Ronna Benjamin
Are you shocked when a friend tells you that their 30-something year marriage has broken up? You shouldn’t be. Today, I listened to a short segment on NPR’s All Things Considered, and learned that we baby boomers are setting new records for divorce: Americans over 50 are now twice as likely to get divorced as people of that age were 20 years ago.
The segment on NPR, only a little over 5 minutes, was filled with heartbreaking stories of women and men having to rebuild and find meaning in their lives after 50, post divorce. Divorce at or after 50 is no longer unusual, because 50 is no longer old– we assume we are going to live for at least another 20 or 30 years–and that’s an awfully long time for someone to spend with a spouse he or she really doesn’t love (or even like) anymore. At Midlife–and we believe the 50’s are mid-life- we still feel young and vital enough to make a change.
You can read or listen to the NPR segment “Older Americans’ Breakups Are Causing A ‘Graying’ Divorce Trend” here.
Whether we are happy in our marriages or not, many of us are thinking of rebuilding our lives after 50. Why? Because 20 or 30 years of a life ahead of you is too long not to do try something else. And that is what SHE DID IT/Boston is all about: reinvention, change at midlife. No one wants to spend the next 20 or 30 years with a spouse they don’t really like– or in a job they don’t really like– or without some purpose and meaning. It’s time to take action, and DO something at this next stage –that will make the next decades the best ever.
The time to do something is now. Check out our SHE DID IT/Boston conference on March 24 at Babson College in Wellesley. Sign up today and do something to rebuild your life.