#425 Snippets of wisdom: Fulfilment in midlife.

Agi Keramidas 0:00

Music. Welcome to personal development mastery podcast, and this is another snippet of wisdom where I select my favorite most insightful moments from previous episodes. Today's snippet is from my conversation with Bernie Borges, host of the midlife fulfilled podcast, it is about finding fulfillment in midlife. But first of all, let's get something straight. What exactly do we mean by midlife? I hope you find Bernie's answer insightful, and if you do, can you think of one person that would find it useful and share it with them? Thank you. And now let's dive into the snippet.

Bernie Borges 0:53

So again, we're actually going to give you the simplest definition to midlife that perhaps you ever heard. And here it is, midlife is adulting. It's adulting. So let me, let me explain we I break life into three phases, youth, midlife and end of life, end of life, so youth, generally, is up until around age 30, generally speaking, meaning we're growing, we're maturing, and we're still in a youth phase, up until somewhere around age 30. It's, it's a little different for everybody. But generally speaking, then there's a whole span of many decades, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, even 80s. For some people, if they're healthy, that is that quote, unquote midlife season. That's the adulting phase of our life, right? We have more responsibilities during during those phases, right? So back to end of life. Personally, I'll share with you my father's end of life season began at age 81 when he began, his health began, began to decline. At age 81 he passed away at age 93 and so for those 12 years, he was in an end of life season. Of course, we did. We had no way of knowing when he was gonna pass. And I must say, I don't mean to imply, without giving you more detail than you and your listener needs, I don't mean to imply that he was lying in a deathbed. I'm just saying that his health began to decline, and for 12 years, he continued to live until the day of his death at age 93 but that whole time was a slow decline, and that's different for everybody. Some people reached that decline, and for whatever unique circumstance they have, it's a rapid decline, and they pass within weeks or months, depending on again, those unique circumstances. But there are, especially now, there's so much advancement in medical technology, not to mention lifestyles, or more and more people that are living this longevity lifespan that can go into your 80s and 90s. My father in law, at the time of this recording, is 93 and I'm, I'm very tempted to say he's still in midlife, because he's healthy. And not only is he healthy, he is extremely active. He's the president of a community theater where he lives, where he's been the president for 30 years. He's, he's been retired from his from work for probably, you know, 2530, years now. But he's there every day, Aggie. And he's there building sets for, for, for, for the theater. He's running the community theater. He's the president. He has a staff. Nobody's paid. They're all volunteers. And so he cognitively, he's 100% he's 93 so until he has some kind of a decline in his health, he's not at end of life. And look, he could not wake up from one night's sleep, because nobody knows that, right? That's a God thing, right? But in terms of his health and his capacity, he's totally there with you and me. Now, he doesn't do it for a paycheck, but he's there every day. I mean, it is his life outside of his family, right? So it's just this whole concept of midlife is adulting until we reach that end of life season.

Agi Keramidas 4:47

Thank you for listening. You will find the full conversation with Bernie Borges in episode 298, the link is in the episode description. If you enjoy this podcast, can you think of. One person that would find it useful and share it with them. Thank you, and until next time, stand out don't fit in you.