Midlife Crises, As Reported By Oprah

I started reading  The New Midlife Crisis: Why (and How) It’s Hitting Gen X Women mostly because I was curious about what sort of articles were on Oprah.com. I don’t think of myself as GenX but I’m at the tail end of it (1984 is the cutoff this article uses). I’m going to be 38 in a couple months. And the anxieties described within are, in fact, my anxieties.

Anxieties about money :

Women not only earn less than men but also invest less—and then they live longer. That, writes investment expert Sallie Krawcheck, is “the gender gap that’s really hurting us.” Meanwhile, the safety net is vanishing; in 2040, the Social Security trust fund is due to run out—right as many of us hit retirement age.

Anxieties about your career:

If you are in the corporate world, and everyone in management now seems to be in their 30s, and you’re in your 40s and not there yet, what do you do?

 

Anxieties about EVERYTHING:

Midlife is when we need to take care of everyone else while we are our most tired, to trust ourselves when we’re most filled with doubt. What makes it worse is that many of our midlife fears are well founded. We may, in fact, die alone. Our marriages may never improve. We may never get the number of kids we hoped for. We may never save enough money to make the retirement calculators stop screaming. We may never do a fraction of what we thought we would do in our career.

 

Life After 80

Did you see the “Old Masters” article in the NY Times, in which people over 80 “at the top of their game” are interviewed about their work, their age, and everything else? There’s some good stuff in there. I want to be able to deal out such pithy life advice when I get there:

Author and illustrator R. O. Blechman:
“It’s important to stay with a project and not give up because it doesn’t seem to be breaking for you. Whatever it is. I’m reminded of what a Russian scientist once said: ‘’Ice forms instantly, but the process of forming the ice is slow and invisible.’ ’’

Artist Ellsworth Kelly:
“Each year I’m very surprised by the color. . . . It’s one thing about getting older, you see more. . . . Everyday I’m continuing to see new things.”

 

Incredible

Here’s a rough trailer for an upcoming documentary Alive Inside, about music and how it helps “awaken” people with memory loss. (Bonus Oliver Sacks!) Like my dog rescue video last week, this one starts off sad, but at least watch from about 3:00 – 4:00.

Incredible. If I ever decide I want to use my powers for good, maybe I should go into music therapy.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Tomorrow my dad turns 62! He’s the only 62-year-old I know who is going to perform impressive feats of strength on his birthday (a 100-mile bike ride.) Happy birthday and be safe on your ride–we want you to stay around for many more birthdays.

2. Ray Bradbury turns 89 tomorrow, too. Did you send a card?

3. And, in other news about old guys (ha! sorry, Dad–you thought I had resisted), here’s a news report from last month: New Jersey Homeowner Calls Cops on Bob Dylan. They thought he was a homeless man in their yard and the 24-year-old officer didn’t recognize him. Hijinks ensue.

This Guy Isn’t Telling Kids To Get Off His Lawn

Via BoingBoing, yesterday I read an interview online at PingMag MAKE, “The Japan-based interview magazine about ‘making things’ ” with a 97-year old botanical illustrator. The man, Chikabo Kumada, sounds like the most serene and happy person on the planet. He has an exhibition planned for his hundreth birthday!

I think the interview is just fascinating to read. The first few questions set up his career, so you could skip those if you’re pressed for time, but it’s really worth a look–there are quotes like this:

I hit the renaissance of my life when I turned seventy. That was when I really bloomed. Up until then it was like I had been like living in muddy water. (laughs)…So my 80s were really like the bloom of youth for me. But when you reach such an age, you could really die at any moment. So I felt that it was important that I didn’t miss anything, and I took another close look around my garden. And that was when I realized I was able to see things in flowers and leaves that I hadn’t been able to see before, and my work got more detailed.

And this: “I believe that any living thing can be beautiful if you love it.”