Midlife as a Beginning, Not an End

Making the pivot from "climbing" to a life of wisdom, depth, and meaning

The Trappist monk and mystic, Thomas Merton, famously said that midlife can feel like climbing a ladder and then realizing, when we get to the top, that it has been leaning against the wrong wall.

This unsettling realization can strike in many ways: when the hard-earned position doesn’t satisfy as you hoped, when a milestone birthday feels more like agin…