Top 10 Inspirational Quotes for Midlife & Beyond
I love quotes. Before memes, social media, and the internet, when I was a teen I used to peruse a store at the mall with framed inspirational quotes and motivational phrases. Somethings never change, and during times of stress, anxiety, and especially now during my menopause rhapsody, I often look for similar words of encouragement.
Each morning I give myself a mini-meditation before I even get out of bed. I seek out words of positivity and inspiration to begin my day, sometimes found on Facebook groups I’ve grown particularly fond of following (i.e. Sisterhood of the Wild Woman), others come at random - in an article, a story, an Oracle deck of cards (i.e. The Divine Goddess Oracle Deck), or my head. No matter where the inspirational voice comes from, words can be medicine to our souls. These are just a few of my most recent favorites…
My mother was a hospice and geriatric nurse for most of her professional life. One of the most interesting observations she gathered was that as people age, they often revert to a childlike state. They say what they mean and they mean what they say. They know in their bones time is limited so why beat around the bush?
When I think about my menopause story, it relates much to this quote. My Awakening brought my spirit to this realization. Now, I see clearer, get to the point faster, and feel stronger by trusting my gut the first time.
There are few certainties in our lives, one of which is that someday, we’re going to die, so might as well make the most of every minute we’re here…
2.
The image I see when I read this quote cuts deep. A tightly wound ball of consciousness and ego exposing inner truths layer by layer.
I thought for a long while I was supposed to be a musician. It made my family and friends happy. And while I still enjoy playing and making music, I often find myself in a fierce competition, failing or succeeding based on what everyone else thinks or feels about my art.
What I’ve found most joyful and liberating though, is that the medium of my art and thus who I am, is a storyteller. I am a writer and lover of words. And while many in my inner circle may or may not fully understand what I’m creating, what matters most is that I understand. I see the masterpieces in my work before my fingers even touch the keyboard. Besides, the ultimate verdict of success or failure is only dependent on the thoughts and feelings of one person, my hardest critic and most biased one-woman jury: me…
The ultimate verdict of success or failure, is only dependent on the thoughts and feelings of one person, my hardest critic and most biased one-woman jury: me.
3.
Women have stopped me on the street and asked if my gray hair is natural or dyed. I smile and tell them the truth, “How could I dye it? I’ve earned every one of these hairs.”
Every. Damn. One.
More and more I see women my age and older resisting the fashion police of hair dye. Some women and girls even go above and beyond their natural progression of life by dying their hair gray to catch up to the trend. But we know the truth, which ones of us silver-goddesses have naturally aged and earned our badges of honor.
The older I get the more real I feel. The more smug my matter-of-fact, fuck-your-opinion, and bless-your-heart smile has become. I fantasize about gray haired women being the more frequent preferred models on the covers of magazines and billboards, the aspired age of sex-symbols.
Maybe Gloria’s onto something. But I must respectfully challenge one of her words: “quietly.” If I’ve learned anything in a woman’s midlife empowerment, it’s that not a one does anything quietly anymore. We do it loudly, proudly, and with assertive authority. We’ve earned at least that much!
If I’ve learned anything in midlife empowerment, it’s that not a one of us does anything quietly anymore.
4.
Thinking back to the first 18-20 yrs of your life, you’re simply learning to survive on this planet: eat, protect, and establish yourself in a part of this seemingly universal social experiment. The next 20 years are about putting into practice what you’ve learned on your own. Even going so far as to test-drive some parenting theories on your own kids - the one’s you’ve been filing away since your childhood.
But at 40 and beyond? Then what?
You get out there and LIVE. You’ve now learned the rights and wrongs of what does and doesn’t work for you. You’ve learned what you do and don’t want or need in most relationships. And now, your remaining years are all about living out your purpose.
After 40, you get to really be who you are. But not because Carl Jung said so. Because you KNOW so…
5.
Menopause is all about change: your body, thoughts, spirituality, priorities, and the way you do things. It forces you to review everything in and about your life and decide what’s really worth keeping. Otherwise, you’re stuck.
Until midlife, you’ve been coasting on what’s worked or merely gotten you by, but now, the Universe it shaking you down to bare bones. It’s giving you the chance to decide how to rebuild and rebirth your life. But if you want something different, if you really want to see change in your world, you’re going to have to make some hard decisions - let go of some things in order to gain some others.
In other words, stop doing the same thing or you’ll keep getting the same results.
6.
As women, we’re often taught confidence is arrogance and self-esteem a form of narcissism. We’re afraid of being considered too vain if we look at ourselves and say, “Damn, she looks good.”
Truth is, if we can’t do that - can’t fill our tanks with confidence and self-esteem, we can’t possibly love and appreciate others without a lethal dose of envy and jealousy.
One of my guiltiest flaws is giving out great advice and positive encouragement, but when it comes to applying it to myself, I fall flat. Some days I struggle to look myself in the eyes without finding yet another flaw or ugly part I’d rather scrape off. But I do it, look at myself - forcibly at times - and pretend that reflection is my friend.
What would I say to her if she wasn’t me?
If all the years of therapy and a ton of self-help books have taught me one thing, it’s this simple mantra when self-love feels impossible, unworthy, or conditional: Do it anyway.
When self-love feels impossible, unworthy, or conditional: Do it anyway.
7.
One of my biggest regrets - and I’m not one to have or believe in many - it’s that I graduated college early. I loved school. If I had an endless stream of money, I’d probably be a professional student taking endless electives in world religion, history, women’s studies, philosophy, and too many more to list.
I consider my determination to graduate early a failure in my life.
A failure because I failed myself - sacrificed my passion and loves for what I believed would be a success or approval of my parents. Guess what it got me? Nothing.
Wanna know one of my greatest successes though? Quitting my job in a soul-sucking industry that gave me more headaches than booty-shakes. My family was mortified. How could I flush my degree and a decade of hard work down the toilet to do a bunch of side hustles anyone with a high school diploma could do? Simple. Because I said so.
One of the most beautiful parts of middle age is the realization that it takes your biggest failures AND greatest successes to make you better, more in tune with yourself while embracing who you are and melding that with who you want to be.
In my humble opinion, that’s what makes a fine human being.
How could I flush my degree and a decade of hard work down the toilet? Simple. Because I said so.
8.
My husband’s Baubee lived to be 98. She was a sweet Jewish grandmother with spark and spunk in her tiny 4’10” frame. I loved her spirit and wit. When she was 96 I interviewed her - asked about her life and what she remembered from her childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. She’d been alive for most of the monumental modern historic events, so I figured she must have some pearls of wisdom to share.
She shoveled coal into a furnace in the wee hours of the morning to heat her house, scrubbed laundry by hand before washing machines were available, and Goddess knows how she entertained her houseful of 4+ children without a television.
One of the quotes she said her father used to say and she continued to repeat to herself over her nearly 10 decades on this planet? “Tomorrow’s another day.”
Midlife definitely shows us of our missteps and mistakes through microscopic lenses, but it also gives us the grace to see that our unknown future is worth waking up for. It’s another day, another opportunity to make good of our lives, and it’s never - ever - too late to start again…
9.
I think life is about many things: lessons, purpose, and experiences, but most of all Love.
Midlife is no different.
It doesn’t have to be drama, crisis, disaster, and doom. It can just as easily be satire, calm, blessing, and respite. But you have to let it. You have to see the silver lining.
The midlife journey is just another opportunity for a new chapter to be written in our life’s book. We just have to be willing to take the time to sift through the jagged pieces to find the soft and beautiful ones that have been there all along.
Midlife doesn’t have to be drama, crisis, disaster, and doom. It can just as easily be satire, calm, blessing, and respite.
10.
Each phase or period of our lives are different, some action packed, some mundane, but they’re all part of the same biography we call Life. What’s important to note is that each piece is equally vital: they teach us a lesson or give us an experience to help better understand or appreciate at a later time.
I used to resent my parents. My childhood was…difficult…and had a fair share of trauma. “Why did they ruin my life?” I’d yell at my therapist. “They didn’t,” she’d calmly reply.
Now, I see what she meant. My childhood - good and bad as it was - set me up for where I am now. I can reflect how far I’ve come, especially when I look through the eyes of my kids and see glimpses of myself, and if I pay close enough attention, a good memory or two pops up.
All of the storms I experienced up until this point, and all the ones I’m sure to experience after, won’t be equally distributed. They probably won’t be celebrated and they surely won’t feel easy to withstand in the moment, but I believe they are necessary. They’ll set me up for the next chapter, phase, or act of my life because until I take my last breath, there are unspoken words I’ve yet to say, unwritten words I’ve yet to write, and if my life is a biography, I’m the only person who has the power and insight to share it…
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