Navigating The Layers
Greater Life
As an entrepreneur over 50, your time is just beginning… Live the Greater Life
Once upon a time, I looked at the windows of my home and considered them clean.
Once upon a time, I looked into the eyes of a beloved and considered my heart wide open.
Once upon a time, I held my children and considered myself an emotionally available father.
And I was…my heart was…my windows were.
For the layer of reality I was currently existing in.
But then something happens and cracks the shell…breaks the threshold of the layer…and you see (I see) layers upon layers. Levels that once seemed like the bedrock of truth become, in an instant, but the barely scratched tip of the iceberg’s tip.
What is this phenomenon that can rewrite reality in an instant, upending everything we thought we knew about ourselves…our homes…our relationships? In simple terms…it is a change of frame.
Where before I was viewing my windows as a homeowner who might clean them once a year…now…having adopted the frame of ‘Air BnB Host’, my windows demand a scrutiny that immediately reveals that for an Air BnB guest, the gathered dust along the rubber seals of the window panes, though barely visible, is visible enough to possibly undermine their confidence in the kind of cleanliness that will ensure a 5* review.
Where before I thought I was loving, heart wide open…I see perhaps I was placing my heart on a pedestal, trying too hard as a means to actually safeguard it from rejection.
Where before I thought I was present for my children…I see that I was present in the way that worked for me…not in the way their souls longed for…projecting my inability to give and receive affection onto their demands for affection.
There is one more once upon a time…a story that is rarely repeated these days, but does still rear its head…
Once upon a time, I would have beaten myself up for not being more ‘advanced’ than I am. For not having more figured out…for there even existing more layers to be discovered and mastered.
Now, more often than not, my chosen frame, as I have shared in previous CoffeeCasts and Newsletters is ‘WOW!’…wow…what a gift…what a wonder to be able to discover new layers…to learn new ways.
And yes, there is often some sadness at how long it may have taken to break through to new layers that, once known, seem so obvious…but there is undeniably power. Agency. To be living in truth.
And I stay ever on guard for those parts of me that would rather sulk and shame than accept what is and build from there.
How about you? Perhaps you have been brought low by the raft of challenges that can greet us on the other side of 50?
Perhaps the multi-decade relationship ended…and you are faced with navigating how to be alone without falling prey to loneliness.
Perhaps what used to work in business just isn’t getting the same results any more and you are forced to reevaluate how you add value, maybe even the entire business you are running.
I sure as hell don’t know much…but what I am pretty sure of is that pretending things are ‘ok’ … that the situation hasn’t fundamentally changed and that a new layer has not opened up probably will cause more pain than embracing the beauty, brutality and wonder of the true situation.
Wherever you are, if you are reading these words, you are not alone. Greater Life set out to be the place where a business owner over 50 could belong, no matter what may be transpiring across their 4 Pillars of Health, Happiness, Home and Hustle.
That commitment remains unchanged. That mission remains the mission. We believe entrepreneurs over 50 are one of humanity’s last bastions of hope against the craziness to come.
We have nowhere near all the answers to what we may be facing…we have only an unwavering devotion to helping you find your answers, discover new levels and navigate new layers.
We’ve got this.
Fun Fact - Born in 1972, movie star turned entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow is now 50+. A potential Greater Life Ambassador maybe? ????