive I used to be when I’d think about mid life.?

Silly and irrelevant? Hell no.

This age we are at now? It’s the time of truth.?

We’re shedding all our bullshit robes and standing naked in front of the mirror, ready to embrace, accept and cherish what we’ve got.

Because what we have is raw material, real material. Forged over the decades in the fires of naivety, cultural expectations, heartache and loss, joy and inquisition.?

And that’s what makes it valuable. Every little story and journey that has wracked our bodies has also grown sharp wisdom, resilience and expertise.?

In this moment of reflection, I was deep into Conversation #Infinity with my business wife. We were talking about previous work experience and out came this rambling, tumbling mess of words - a story of one of my first experiences in a “real” position of leadership.?

In the dot com boom and bust, I grew my business chops.?

Those were the days when anything went - and did it ever go!?

I was only 24 and I was working for an internet technologies company who was building a strategy around incubating online businesses that could be packaged up for sale.

I was put in charge of building the inner workings of these businesses, and when you’re building a business from scratch, you do whatever you have to do.?

So I managed our technical build, I hired content writers, I managed all of the mini projects we had to complete. I coordinated our creative assets, I worked with our sales team. I even got to help roll out our warehouse and negotiate pricing for adult diapers!

It was a crazy time, with inhumane work hours and crippling pressure, but it was the most memorable experience of my life. When I told this story to my friend, I could feel this desire welling up inside me to go back to those days.

Well, maybe not all of it, as I like my rest these days, but there has been no work since that I have enjoyed as thoroughly.

I spent years after that doing corporate consulting, building my own businesses, and freelancing in every direction.

But nothing thrilled me more than the incubation and growth of a business.?

And here I have been, for decades, trying to craft strategy after strategy that was what I was “supposed” to do.?

How many years have I spent trying to be new, relevant, innovative and sharp?

To build new skills and fit the latest trend?

I don’t regret it - I’m widely experienced now and can execute nearly every part of a business.

But why am I not leaning into the roots that are firmly anchored in my heart?

This year’s journey revealed a lot.

From seemingly out of nowhere, I realized my dream is to be building, renovating and selling businesses. Sometime down the road, this will be my future.

And right now, I get to help others build their own.

I had no idea where that clarity came from, but I knew it was true because it sent out a shockwave of excitement through my body that I haven’t felt in years.?

And then, there I was, telling some story from one of the many crazy escapades of that time in my early 20s and it hit me - my earliest experience had imprinted on me heavily and I had carried it around with me for decades, dormant.

And now here I am.?

Mid life.

And there it is… in my bones.

So when you stare at your mid life reflection, with peaceful, resolved appreciation for those beautiful curves of wisdom and fortitude, where do you feel your roots?

Are they firmly planted under what you’ve built already?

Or are they reaching for the ground, waiting for you to let them take hold, and give you the strong, powerful foundation for this next phase of your life?