Elizabeth HillLive Your Ideal LifeSkip to contentHomeEventsCoaching ServicesDe-Clutter Your LifeAboutContact← Older postsStarting Over: The Myth of Middle AgePosted on November 7, 2013 | Leave a commentI realised recently that I have acquired a superpower. It comes in very handy at times and at other times it is rather annoying. On balance I like having this superpower. “What is it?” you ask. It is the power of invisibility! Useful for walking unnoticed past groups of drunken lads out for the night. Not so useful however if I am trying to attract the attention of a shop assistant!How did I acquire this superpower? Well, I entered middle age. This appears to be the time when we tend to slip out of public consciousness. We no longer hold attention because of our youth and our looks but we are yet to register on the ‘concern for the elderly’ lists. In short, we tend to slip through the net of society’s consciousness. To see those in mid life as irrelevant, however, is a mistake. It has been said that we spend the first 40 years of our life gathering parts of our soul together and then the next 40 years putting them to good use. So what experiences, skills, qualities and preferences have you gathered in life so far? And now, most importantly, how are you going to put them to good use? How are you going to express the best possible you and how would you like to contribute to the overall happiness in the world? For that is what it is time to do. No longer being concerned with trying to fit into a life you ‘should’ be living, you now have the wisdom and experience to know what kind of conditions you need to thrive. Perhaps you have finished raising a family, or come to the end of a career which once thrilled you. Now you can look up from your own environment and begin to wonder what sort of a world you would like to pass down to future generations. If it is different from the one you see in front of you then any changes you wish for begin with you – with your knowledge and experiences. What would you like to change and why? How can you teach your children, your community, your workplace, how much life is worth and how do all the elements you have experienced help to colour your vision of the world? This task is not to be left to a few select politicians. We have seen many times that the vision others have for this world is not our vision of how the world could be. Perhaps you would like the world to contain more equality, for rich and poor, for men and women. Perhaps you have environmental concerns or you would like to teach people how to live in a less consumerist society. Perhaps you want to be an example of an individual who leads a balanced life. In mid life we have the skills and the knowledge to do this. We are able to express ourselves authentically and to show younger generations what is possible. We are old enough to protest about the problems of the world and young enough to do something abo