Finding Ourselves


 


Finding Ourselves

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“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.”

Welcome

Hi, I’m Steve Marshall

Happiest walking the land or clipped into my bike, I’m wandering and wondering, photographing, writing and talking about how we find wisdom in the second half of life.


 

Many of us experience a moment when we raise our gaze and realise we have fundamental questions about life, work, wisdom and leadership.

It’s a moment that isn’t defined by age.

You may have experienced life changing events; the death of a partner or loved one, the end of a marriage, a bout of illness, depression, job change or retirement, or a glimpse of your own mortality. Moments that shift our lives and invite us to redefine who we are, how we live and how we choose to work with those around us to bring change to a struggling world.

 

 

Wisdom and the second half of life

We often rush through the first half of life getting an education, making money, paying a mortgage, having children, developing a career, and establishing worth, security and status. It’s necessary work yet, typically, anywhere between thirty-five and seventy, life brings turbulent emotional shifts which lead us to question the choices we’ve made.

 
 

Mid-life offers a glimpse of something different but dropping our preoccupations with self-image, success and power can feel risky, precarious and unsafe.

If we decide we are no longer prepared to accept the status quo, we begin to see differently and look with new eyes at the world we inhabit. Yet the invitation offered by the second half of life is one that not everyone is able to accept and many seek solace in returning to an ego-driven life. Some leave organisational life while others drift, damaged and confused, often projecting their pain and trauma onto friends and colleagues.

The uncharted landscape of mid-life opened up for me when, working hard at my ‘dream’ job, I suffered complete exhaustion, distressing burnout and a period of medicated rest.

I was lucky.

I was met by the love and care of family and friends, excellent healthcare, and tolerant, accommodating work colleagues. Even so, my recovery extended over several years. Unable to orient myself, I would be frustrated at each relapse into anxiety and depression as I struggled with how my life needed to change.

Like any experience of deep learning, mid-life shift requires vulnerability and submission, and the capacity to trust in the wider fabric of the world as we relinquish our previous narratives and identity. Our task, then, is to integrate the wisdom, soul and the perspective of the second half of life, as we help to build a shared capacity to thrive and prosper.

 

 

An Invitation

I’ve come to learn that the transformative moments of mid-life shift are an invitation to take time for careful contemplation.

 
 

An invitation to consider questions of identity, relationship and purpose, environment and well-being, creativity and contribution, as well as the pragmatics of business, work-life balance, family and leisure.

Together, we can inquire into the foundations and practices of wisdom in the second half of life.

I’ve been capturing stories, convening dialogues and developing the practices that help us live into the landscape that opens up at mid-life and beyond. We change one conversation at a time, in moments that bear witness to who we are rather than chasing aspirational versions of who we ‘should’ be. It’s about reclaiming a full experience of life; (re)connecting to each other, to our creative selves, to our health and landscapes.

Conventional leadership, organisation, governance and justice are struggling as social and eco-systems collapse, and our climate rages. More than ever, we need to bring a different wisdom and sense of meaning to the world.