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Starting over at midlife: The 5 step process

Posted by Guru on February 7th, 2008

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In their midlife stage, if someone had a life altering event and are forced to start-over, it can be heart-wrenching, not to mention the emotional baggage it comes with. In this MSN Money column, titled ‘Uncommon Sense’, Dunleavey and her friends narrate the travails of a woman in her midlife going through her divorce and left with the responsibility of being a single parent with no job. Dunleavey elaborates on this 5 step process that is helping this woman keep her focus on important aspects and straighten out the mess she is in. Some of the steps are easy to understand and makes sense, but very rarely do people follow them. Some of it is facing the problem head on and addressing it courageously. Though this story is about a woman trying to recover from her divorce and short on income, this process can be equally helpful to other people that want to get their finances in order. All the best.

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Dear readers, Welcome to the Boomer411 blog, we would like to start this post with the following story about a little grape stem…

“Once upon a time there was a little grape stem
She was so glad to be alive.
She drank water and minerals from the soil and grew and grew.
She was young and strong and could manage quite well…
All by Herself
But the wind was cruel, the rain was harsh,
And the snow was not one bit understanding.
The little grape stem experienced pain.
She drooped, weak and suffering.
‘It would be so easy to stop trying to grow,
to stop trying to live,’ thought the little stem.
She felt poorly.
The winter was long, and she was weary.
But then the little stem heard a voice.
It was another grape stem calling out to her…
‘Here, reach out, hang on to me.’
But the little stem hesitated.
What would this mean? she wondered.
For you see, the little stem had always managed quite well…
All by herself.
Then ever so cautiously, she reached out toward the other grape stem,
‘See, I can help you,’ it said.
‘Just wind your tendrils about me, and I will help you lift your head.’
And the little stem trusted.
Suddenly, she could stand straight again.
The wind came…and the rain…and the snow.
But when it came, the little stem was clinging to many other stems.
And although the stems were swayed by the wind,
And frozen by the snow,
They stood strongly united to each other
And in their quiet strength,
they could smile and grow
One day, the little stem said,
‘Here, hang on… I will help you’
And another stem reached up to the little grape stem.
And together, all stems grew…Leaves budded … flowers bloomed …
And finally the grapes formed….And the grapes fed many.”

Hello and welcome again. This blog is focused on exploring the unique challenges, experiences, trials and tribulations; all that life brings to Baby Boomers or anyone 45 years or older. Through this blog we invite you to ride with us on the journey and join hands with other fellow Boomers or elders (just like the little grape stem in the story above) and together grow stronger; to explore and learn about topics that matter to YOU. May be you are retired and exploring what life has to offer; or may be you are getting ready to retire and looking for good information to make informed decisions; may be you are still years away from retirement and would like to explore with others and prepare yourself for the upcoming life stages or have questions right now that you need good answers to; or whatever your quest may be, we invite you to join us in this exploration, this conversation, this journey.

Why follow the Boomer411 blog?

Through this blog, we will attempt to bring to your notice, unique, interesting offers that you may be interested to know about; We will carefully select and highlight news stories that may indicate the beginning of a new trend or an innovative solution to a topic of Boomer’s interest; From time to time we will post interviews, thoughts from people in the field, from authors of books on Boomer related subjects, etc; We may feature organizations serving this demographic OR anything else that you are interested in hearing more about. We will strive to find articles/happenings so you are informed, educated and well prepared for facing life’s challenges and celebrations. If any of the above sounds interesting to you, you will want to stay tuned and watch this blog. We are very excited and looking forward to this wonderful journey with you. We hope you join hands with this ‘little grape stem’ and in the process help yourself to grow stronger to face life’s challenges. Also, if you have a topic or question that you would like addressed in this blog, please let us know by sending your questions/comments at info@Boomer411.com .

Again, welcome aboard and enjoy the ride…

(Acknowledgements: Thanks to StoryBin for the story of the little grape stem)

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