Midlife Quotes

“Midlife is the time to let go of an overdominant ego and to contemplate the deeper significance of human existence.”
― Carl Gustav Jung

“We don't see people as they are. We see people as we are.”
― Anaïs Nin, Little Birds: Thirteen Feminist Erotic Short Stories that Inspired the Series by Anaïs Nin

“The capacity for growth depends on one’s ability to internalize and to take personal responsibility. If we forever see our life as a problem caused by others, a problem to be "solved," then no change will occur.”
― James Hollis, The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife

“How many of those who are insecure seek power over others as a compensation for inadequacy and wind up bringing consequences down upon their heads and those around them? How many hide out in their lives, resist the summons to show up, or live fugitive lives, jealous, projecting onto others, and then wonder why nothing ever really feels quite right. How many proffer compliance with the other, buying peace at the price of soul, and wind up with neither?”
― James Hollis, Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives

“Mrs. Miniver suddenly understood why she was enjoying the forties so much better than she had enjoyed the thirties: it was the difference between August and October, between the heaviness of late summer and the sparkle of early autumn, between the ending of an old phase and the beginning of a fresh one.”
― Jan Struther, Mrs. Miniver

“It’s not so much that we are losing our identities, but rather that we are no longer embracing false identities. If we hold on to what once defined us, we will miss out on the authentic identity we are being called to.”
― Dale Hanson Bourke, Second Calling: Finding Passion & Purpose for the Rest of Your Life

“Because air traffic was heavy, (the pilot) circled the area twice which gave me two hard looks at the expanse I dared myself to walk. All I could think as I looked down at the massive island of skyscrapers was, Holy shit, what have I gotten myself into?”
― Lisa Weldon, Twenty Pieces: A walk through love, loss and midlife reinvention

“He smiles and his wavy haired, bright eyed head scoops me in but quickly lands on Mimi. It lingers a bit long, his chest frozen as if the breath's been knocked out; he already loves her. Mothers know these things. It's the kind of love that springs from awe, attraction, intellectual curiosity, and finding a woman mom approves of... the girl next door with exciting fangs. I wonder if their offspring will have fangs.”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“Dangerously close to bankruptcy, we could in no way afford anything so frivolous. I wasn’t even sure the check I’d written for the deposit would actually clear. I knew better than to write it, but I had written it anyway. I wanted it that badly.”
― Lisa Weldon, Twenty Pieces: A walk through love, loss and midlife reinvention

“I’d spend a lot of energy reframing the gory details and just couldn’t slip and allow them to see my real truth.”
― Lisa Weldon, Twenty Pieces: A walk through love, loss and midlife reinvention

“2.3 miles at its widest point,” Wikipedia claimed, and just 13.4 miles in length. How could a place so immense in my dreams, so powerful and alive, be so small?”
― Lisa Weldon, Twenty Pieces: A walk through love, loss and midlife reinvention

“I went through the photos, wondering what I’d put on a plaque if I had one. What message would tie up my life in just a few sentences and stand the test of time, years after I was gone? Like an obit, really, what in my life was most significant?”
― Lisa Weldon, Twenty Pieces: A walk through love, loss and midlife reinvention

“So, sensuality, the way I see it, has now become the developmental process of midlife ‘awakening’. Meaning that to really awaken to the life you were meant to live, you have to first awaken to your sensuality.”
― Lebo Grand

“He smiles and his wavy haired, bright eyed head scoops me in but quickly lands on Mimi. It lingers a bit long, his chest frozen as if the breath's been knocked out; he already loves her. Mothers know these things. It's the kind of love that springs from awe, attraction, intellectual curiosity, and finding a woman mom approves of... the girl next door with exciting fangs. I wonder if their offspring will have fangs. - Holly Carter”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“At the center of my life, I have found new hope and a renewed direction. I feel the communal surge of spirit amidst a group of people who had, like us, lost theirs to some degree in the places they fled. I will not allow Theo to bring me down. I will lift him up.”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“Life isn't mapped out for us, Tom,' I say. 'We can change! We can do it together. Let's not give up on each other now. There is too much to lose; I love you.”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“Life isn't mapped out for us, Tom," I say. "We can change! We can do it together. Let's not give up on each other now. There is too much to lose; I love you.”
― Penelope Przekop, Centerpieces

“I might not know much about being a witch per se, but I know this: it's kind of a one-size-fits-all deal. Having gifts, being a wise woman, reading tarot--whatever your witchy quirks might be--those aspects of your life don't disappear just because you're busy for a few years changing diapers and driving kids to soccer practice.”
― Red Tash, Miss Fitz Discovers Midlife Magic

“I still matter. I can’t believe I’m even having to tell myself that.”
― Cate Ray, The Younger Woman

“Life is a blend of striving, learning, and embracing the chaos.”
― Steve Ghikadis, Humanism from the Heart: Building Bridges Beyond Belief

“Midlife Haiku

First: love. Then marriage.

A mortgage. And a divorce.

Is that all there is…?”
― Peter Radley

“Carl Jung had come to the same conclusion fifty years before: Among my patients in the second half of life—that is to say, over thirty-five—there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a spiritual outlook on life.”
― Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

“The air is humid and flowery like teenage perfume”
― Yvonne Radley, Dandelion Yellow

“Midlife isn’t a crisis. It’s a comeback.”
― Bree Penfold, Lola Bloom The Flamingo Diaries: A Midlife Memoir-in-Motion

“Maybe midlife isn’t the crisis we joke about. Maybe it’s the moment you finally stop waiting—for permission, for perfection, for the "right" time.”
― Bree Penfold, Lola Bloom The Flamingo Diaries: A Midlife Memoir-in-Motion

“I used to think healing meant fixing yourself. But maybe it’s just about feeling yourself again. Messy. Leaky. Alive.”
― Bree Penfold, Lola Bloom The Flamingo Diaries: A Midlife Memoir-in-Motion

“Midlife shouldn’t be the end of youth. It should be the beginning of giving zero f*cks and finally doing life our way.”
― Bree Penfold, Lola Bloom The Flamingo Diaries: A Midlife Memoir-in-Motion

“There’s no way I’m only meant to be a mom and wife. There’s got to be more in store for me, right?”
― Bree Penfold, Lola Bloom The Flamingo Diaries: A Midlife Memoir-in-Motion

“Maybe it’s not about being seen. Maybe it’s about finally seeing yourself.”
― Bree Penfold, Lola Bloom The Flamingo Diaries: A Midlife Memoir-in-Motion

“Midlife doesn’t feel like a fork in the road. It feels like a goddamn roundabout.”
― Bree Penfold, Lola Bloom The Flamingo Diaries: A Midlife Memoir-in-Motion