So what can we do with all this reignited enthusiasm and gusto? Become invisible like generations of older women in the past? CERTAINLY NOT!!! Those youth obsessed, smug young whippersnappers who attempt to overlook and discount us don’t know with whom they’re dealing! Women in midlife truly are in their prime and, in addition to our reignited energies, we’ve got loads of knowledge, skills, and wisdom to share.

As a generation, we’ve always been into changing the world for the better. Boomers, without a doubt, tried to do that in our youth. However, in early adulthood, we tended to shift our focus to rearing families and growing our careers. Now that we’re older, our generational calling is reappearing big time. Full-on retirement holds little appeal for many of us and economic realities ensure that we’ll need additional income–so how can we recapture our do-gooder spirit and make a living at the same time?

One of the most rewarding and self-fulfilling roles we can adopt at this age is one of social service. We each have talents and skills to share and the answer can be found through Encore Careers. This forward thinking and innovative organization is spearheading a movement that appeals to the very heart of our age group: “There’s more to do. Encore careers combine social purpose, personal meaning and continued income. Put your experience to work for the greater good.” What a great way to harness our boomer spirit and share our gifts and talents with the world!

Check out their website, “Encore: Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life” and find valuable information on what encore careers are all about, employers who hire boomers looking for non-profit and service oriented work, and proven job search strategies to support you in finding your own encore career.

But they don’t stop there! Civic Ventures, the group who formed “Encore Careers,” awards cash prizes of up to $100,000 to people over sixty who’ve made a difference in their communities and across the world. You can read up on this year’s Purpose Prize award winners and reinvent your own sense of purpose. In addition, one of Civic Ventures’ supporters, Stanford Professor Laura L. Carstensen, Ph.D., wrote a book that will ignite your passion even further. A Long Bright Future is all about finding personal meaning in our work and our lives as we age.

Yes, as we grow older, boomers will undoubtedly recharge our passion to change the world for the better. And armed with a lifetime of experience, there’s no better time or no better way to do that than through an Encore Career!

But Peggy’s childhood and early adulthood were different in a number of ways than most of us experienced. Her family went through some truly wrenching events that might have devastated many; but they somehow pulled through, grew stronger, and become even closer. Peggy chronicled her remarkable life in her compelling and can’t-put-it-down read, Approaching Neverland: A Memoir of Epic Tragedy & Happily Ever After.

The biggest issue Peggy faced early on was that her mother suffered with a form of mental illness that’s now called bipolar disorder. Glenn Close is currently spearheading a campaign to bring mental illness out of the closet and help de-stigmatize the disease. But, back in the sixties when Peggy was growing up, even the mere mention of mental illness was taboo—let alone admit that your family member was diagnosed with a mental disorder. Although the National Institute of Mental Health states that one in four adults in the United States have some type of diagnosable mental illness (and it couldn’t have been that different back then), it was the deepest and darkest of secrets.

I interviewed Peggy about her book on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio and was incredibly moved by her story. Not only did her mom suffer from mental illness, her sister was murdered, her brother died of AIDS, and her father contracted Alzheimer’s disease. But Peggy’s book is not a story that centers on tragedies alone. Far from it. Like that other Kennedy family, there’s no doubt these Kennedys experienced great loss, but they also were blessed with amazing talent and gifts. Each of the children was bright and creative and the highly spirited siblings shared a love for fun and humor. Most of all, they were bonded in ways few brothers and sisters are—they held a deep and abiding love for one another and this made all the difference.

I was so touched by Peggy’s story that I wrote a customer review for Amazon. “Anyone who has ever faced significant loss or overcome great challenge will especially relate. Peggy’s story is both a deeply moving account of a complex family and a celebration of triumph and overcoming the odds. A must read that will leave you smiling with tears in your eyes.”

This is a book like no other. It would make the perfect gift for a friend or loved one who’s going through a difficult time and needs some consolation and encouragement. Peggy found her “happily ever after” and, when you read her book, she will inspire you to find your own. You, too, will finish her remarkable and moving story smiling with tears in your eyes.

So what’s a mature, individualistic woman, with one or two figure flaws to do? Especially now that most of us are counting our pennies, frivolous purchases are even more damaging to our checkbooks than in years past and we don’t want to end up with a wardrobe full of so-so items. Nope, not for us! As the forever young generation, we want to look and feel great!

Well, worry not! Ginger Burr, President of Total Image Consultants, is on a mission to save us from ourselves and those impulse buys we all make because they’re 30% off or we need something to wear to the party on Saturday night. I interviewed Ginger on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio and she gave us her great tips for finding fall fashion that’s right for women our age. Ginger also shared some inexpensive and simple ways we can spiff up our old holiday garb to “add pizzazz” and make it special for this year’s season.

Aside from her seasonal tips, Ginger told about her fabulous home study program “Who Taught You How to Dress?” I’ve taken it and can vouch for it personally. Ginger provides a totally innovative approach to dressing and style, but one that underlies most all of our purchases. She starts out with the psychology behind why we chose the things we do, some of the hurtful comments about how we look that may still haunt us, and how we can transform our negative beliefs into positive ones so that we can select our clothing with confidence. After all, confidence is supposed to be one of the most attractive attributes we “wear” so why not express it through our clothing?

I strongly invite you to a listen to the show and check out Ginger’s program. You will be thoroughly delighted with all she has to share. Even in the brief time we were together, I learned a lot about my own style and fashion needs and you will, too.

One of my favorite aspects about Ginger’s program, “Who Taught You How to Dress?”  is that she honors and celebrates the individuality within each of us. There are no “you should do this or that” within her suggestions. She does provide some useful guidelines such as “buy it only if you love it.” But, beyond that it’s all about how you and I feel about ourselves and our clothing and making the most of our best features.

So, as the weather becomes cooler and deepens into fall, let us literally “turn over a new leaf.” With the holidays fast approaching, there’s no better time to learn to sparkle as our own, unique selves—feeling fabulous and looking every inch the magnificently mature and slightly saucy women we are!

Nope, we boomers weren’t so hot at self-sacrifice, but no other generation came together in numbers like ours and tried to right so many social ills. We mounted our movements in favor of civil rights and women’s rights, we questioned authority when we saw injustice, and we rallied against a war that many of us believed to be horribly misguided and destructive.

Now there is a challenge before us that is even more formidable than those we faced in earlier decades. There is indisputable scientific evidence that we’ve been harming our one and only home, planet earth, for years. We’ve loaded up our oceans and rivers with chemical waste, plastic, and other garbage; we’ve buried trash that won’t degrade for centuries; and we’ve spewed all sorts of horrible substances into the atmosphere. Even more frightening, nature’s greatest antidote to excess carbon dioxide, the rainforest, is being destroyed at an alarming rate.

Thankfully, our generation has another opportunity to change the world for the better. One of our own, a baby boomer himself, is spearheading a movement to save the world’s rainforests. Granted, he’s got a bit more clout than most of us—after all he is Prince Charles—and he’s putting his extensive resources into mounting the Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP).

I had the amazing opportunity to interview the Prince’s Communication’s Secretary, Paddy Harverson, and found out all about it. Take a listen—the interview is only 6 minutes long but it’s packed with information.

Here is your chance to join Sting, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford and many other celebrities to raise awareness and send out your own personal message to the world. All you need do is head over to the website www.rainforestSOS.org., sign up, and tell all your friends to do the same. When it comes to halting, or at least slowing, climate change, there is nothing more critical than a few seconds of effort by each one of us. If ever there was a cause and a time for boomers to join together again to change the world, this is it! Do it now and add your voice to the SOS campaign!

Cornwell’s latest book, The Scarpetta Factor, has her heroine, Kay Scarpetta, living and working as a medical examiner in New York City. As always, she’s got a baffling case to solve and there are plenty of exciting and unexpected twists and turns that would likely overwhelm your average detective. But not our Kay! Not only is her mind razor sharp and her instincts right on, she’s also developing and deepening as a woman of maturity.

I asked Patricia, a baby boomer herself, how she sees Kay evolving over the years. She told me that Kay fits right in with our demographic and is growing much like the rest of us. She’s becoming more introspective, more analytical, and more conscious of how her past decisions are affecting her present realities. She seeks to understand and connect, and find the lessons behind her challenges.

When you read The Scarpetta Factor, you’ll be mesmerized by the plotline, the amazing breadth of factual information Cornwell shares, and the references to the changes all of us boomers are experiencing. Kay is like us even in subtle ways—facing a world that seems to be changing more rapidly than ever, she (like me) is decidedly not a fan of text messaging!

So take ten minutes and listen to this fascinating, world-renowned author speak of her personal experience, some of her own self-doubts and questioning, and how she relates to her famous heroine. She gives amazing background on her research for the book and her success at gaining access into the internal workings of the NYPD—an insider’s viewpoint you won’t want to miss.

Then give yourself the gift of this amazing read: it’s a big book with a big story and it will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end. (One of Cornwell’s many fans wrote she stayed home from work just to finish the book.) For sure, as a boomer woman who can relate to this fabulous and feisty heroine, you won’t be able to put The Scarpetta Factor down. In fact, you may find yourself calling in sick to work, too!

As exciting as this great city is, however, it does seem to lack one thing: silence. Natives may know of a few choice places of silent refuge in Central Park or specified areas in the great libraries and museums. But for the casual traveler, it’s the hustle and bustle, the rush of movement, and the noise that one remembers.

As we grow older, it seems that silence becomes more important. For many women over fifty, there’s a natural shift from seeking external rewards and validation to focusing on a more contemplative, inner world. We start to pay greater attention to our inner knowing and the sometimes small but often insistent psychic nudges that come our way.

Camille Olivia Strate has written a book about these nudges and how they played out in her own life. Whispers: The Often Subtle Sometimes Rowdy Voice of Truth is a collection of simple, truthful stories of connection to family, gratitude for the healing powers of food, animals, and nature, and the wisdom of the universal spirit that resides within each of our souls.

I interviewed the author on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio. Camille spoke to some of the ideas expressed in her “little book.” Do yourself a favor, spend fifteen minutes, and take a listen to this woman of insight and depth. Then do yourself an addutional favor and order her book. If you go by word count and number of pages, Whispers might well be described as “little.” But it is a giant of a read and will touch your heart profoundly. As one of her reviewers wrote: “Strate’s words continue to whisper in my thoughts, while her inspiration grows loud upon the conscience. Listen. Live. And start with Camille’s book…”

Our youthful exuberance and sense of generational entitlement are still in full bloom as we continue to break the rules and revolutionize the aging process. However, could we be taking things a tad to the extreme? One might argue that a bit of decorum as we age is not necessarily a bad thing.

If you’re a regular reader of Feisty Side of Fifty, you know I’m usually all for a rather rebellious attitude when it comes to bumping up against society’s established norms for the over fifty set. Nevertheless, in this one instance I feel I must speak out. The woman pictured below has taken things a mite too far in my estimation.

Yep, I have a hot flash for her: letting it all hang out might best refer to a certain sense of joie de vivre and zest for life, and shouldn’t be taken literally given particular present day realities. We may still be one groovy group of gals, but the time of “I love short shorts” is best left to the thrilling days of yesteryear.

Scroll down and check it out!

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The short films you’ll find there will grab you in ways no others can, because they’re reflections of the fun and foibles of growing older. You’ll see your own face looking back at you: a few lines, a few grey hairs, and a sense of confidence and zest for life you can only achieve at midlife. Some of the films are serious, but most are old broad bawdiness at its best. (Menopause must beef up the funny bone because we gals are letting it all hang out like never before!)

It’s hard to pick my favorites but I must make special mention of “Debbie’s Hair,” “Living Large on Less” and “Girl Tox.” They each had me laughing so hard I needed to run to the cupboard for a fresh pair of Depends! “Believe it Baby!” had tears of joy, recognition, and laughter running down my cheeks simultaneously. Check them out for yourselves and you’ll see what I mean.

In true female fashion, Debbie and her friends are adding even more to the site: they’re making it a welcoming showcase for others. In the “Films By You!” section, you’ll find more classic gems that share tips, stories, or just plain fun.

I had a blast interviewing Debbie on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio. She shared her epiphany at five years old, her early acting experiences, and her reasons behind creating In the Trenches Productions. So take a listen to a woman with warmth, humor, courage, and drive. Debbie and her friends are taking on the big boys in Hollywood and I’m betting my money on them!

In Gift From the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote: “We Americans, with our terrific emphasis on youth, action, and material success, certainly tend to belittle the afternoon of life and even to pretend it never comes. We push the clock back and try to prolong the morning, over-reaching and over-straining ourselves in the unnatural effort… In our breathless attempts we often miss the flowering that waits for afternoon.” Her book was first published in 1955 but her words were never truer.

Therefore, let us choose to create and manifest a life of value and substance.  Let us thrive during this very special time in our lives and, yes, let us celebrate our age. We were born into a very special generation of women. Our accomplishments were nothing less than extraordinary. We joined forces, mounted our movement, and fought the considerable power of male chauvinists.  Despite bumps, bruises, and blows to our ego, we cracked the glass ceiling and did much to liberate women from second-rate jobs and second-class citizenship. We took women out of the kitchen and into the boardroom, exchanged our lace petticoats for tool belts, and went from selling at bake sales to selling on Wall Street. In fact, we go-getting gals accomplished greater strides in the name of womankind than our foremothers ever dared to imagine. And, yes, accolades are in order—we truly did come a long, long way. In fact, we changed the world!

And we are continuing to do so.  In fact, hooray for us! We will change the face of aging in this country for now and forever!

Marcus Buckingham, former researcher for Gallup, detailed the results in his blog for the Huffington Post. He provided the following surprising findings: “First, since 1972, women’s overall level of happiness has dropped, both relative to where they were forty years ago, and relative to men… The second discovery is this: though women begin their lives more fulfilled than men, as they age, they gradually become less happy.” Buckingham then goes on to write that somewhere around our late thirties/early forties, women’s happiness starts to plunge while men’s happiness is on the rise. “As women get older, they get sadder, “ he states. “WOW!” is all I can state.

To say I am bowled over is a massive underestimation! Reading the comments on Feisty Side of Fifty as well as other blogs aimed at boomer women, I see little evidence of this drop in happiness. In their book Women over 50: Psychological Perspectives, Varda Muhlbauer and Joan C. Chrisler assert that their research indicates otherwise, too: “When asked what their most wonderful time of life was, the overwhelming choice for my women respondents was age 55. They loved that time, they said, because of their freedom from worry and the need to care for children and husbands; they described their lives at 55 as full of wealth, health, and activities galore… Most of the women in my study continued to have rewarding, active and satisfying lives, although there were more challenges as they reached their 70s, 80s, and 90s.”

So what do you think? According to my own poll (scroll down on the left margin) 48% of out of more than 260 of you voted you loved this time in your lives. Responses to the other questions only received relatively small percentages. Granted my poll lacks the reach and clout of the General Social Survey, but who cares? Happiness is a state of mind. Therefore it’s based on individual perception and it’s malleable. We are the ones who choose our own reactions to life events.

I, for one, just don’t buy the idea that women grow sadder the older we get. And I don’t think you do, either. Our hormones and responsibilities shift at this time in our lives making us more assertive, more self-oriented, and more focused on achieving our own needs and goals. Older men, on the other hand, can and often do experience a lot of “been there, done that,” regret, and resentment as they age. Generally, their careers have reached a plateau or they’ve been pushed out for younger, cheaper employees; they are no longer as virile as they used to be, and they are likely to focus on what they failed to achieve—ala midlife crisis.

To the contrary, women are many times just getting going and “doing their own thing,” making their own mark. So let me know your thoughts and weigh in with your opinion of this study. Are you sadder now that you’ve reached the age of fifty or are you more fulfilled, more self-directed, and more enthusiastic about your future and what you can achieve?

Sure there are lots of challenges and loss that come with age, but, as far as I’m concerned, the benefits for women far outweigh the downside. If you agree with me, let’s show ‘em that we’re not only feisty, we’re darned well happy to boot!