Ways You Can Survive And Thrive In Midlife NPR. One secret to midlife happiness is being a rookie at something. Trying new things and failing keeps you robust. Getty Images. hide captiontoggle caption. Embrace Out Of Nothing Zip' title='Embrace Out Of Nothing Zip' />Getty Images. One secret to midlife happiness is being a rookie at something. Trying new things and failing keeps you robust. Getty Images. After two years of research and more than 4. Download Fable 2 Pc Ripped there. NPR reporter Barb Bradley Hagerty received dozens of insights about how to live well in the middle years. Weve distilled them here, with a little context. And, by the way, these ideas work well for people on both sides of the midlife divide. Aim for long term meaning rather than short term happiness, and you will likely find both. Aristotle suggested as much when he talked about eudaemonia, or the good life striving with a purpose raising terrific children, training for a marathon rather than setting your sights on immediate pleasures, such as enjoying a good meal or a day at the beach. Its also the best thing you can do for your mind and your health. Choose what matters most. Clayton Christensen at Harvard Business School describes the eroding effect of short term decisions specifically, doing the activity that brings you immediate gratification such as work and putting off harder but ultimately more fulfilling activities such as investing in your marriage and children. I talked with many people who privileged work over family because work brought immediate rewards. Backpack.jpg' alt='Embrace Out Of Nothing Zip' title='Embrace Out Of Nothing Zip' />These people closed the sale, they shipped the product, they pulled an all nighter to get the story on the radio, they were promoted and praised for a job well done. And as a consequence, Christensen says, people like you and me who plan to have a happy life because our families truly are the deepest source of happiness find that although thats what we want, the way we invest our time and energy and talents causes us to implement a strategy that we wouldnt at all plan to pursue. Lean into fear, not boredom. Most of us become competent at our work by our 4. Play it safe or take a risk. Howard Stevenson, also a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, believes the greatest source of unhappiness in work is risk aversion which leads to stagnation and resentment. Theres a difference between 2. Stevenson and the other career experts I interviewed do not recommend chucking it all to blindly follow a fantasy. Rather, be intentional as you try to shape your work to reflect your skills, personality and talents. But we have only one spin at the wheel, so make it count. A great line from Stevenson Ask yourself regularly How will I use these glorious days left to me for the best purpose4. At every stage of life, you should be a rookie at something. This insight comes from Chris Dionigi, a Ph. D. in weed science and the deputy director of the National Invasive Species Council that kind of weed. He believes trying new things and failing keeps you robust. He took comedy improv classes and now spends many nights and weekends riding his bicycle as an auxiliary police officer for Arlington County, Va. Always have something new and challenging in your life, he says, and if that something is of service to people and things you care about, you can lead an extraordinary life. Barb Bradley Hagerty finishes the 1. The night Patrick was arrested, he had gone out looking for his younger sister, but he couldnt find her. Then she arrived on the family porch with Marcus, a man. K race in the Senior Games. Three years earlier, she had trouble walking up a flight of stairs. Eric ToddCourtesy of Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Eric ToddCourtesy of Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Barb Bradley Hagerty finishes the 1. K race in the Senior Games. Three years earlier, she had trouble walking up a flight of stairs. Eric ToddCourtesy of Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Add punctuation to your life. Young adulthood offers plenty of milestones graduating from college, starting a career, getting married, having your first child. But Catharine Utzschneider, a professor at the Boston College Sports Leadership Center who trains elite middle aged athletes, says midlife is like a book without any structure, without sentences, periods, commas, paragraphs, chapters, with no punctuation. Goals force us to think deliberately. She was so right, as I found when Mike Adsit, a four time cancer survivor and competitive cyclist, challenged me to compete in the Senior Games for people 5. Suddenly I had little goals every day a faster training session, or a 5. A devastating heat wave surging through southern Europe has earned the unofficial moniker of Lucifer, according to several news reports this weekend. Things. Synopsis A young female executive assistant has boyfriend problems. Her lady boss has a plan to get ride of him. This was my first story, which I wrote a few years back. In the aftermath of the decision of the Seahawks to not sign quarterback Colin Kaepernick, some have suggested that the inability to get the two sides. How should Christians deal with this new culture force There are many worthwhile places on the Internet for believers, and this essay is heavily documented with the. SDA Apostasy Information. In light of the conference starting a new organization which is different from that of the 1800s, now is the time to support independent. Even if you dont win I came in seventh in the race you win. A few setbacks are just what the doctor ordered. Torrent Microsoft Project 2007 Professional more. Bad events seem to cluster in midlife losing a spouse, a marriage, a parent, your job, your perfect health. But people with charmed lives zero traumas were unhappier and more easily distressed than people who had suffered a few negative events in their lifetime. According to resilience research, some setbacks give you perspective and help you bounce back. And heres what I learned from Karen Reivich at the University of Pennsylvania, who trains Army personnel about resilience. After I fell off my bike and broke my collarbone threatening my book deadline I called her up. She gave me two tricks First, OPM Other people matter. People who let other people help them tend to recover better than those who are fiercely independent. Second, rely on your top character strengths to get you through. You can take the character strengths test as well as other questionnaires on the University of Pennsylvanias website. As embarrassing as my strengths are industry and gratitude they helped me cope until I could drive, type, dry my hair or unscrew the mayo jar. Pay attention Two of the biggest threats to a seasoned marriage are boredom and mutual neglect. The brain loves novelty, and love researchers say a sure way to revive a marriage on autopilot, at least temporarily, is to mix things up a bit. Go hiking, take a trip to an undiscovered land or drive an RV down the Blue Ridge Parkway, which my husband and I did in June 2. Honestly, I thought nothing could be more pointless or boring, but based on the novelty research, we piled in with our dog, Sandra Day, and two friends. Something went wrong almost every day we got caught in a flood, the brakes nearly went out, we could not figure out how to dump the blackwater dont ask for some time. We had the time of our lives. It took us out of our comfort zone, it gave us a grand adventure it was, in short, The Best Vacation Ever. Barb and Devin Hagerty navigate down the Blue Ridge Parkway in an RV. Novelty gives zip to midlife marriage. Courtesy of Jack Kolpen. Courtesy of Jack Kolpen. Barb and Devin Hagerty navigate down the Blue Ridge Parkway in an RV. Novelty gives zip to midlife marriage. Courtesy of Jack Kolpen. Happiness is love. Full stop. This observed wisdom comes from George Vaillant, a psychiatrist and researcher who directed Harvards Study of Adult Development for several decades. Download Straw Hat Samurai 3'>Download Straw Hat Samurai 3. The study still ongoing followed men from the Harvard classes of 1. Vaillant found that the secret to a successful and happy life is not biology. It is not genes. It is not social privilege or education. It is not IQ or even family upbringing. The secret to thriving is warm relationships. Oh, then theres this happy coda Second chances present themselves all the time, if youll only keep your eyes open. Barbara Bradley Hagerty is the author of. Life Reimagined, and a former NPR reporter.