I like thinking of the current stage of life that I am in as "the age of wisdom". That makes me happy. And if it is true (which I think it is) then surely it is well earned! It turns out that the book Composing a Further Life was a dud. Gerry and I both agreed that once you got past chapter one, it was pretty worthless, with convoluted personal interviews and case studies. But it had some good "bones" to it, if the writer had just been able to use the bones to build on, which she did not.
She described the stages of one's development and the basic strengths (and potential pathologies) attached to each one. This was the part that I liked. It was provocative and caused me to think about my own life stages and perhaps what themes might be associated with them. I shortened her chart and put the general concepts into a different block of years (using the number 11, a number I like). Here are just a couple of the terms from my own chart.
Age 34-45 Time of Creativity and Identity
Age 46-57 Time of Productivity and Engagement
Age 58-69 Age of Awareness and Wisdom
The last stage, however many years one attributes to that, I see as the age of peace and joy. Or at least, that is as it should be!
One can hope and dream. I do, and I often write those down!
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