A couple of years ago, I discovered the joys of German thermal spas—the kind where you float about in huge salty pools enhanced with massage jets and other relaxing features. From the moment of my first spa visit, the sound of water and soothing music, the sparkle of the water, and the warm and relaxing atmosphere invited me to forget my troubles and soak myself in the goodness of simply being. It was heavenly.
Do you think I make a practice of regular thermal spa visits? Of course not. I don’t have time for that! I have volunteer activities, social events, family members and friends who need me, not to mention errands to run and household tasks. Who has time for a spa when there is so much to be done?
Empty nest moms and women in midlife are busy. There’s just no way around that fact. We have our own lives to build and maintain, we have children who still need us, and parents who are becoming needier as well. We are dealing with our own issues of aging and body changes, and those transitional experiences remind us that time is not on our side. This sense of a shrinking time horizon might motivate us to work harder, to do more.
But is doing more the only solution to the pressures of midlife?
The answer to that question is personal, but I propose that the best way to answer it is first to slow down, to let our hearts and minds catch up with the pace of our lives, and to spend some time allowing our deep thoughts to bubble up to the surface. Maybe we can be defined not by what we do, but by who we are.
At midlife, we are in a state of becoming; life is changing, and we can sense that change like the scent of coming rain. The only way to embrace this season of life is to slow down, take time, and live deeply in the moments of transition.
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