Be Creative!
Even if you don't have an undying desire to change your career or travel the world, you may find yourself thinking of ways to express your creativity. Your brain is continuing to develop, and challenging it with creative pursuits is a great way to stay engaged in your life. If you have a hobby you'd like to expand, or a skill you'd like to learn, that is completely in line with your developmental stage.
“I'm Not the Creative Type”
You may not think of yourself as creative, but there are many ways to express your creativity and lots of support to do so. Dr. Howard Gardner, a noted Harvard developmental psychologist, distinguishes between Creativity with a capital “C” and creativity with a small “c.” Big “C” Creativity is the type of breakthrough, well-known creativity of extraordinary people. Albert Einstein, Mozart, Mother Theresa, and Gandhi, for example, used unconventional and creative ways of thinking to transform the world. But small “c” creativity is available to everyone. It is about taking the risk of breaking routine or convention to try something original. It could be planting a garden where you've always wanted one; writing a letter to someone you've never communicated with; starting a lunchtime book group or a walking club at work. Whatever you feel drawn to, and have not explored, that is an entrée into creativity for you. Anyone who challenges his or her mind to try something new or unusual is walking down a creative road.
Beyond the Craft Store
Spend some time thinking about where your strengths and interests lie. Are you involved in those things through your work? Or have you used hobbies to explore those areas? If not, why not take some steps toward engaging in activities that stimulate and intrigue you. Here are some ideas for starters, but of course you will have your own:
Take up folk dancing.
Join a local theater group — even as a volunteer if you want to get your feet wet.
Learn a new computer skill.
Try digital photography.
Do an internship with a professional in your area of interest.
Volunteer as a mentor.
It hardly matters what your area of interest is, there are ways to include it in your life. Whether your passion is children or Italian opera, you can create ways to explore it and share your skill and interest with others. Recipe clubs, cross country skiing, or knitting klatches all offer the chance to create something new in your world, and you will be healthier and happier for it.
Fact
In a famous quote by Confucius, dating from about 500 b.c., he noted, “At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty I established myself in accordance with ritual. At forty I no longer had perplexities. At fifty I knew the mandate of heaven. At sixty I was at ease with whatever I heard. At seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing the boundaries of right.”
The Real Creation — You
Menopause is a life-changing event. It offers opportunity along with the physical changes, and brings the prospect of going from “reproductive” to “productive.” It is a chance to become more of who you are, and more of who you are meant to be. Although you will undoubtedly be faced with challenges — physical, emotional, and spiritual — you decide every day and every minute how to respond to those challenges. Those decisions will create the most important thing you have to offer the world: yourself. Being older can mean being happier. And it can mean finally being you.
