For Career Women in Their Late 30s: Is It a Midlife Crisis or the Beginning of the Wake-Up Call?

Today’s article is a guest post provided by Evelyn Kalinosky. I had the recent pleasure of interviewing Evelyn on our “From Corporate to Creative” radio show on this very topic. To listen to our conversation, check out the episode post  or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Then come back & post your favorite take-away or biggest a-ha in the comments section below. 

 

You’re a businesswoman in your late 30s.

High-achievingsoulful.

You’re financially successful, but feeling emotionally bankrupt.

At the edge of creating an opportunity you truly desire – ready to leap – but desperate to keep the plates in the air.

You’re tired.

You’re ready to feel fulfilled, and you’re ready to build a bridge to that fulfillment, even if you’re not quite sure how.

Women in Midlife Crisis

Our lives have a way of calling us to what they want to be, and never more so than as we approach midlife.

When we ignore the calling  because we’re “only in our 30s”, or we don’t think we fit the stereotypical profile of a woman in crisis, when we focus all of our sacred potential on the lives we made ourselves fit into in order to achieve in high performance careers, we risk facing a wake-up call that looks like crisis.

You may be familiar with this already.

 

The Wake-Up Call. It’s the voice of your inner purpose that can no longer wait to be noticed. Your spirit’s evolution that needs attention at last.

Before the wake up, the call was quiet, even soundless.

It was a nudge, pushing from behind the juggle of responsibilities you maintained in career and family success.

It got louder in the form of longing and desire. Opportunities arose that looked delightful–and impossible–and left an impression till you noticed them again:

  • That business you could start on your own. With all the savvy you put into your career, you could be investing in the deep personal and business fulfillment as an entrepreneur…
  • That constantly springing creative reservoir you set aside when you started your current path. It’s reminding you that you’ve got a talent to give to the world, to feel a part of the world…
  • That curiosity that just keeps following you around, the one about travel or spirituality or deepening a relationship…
  • The nagging belief that you’re in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong relationships or the wrong community…there’s something to be discovered here…

This tug at your conscience is your Sacred Capital waiting to be tapped. Your soul wants to stretch into its ultimate purpose, to evolve itself and bring you with it.

It will keep trying to get your attention, this lovely soul inside of you. If its nudges have failed, you may be reading this from the other side of a crisis, your sacred desire finally coming into focus and waiting for action.

Woman at Midlife

It happens frequently, midlife crisis as a catalyst. The juggling plates drop. Time seems to stop. Inside the silence of a forced slow-down, the sacred voice gets louder.

You feel intensely what could be. You understand the familiarity, this tremor of longing that got tucked away because there was no time nor room for desire. Until now.

Beneath your public skill and monetary success–or riding right there next to it after work hours–you are creative.

Your relationships desire deepening. Your spirituality, while dimmer than you want it to be, has a pulse. Your connection to the things you value beyond work, status, and keeping on top of the game you’ve created, is waning.

But you’re not sure how to strengthen that connection without losing much of what you already have.

Monetary wealth was good for a while. Money has been wonderful to have. But the freedom you seek is no longer financial. The goal is a search for significance. You are ready to journey to uncover this wealth of the self, a rite of passage to your highest purpose and to a life that’s as unique as your fingerprint.

Your soul is calling.

Creating this connection is an act of transformation–transforming what feels lacking in your life into inner wealth.

Regardless of whether you’re listening to your inner voice, crises big and small will occur.

But when you have built your inner wealth, your wealth of the self — when financial, physical, emotional, spiritual, relationship, and creativity are all balanced, congruent and firing on the same cylinders – surprise events that pull at your attention no longer eclipse your well being.

When you’re wealthy in self, you come back into balance quickly. You don’t get lost in crisis or slip back into single-focus on the one track to financial success you’ve been treading in exhaustion till now.

Midlife Transition

If your sacred success has yet to be tapped, you can transform the juggle. Turn it into your deepest joy. Turn it into fulfillment. Listen for where the voice of your purpose will lead you and follow it.

Not sure what that longing is? Find out. Start with what you know…

You are an accomplished human being. You have given, in service, in ambition. You achieve what you set out to achieve.

Take a moment to find that inner voice that’s been tapping at your shoulder. What is it saying? What legacy is it asking you to achieve? To what desire will you build a bridge for this next stage of your life?

Following the voice may be scary, or even out of the question. But what will you miss if you never try?

In the decades of your achieving, you have left something worthy behind. Go back for it! Go forward with it. Start building it now. You know that of all of your accomplishments, your Sacred Capital is what matters now, and you are committed to letting it flourish.

What’s the benefit of answering the voice? Your happiness as you define the next stage of your life and your success. The fulfillment of living your life’s purpose, and letting yourself live out that deeply-held dream.

This life achievement is transformation. Transformation is the kind of cellular change that doesn’t turn back. Transformation is an act of revolution.

What’s possible for you? The voice inside you knows.  You already have the answers: in your skills, your awareness, your experience.

“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” ~ Lao Tzu

 

About the Author

Evelyn Kalinosky is a catalyst and mentor for career women in midlife transition. She specializes in working with women between the ages of 35 and 50 who are ready to claim – or reclaim – their Sacred Capital. Her passion is to create a new paradigm in how we think about aging, specifically, how we think about women aging.

Her award-winning Inner Affluence blog received top honors in 2011 and 2012 as “Best Coaching Blog” by the School of Coaching Mastery, and she was named “1 of 101 Women Bloggers to Watch in 2011″ by WE Magazine for Women. In addition to being a coach and mentor, Evelyn is a speaker and published poet.

About the author, Kelly

Kelly Galea is a creative, multi-passionate entrepreneur and luminary blessed with a unique combination of wit, grit, intellect and intuition. She helps you navigate the work-life maze of ever-shifting priorities and transform your life through holistic self-discovery techniques and immersive, fun and magical mini-quests. Working with Kelly will inspire you to unveil, express and celebrate your vital personality and lifestyle preferences to create a more harmonious life.

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