Everyone goes through challenging times and transitions in their lives - career change, redundancy, emigration, bereavement, mid-life crisis, retirement, family struggles, relationship challenges, ageing. These turmoil periods in our lives can be stressful, difficult to cope with, and potentially massively disruptive to us.

Turmoil is not always caused by 'events' such as these. Sometimes there is simply an unhappiness with the way things are, an indefinable restlessness with the life we are leading. All too often we are caught up in a spiral of living a life we no longer feel in control of, of living a life we no longer feel satisfied with. We  can then feel guilt, anger, frustration, entrapment.  None of this is abnormal. Life has phases, milestones, developmental stepping stones. Many of these are confusing and disruptive unless we understand them for what they are - normal, inevitable and positive if approached correctly. This site has been set up because of a deep interest in these phases of life. The series of essays here have been put together to look at some of the issues related to this fascinating notion of life phases.

 It is often said that the important thing in life is to see that the journey is more important than the destination.  We wouldn't dream of starting out on a driving adventure without a map, even if we had not decided on our eventual destination. Unfortunately we rarely have the privilege (or some would say the encumbrance) of a map for our lives as we undertake the journey. This absence of a 'map'  is what makes life so exciting, stimulating and hopefully satisfying, but it can also make it dangerous, stressful and tumultuous. One thing for certain, our 'life' journey will be full of twists and turns, ups and downs, curves and straights. How we negotiate the ongoing challenges will determine our happiness. It is the decisions we make along the way which will create the life we lead, for better or for worse. These decisions are never more important than during the inevitable moments of struggle and confusion.

Indeed .... "Life is the sum of all the choices you make" - Robert Foster Bennett.     

My musings

        Midlife Crisis - real or imagined? ...... goto

    Planning in your life - is it necessary?? .... goto

     Retirement - paradise or disappointment?.. goto

              The shape of life - thoughts ..... goto

                         On growing older  .......goto

                           Moments in time ...... goto