Sometimes the 3rd quarter sneaks up on you. You know its coming, when you turn 40 you think this is it and for some it might be but not for most of us, at least not yet. For most of us one day something happens, an inner shift occurs. You notice that most of your co-workers are younger, a friend or family member has a major life crisis, you really look in the mirror at your body and see change, you become a grandparent. No matter what precipitates it, one day you notice, then you acknowledge and accept a new reality. You realize actually have more years behind you than you have ahead of you and life has changed.
This is can be a very scary place because so few people are willing to talk about it openly; aging, maturing, getting older. It’s not that you are old, no. The longer you live you realize that the first admission of old age for many who are there is around the age of 80 and beyond. Although, I once met a group of assisted living card sharks ladies all over 90 who took up the discussion of being old and decided they were not there yet.
Aging, maturing means you are young enough to enjoy but old enough to have a vision and growing wisdom for the future. The 3rd quarter life means asking different questions, settling in different parts of your being, releasing things, people, moods and attitudes that no longer serve you.
The 3rd quarter life means that you shift from taking care of others as parent, to taking care of yourself and maybe your parents. It means acknowledging that you have arrived at a place in life that not everyone is privileged to live long enough reach. It means knowing that if you want to live to the 4th quarter, it is how you live in the 3rd quarter that will make the different.
So this is it. This is the place we will share life in the 3rd quarter. What is the 3rd quarter of life? It depends on how long you plan to live. This is a question I ask when people around me start talking about future plans or the lack thereof. How long do you plan to live? Whatever that number is for you, deduct 25 years. If you are 60 and plan to live until 90, then yes you are in the 3rd quarter of life. If you are 38 and believe you will live to be 75, then yes, you are also in the 3rd quarter of life. The 3rd quarter questions remain regardless of your present age. What do you need to do, need to know, who do you need to become, what do you need to have in place and how do you deal with the in trepidation?
If you are here, welcome to 3rd quarter life, it’s bound to be an interesting journey.
3rd Quarter Life 