What do you want to be when you grow up?

I’m in my 40s.  I’ve been talking to clients and prospects in their late 30s, 40s, 50s, and they all tell me some version of the following…

1. I STILL don’t know what I want to be when I grow up

2. I realize (now) that my parents were and are scared little kids, just like me

3. This “respect your elders” stuff is for the birds

These are all related.  We’re undergoing a collective societal shift that is very disorienting and it is touching EVERYTHING.  Work.  Family.  Social structures.  Economics.  Lifespans.  Inherited conventions.  Authority and verifiable knowledge.

It’s all breaking down and we’re not quite sure what is going to reform in its place.  For some reason I have the perspective and conversation about it that some people need.

Did you catch my word choice there?  I think we’re in the midst of another reformation of some kind, but we don’t yet know its significance.  History really only makes sense looking back.  Europeans couldn’t have known what the Reformation was as they were going through it.  It was just volatile and disorienting in every conceivable way.

There is an interesting church historian who sees epochs and societal paradigms moving in 500 year cycles.  The year 1000 saw the split between the Eastern and Western churches.  1500 saw the schism within the Western Church, fueled by the printing press.  And now, 2000…  What will that bring?  I don’t know exactly, nor do you, but we all have a sense of some kind of shift, don’t we?

Here’s some elements:

1. Social media is causing a dissolution of narratives and epistemology

2. Abundance is causing a population explosion which is causing us to question the moral significance of humanity

3. We are seeing more clearly the trauma of the social and familial structures that brought us to the present moment, and questioning the wisdom of our elders and ancestors

4. Our lifespans, combined with security and stability, are giving us the opportunity to prolong adolescence and enjoy not just one career, but 2, or even more

The first 3 points are crucial to our zeitgeist, but it’s the 4th that is strategically significant for you.  Yes, you can stew and rage about your imperfect inheritance and elders (lord knows I do!) but you are here to ACT and CREATE (ie lead).  It’s the only way you’ll be happy when you finally grow up.

I’ve been talking to people who are investing their way out of their careers, retiring, building something new, or simply looking to make a shift.  They are all plagued by some kind of fear or uncertainty about what their lives look like on the other side.  What is their purpose?  And how do we make peace with our imperfect inheritance to free our souls, forgive our well-intentioned elders, truly break from the trauma of the past, and see where we want to go with our freedom?

Wondering about all of this?  You’re not alone.  I think MANY of us are feeling it, and some people need a little help navigating it.  It’s what my perspective is for.

You CAN figure out what you want to be when you grow up, and I can help.  I can’t give you the answer, but I can help you find it for yourself.  Let me know if you want to talk about it.