ME TIME

Inward, Onward... Upward! Managing Midlife Mayhem

By LISA COWNIE

As I start this, I want to say I am extremely thankful for the opportunities I’ve had in life. That I have been able to do the things I have done astonishes me every single day. Mankato has embraced me so robustly; I am just so very thankful.

In return, I have loved the community right back volunteering every chance I get and filling professional roles on KEYC, as a magazine editor, an adjunct professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato and South Central College, and with the nonprofit MRCI. People always ask me: “How do you do so much?” And my reply was always, “I love everything I do, so that makes it easy.”

And for many years that was true.

Then one day, about four months ago, the alarm would go off in the morning and I found myself not looking forward to the day ahead. This would happen consistently. It was also a time when I was struggling with having an empty nest. For 28 years my favorite role in life was that of mom. It still is my favorite role, but it has of course changed as my children are adults now and no longer need my day-to-day care (although I secretly still try!).

Anyway, I have always been the type of person that if I don’t like the direction my life is headed, I know only I can change it. So I began the process of making a change. The first step was looking INWARD! Since becoming a mom, every professional decision I made

was based on what was best for the family. With it just being my husband and I now, how that looks has changed a bit.

At my age, I realized I have maybe eight working years left, and I had to decide how I wanted to spend them. I am a list maker, so I just started writing down things that I still wanted to do in life. When I looked at what I had written, there was a clear theme – travel. Through a lot of internal reflecting, I rediscovered a passion for seeing the world that has always been in me that I haven’t taken the time or found the energy to pursue.

ONWARD! has been my mantra at several different seasons in life. So onward I went in trying to figure out what change I needed to make to pursue this potentially “last” adventure in life.

I found the answer to “what’s next?” could be found UPWARD! So I began the process of closing things out at my workplaces to make arrangements to pursue training as a flight attendant for a major airline. This midlife mayhem I am creating by completely changing my path has reenergized me and hopefully, by the time training is through, I will once again be thriving.

So if you ever think of changing things up a bit (you don’t have to go to my extremes) look inward, move onward and if it takes you upward … look for me. I just might be a familiar face on your next flight!