With the impending arrival of 2019, now is the perfect time to plot your course for self-improvement. By deciding that you’re going to follow this 10-step plan, you can start the New Year on a positive note and the improvements you make will change your life for the better.

1 – Begin with Self Care

Self-care is a practice that seems foreign to most people. Probably because most have been taught to put themselves last and take care of the needs of others first. That’s backwards thinking, because you can’t help anyone else until you first help yourself.

Start by letting go. Too many people hold onto doing things because they feel guilted into it. They handle issues or deal with other people’s tasks that they really don’t want to be doing in the first place.

It’s hard to decline invitations you don’t want to accept – or stop doing things that people you care about want you to do, when you don’t really want to do them. It can be hard to even say no to yourself.

That happens when you have a mindset, a sort of mental checklist, of what you “should” do. For 2019, decide that you’re going to say no to handling or doing anything that you really don’t want in your life.

It’s okay to skip the big family meetings that end up with someone angry at someone else – or to say no to the coworker who pushes his work off on you. Free yourself to say no to yourself when you feel you “should” stay late at work to finish something up for the good of the company, even though you’ve been breaking your back for months and ignoring your own needs.

You need to put what’s best for you first regardless of what else you have to let go of.
Making sure that you take care of your physical self is part of self-care. That means taking the time to plan healthy meals and snacks, not skipping meals, and not rushing through your food so you can get back to work or take care of something for someone else.

Taking care of your body with exercise is part of self-care. You don’t need to have a goal to lose weight in order to use exercise in your plan. Exercising relieves stress and lifts your emotions.

You need it just because it benefits you. Don’t give up sleep to get on the never ending hamster wheel of work or day to day tasks. The next day, the work or those tasks will be right where you left off – but you’ll feel more prepared mentally and physically to tackle them.

It won’t benefit you to lose sleep in an effort to keep up or get ahead. Instead, do what you can with the time you have and allow that to be good enough for you. Build in times where you’re off the clock professionally and personally.

Just have some fun. Do something that feeds your soul. Take a trip. Do nothing. Read a book. Go to the movies. Visit a friend. Nurturing yourself – your happiness – is an important part of self-care.

2 – Let Go of Self Defeating Habits

Sometimes people hold onto a habit simply because it’s something they’ve always done or a way they’ve thought for years. An example of this would be wanting to save money and get control of your finances, but consistently blowing your budget on spur of the moment purchases.

You might think one way and even acknowledge out loud that you want change, but then you turn around and give in to actions that sabotage your desires. You know what you’re doing (or not doing) that’s holding you back from having your best life.

It’s not comfortable confronting the worst part about yourself. But if you don’t acknowledge what’s going on with you, then you won’t be able to change it. Acknowledging that self defeating habit is where you begin.

Recognize how it’s holding you back from meeting your goals. If you want to go on a nice vacation, but you’re always spending your vacation fund, then you’re sabotaging your goal.

Once you identify what that self defeating habit is, you can move into self improvement by modifying that behavior. You do this by creating replacement habits. If you have a problem with overspending, then challenge yourself to go one week without buying anything except necessities.

Then add a second week – then a third. Identify any possible obstacles and have a plan to conquer them. If your friends want to go out shopping, suggest a no cost alternative such as getting together to watch a movie at home. You can improve anything about your life as long as you identify the problem and have a solution ahead of time.

3 – Learn a New Skill

When you learn a new skill, it betters you as a person. It fills you with confidence that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. These skills can be something like learning how to better manage your time.

So many people miss chances to grow as a person because of poor time management – because of how their day is stretched for time. They often overlook opportunities that come their way or immediately dismiss them thinking they can’t possible juggle anything else.

Learn how to practice kindness. This type of self improvement benefits you because it reduces stress. It’s important to show kindness to others, but it’s equally important to show it to yourself.

Let yourself off the hook rather than beating yourself up when you make a mistake.

Master the art of being honest with yourself. When you don’t call out your behaviors that prevent you from improving, then you end up stuck. If you want to grow, you have to stop coddling anything that you don’t like the thought of facing up to.

4 – Develop Your Leadership Potential

Everyone has leadership potential. Some people are outgoing, strong leaders while others lead quietly. You want to develop your leadership potential as part of your self improvement – not necessarily because you want to go into leadership, but for the benefit it will bring to you.

One benefit of developing your leadership potential is that you can use the strength it brings to improve your life. This will help you know your strengths, recognize your weaknesses and how to make both work for you.

With leadership self improvement, you command your life – and that always leads to the ability to take whatever action steps are necessary to be a better you. Developing this kind of self improvement lets you stick to your values and gives you the discipline to achieve success.

It also inspires and empowers you. Another benefit of this type of self improvement is that it boosts your belief in yourself and in your ability to make whatever changes are needed in your life on an ongoing basis.

5 – Set Boundaries

Boundaries are the limits in which people live their lives. They’re based on what you’re not willing to put up with in a situation or with another person. Setting a boundary means you set constraints on what’s acceptable.

These constraints can refer to what you’ll accept for your emotional or physical self. When you have a boundary, it feels a lot like self care – because it is. It means that you recognize that what you need to be whole and healthy is equally as necessary as what others may need.

Boundaries are meant to protect your space. It means that your opinions don’t change just because someone else thinks differently. An example of this could be a woman who doesn’t want to be around someone who’s always creating family drama, so she doesn’t put herself around them.

Another relative thinks that behavior should be tolerated, and tries to nag or belittle the woman into believing the same way. Having boundaries means saying no when something crosses the line of what’s okay with you.

It might be something such as telling an ex that it’s not okay to keep calling. Or it could mean letting people know they can’t just drop by your home without an invitation. A boundary stops you from being used and it shuts down mistreatment.

If there’s a coworker who thinks it’s okay to scream at people and you tell him you’re not going to engage in a conversation when that kind of behavior is present, then you walk away, that’s a healthy boundary.

Sometimes your boundaries may make people uncomfortable, but that’s their issue to overcome – or not. When you set boundaries, you establish the way that people are allowed to treat you. When you don’t set boundaries, you can get treated in ways that aren’t good for you.

6 – Take Risks

It’s human nature to reach a comfort point and stay there. This can happen in every part of your life. You can reach a certain point with your weight, your health, your finances and your relationships and you settle in for the long haul because change is risky.

It means you may have to stretch. You may have to reach outside of your comfort zone. Usually when people are challenged to step away from what’s familiar and leave it behind, they begin to backpedal.

You might list dozens of ways why it’s better to stick with what you know than make the leap into the unknown. You may have wanted to lose weight and you’ve wanted it for a while now, but it would mean some major changes to reach that point of self improvement.

So you don’t do it because your partner isn’t on board. Without support, you just don’t see how you could accomplish it anyway – so you don’t make that move. You don’t take that risk.

What you have to realize is that if you put off risk, if you keep on living the way you’ve been living up until this point, then nothing will ever change. Self improvement is about change.

That thing that you’ve put off doing out of fear, out of weighing the risks and falling back into old habits – is probably the very thing that would change your life and put you on track to realizing your dreams.

7 – Give Up Procrastination

Procrastination is a barrier to self improvement. You’ll start the diet tomorrow. You’ll set boundaries after this next family vacation. You’ll change your negative habits when you have more money, time, or a better life situation.

Procrastination is really fear that’s just all dressed up. You don’t embark on a self improvement course because you fear that you’ll fail. You don’t want to get your hopes up, so you do nothing.

Maybe you’re worried that you’ll become the object of criticism or that you’ll get rejected by people you care about if you change something about yourself. When you give in to procrastination, it means you’re putting success on the back burner.

You might think you’re not making a choice one way or another, but you are. Not making a choice is actually making one. So that thing that you want to improve about yourself?

Stop putting it off. The lack of action on your part is eating away at your self confidence. It’s undermining your success and you were meant for more in life than what you’ve allowed yourself to have.

You know why you procrastinate? Because of where your focus is. When you focus on why you can’t change something or why it might not work to do something, you see obstacles the size of mountains. When you focus on the all the ways the change will make your life better, you see possibilities.

8 – Have a Growth Mindset

This is needed to put an end to everything that’s ever held you back from improving your life. With just your mind, you can determine how your day is going to go, how you’re going to feel about the situations you encounter and your overall outlook about your future.

When you have a can’t do mindset, that attitude is never stagnant. It develops and grows until it reaches the point of mental vines that wrap about your self-confidence, your abilities or talents and your desire to change something.

Then you end up feeling stuck just as you are. You begin to believe that change is what works for other people – not you. You can develop a growth mindset by having a purpose for your self improvement.

Change what’s in your ability to change, but learn to accept the imperfections that you cannot. Be tenacious. Let obstacles or failures be a teaching moment and not the end.
Open yourself up to new approaches for achieving success along your journey. Cultivate a positive, can-do attitude.

9 – Be Mindful

When you’re mindful, it allows you to see what’s good about you and your life already. Being mindful lets you free yourself from the things that hold you back from where you’ve been.

For example, being mindful can help you recognize that just because your journey of eating healthy didn’t end well in the past, it doesn’t mean that’s your life now. You can free yourself from the hindering thoughts of what used to be.

Being mindful can help you to stop projecting your life on the foundation of what-if, which is what occurs when people look ahead. Tomorrow isn’t here yet – all you have is now.

By living in the present, you open your life up to the opportunities that are right in front of you rather than looking back at mistakes or ahead to what may or may not happen.
Mindfulness allows you be fully present.

It lets you tune in to yourself so that you’re conscious of the experience before you. You’ll be more open to your emotions without judgment. This helps you to work on whatever you choose as part of your self improvement journey without beating yourself up for the strides you think you “should” have made. Instead, you’ll be able to praise yourself for what you’ve accomplished in the moment.

0 – Make Better Choices

A winning way to embark on a self improvement journey is to make better choices. People sometimes make choices without realizing they’re making decisions that are going to affect their lives in the long run.

You may have a long history of poor choices in how you’ve tried to take care of yourself, but that doesn’t mean it can’t change in 2019. Start by using both logic and emotion when you make a choice.

Whatever it is you want to do, look at the pros and cons – but then also check in to see how you feel about it. If you have knots in your stomach, that can be a good sign that there are problems with your choice.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a wrong decision. It could just mean that you don’t feel ready for that decision. So you have to really tune in to what you’re thinking and feeling each step of your journey.

Don’t let popular opinion sway your choice. Just because something looks good to the masses doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Check to make sure the decision is in line with your beliefs about yourself and life.

Weigh the consequences of your choice, both short and long term. It’s easy to make a decision on the fly, but knowing what’s going to happen in the long run with that choice could sway your mind.

Turning 50 brings about multiple changes in a woman’s life. First, she is likely to be experiencing changes in her family. Some women have children who are leaving home for the first time. Other women are becoming grandmothers at this age, and some women have to say goodbye to old relationships whether due to death or divorce.

Not only are there social changes happening in her life but there are physical changes as well. As she stares in the mirror at the reflection staring back, she might notice a few more lines around her eyes and mouth; her skin may be a little looser in some places, and those ever-present gray strands of hair may be multiplying faster than she can keep up.

Menopausal symptoms may be reaching their peak for some women, causing them to endure classic, hallmark signs including hot flashes, weight gain, weaker bones, mood swings, and insomnia to name a few.

All of these things may sound tragic and leave aging women feeling a bit skeptical about entering the second phase of their life. However, she should know that aging is a time to flourish, thrive and do great things. It is a great time to come into your own and reach new heights that you might have never dreamed of achieving as a younger woman.

Age is indeed just a number. What you make of your older years is up to you. Yes, change can be challenging, different, perplexing, unique and on occasion devastating. On the other hand, change opens new doors and presents us with opportunities that we might never consider otherwise.

Aging should not preclude you from aiming for or accomplishing something great.

Flourishing with Age

Let’s examine the meaning of the word flourish. What does this word mean? Flourishing carries multiple meanings. Flourishing means to be successful, to thrive, to achieve significant things. It is a positive word that describes our ability to live at the highest level.

We can evoke positive emotions, participate in positive activities and relationships that have meaning and purpose. Studies show that older adults who exhibit human flourishing have positive mental and physical outcomes. Further, flourishing can be an indicator of our mental wellness too.

Women have several things that are working in their favor that women in their 20s and 30s sometimes struggle with in spite of the changes she is experiencing in her 50s.

Confidence

As a woman in her 50s, you are likely to have far more confidence in who you are despite the internal and external changes that are taking place. A woman in her 50’s rarely (though on occasion) is in need of the validation of the opposite sex, peers, or family of her decisions. Instead, your primary focus will more than likely be to get the support of your family, friends, and co-workers.

Straight-Talk

In your 50’s you are likely to speak freely. By now, you know that there’s not a lot of time to tread lightly. That is not to say that you won’t just pick your battles and stay quiet on some issues, but if asked, you are far more likely say it as you mean it.

Patience is Your Virtue

With age comes patience for most women. Don’t be surprised if you find that you can demonstrate and exude compassion or empathy for others who might be having a more difficult time in life or making foolish mistakes.

She Knows Her Beauty

Though her age may be making itself known in a variety of ways physically, your goals are likely to be more important to you

When we are flourishing, we can leverage our strengths to a cause that is bigger than us. Older adults who meet the classic definition of flourishing demonstrate personal growth that evolves and is ever changing according to the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services.

Did you know that how you feel about aging may determine how fast you age? According to an article in Psychology Today, researchers in Ireland identified that those with positive attitudes about aging are less likely to become frail. Their beliefs keep their minds sharp.

Those who swim in negativity about growing older may experience physical and cognitive problems in their later years.

Flourishing later in life has close ties to the people you keep in your life whether they are your co-workers, friends, family, or even medical professionals who care for you during the emergence of health problems or crises of a chronic health condition.

These people play a vital role in helping to propel or motivate you to achieve an existence in which you are thriving or flourishing.

The Relationship Between Flourishing and Purpose

There is some misconception that our aging has everything to do with our ability to survive year to year without a hiccup. Our ability to flourish depends on more significant things in our lives including our capacity to find our purpose.

Do you know your purpose?

If you know your purpose, then you are among the select few who can explain and potentially further explore why you are here and what it is you are meant to be doing. Also, you have a unique grasp of how it is your purpose is intended to not only help you but how it will contribute to the well-being of others.

What Do We Need to Flourish Later in Life?

As we embark on the second half of our lives, there is quite a bit of introspection and reflection that takes place. Flourishing does not occur by chance. They are a few critical variables that figure into this equation of happiness and late-life satisfaction. We have hinted at a few of those things already in this report but let’s take a deeper dive.

Martin Seligman’s theoretical model of happiness (PERMA) Model identifies five crucial elements that are necessary for us to flourish or to lead a life that is a cup that flows over with joy.

Positive Emotions

The PERMA model starts with the importance of positivity. Positivity is more than constant affirmations or forced smiles intended to provoke positive thoughts. Instead, it is the ability to promote optimism within yourself and look back on your past, live in your present and view your future in a positive light. This ability to see things through a positive lens can significantly alter the way in which you engage other human beings in your life including the workplace and home life.

Your ability to promote the good and not get stuck in the valley of the bad can significantly reduce your risk for mood swings that generate feelings of depression, anxiety, or anger.

Finding your happiness can serve as a foundation for creativity and stimulate your intellect. Also, it can enable you to persevere during hard times and problem-solve in an efficient manner.

Engagement

The next letter in this acronym is the letter “e” for engagement. Engagement is all about our ability to commit to learning, growth, and immersion in those things that feed our happiness. Think of the hobby that gives you the greatest joy that feeds your soul. Perhaps there is an activity particularly enjoy doing most such as playing the piano for your friends, volunteering your time to read to children or just digging in your vegetable garden.

To flourish, we need something in our lives that is fulfilling and allows us to live in the moment while also allowing us to apply our past and current knowledge, skills, abilities. Your goal should be to do these things well and to do them frequently.

Relationships

Our next element has everything to do with the people in your life. Your social life as an older adult is essential to your mental and physical wellness. Women naturally have a penchant for relationship strengths.

They tend to keep a close network of friends or acquaintances that they trust to be their sounding boards, exhibit empathy and compassion when necessary and function as a source of empowerment. Do not minimize the importance of this particular facet of your life.

This time is where you have the opportunity to build on your relationships, aiming for positive bonds with friends, siblings, parents, and your children. Your relationships can be your support in the midst of an unexpected life storm.

Meaning and Purpose

This next element is possibly one of the most critical items that we must be in tune with to flourish. Knowing your purpose and meaning in life is the thing that gives us purpose and holds the key to our happiness more than we know. Sure, several motivating factors may drive us to want more money.

We all have basic needs such as housing, transportation or putting food on the table. However, our true meaning is the one thing that gives us pleasure. As we age, that purpose becomes that much more important to us.

Accomplishments

The final element in the PERMA acronym is accomplishments. Just because we are aging, it does not mean we lose or give up on creating goals or ambitions for achievements. Accomplishment is still an essential aspect of our lives and is a necessary component that enables us to thrive and flourish.

Is it realistic to expect you have this extraordinary opportunity to flourish later in life if you didn’t quite hit your mark earlier in life? Absolutely! With age comes the wisdom that enables you to thrive.

Problem-Solving

Women can tackle some difficult decisions as they age. Many of them have to make huge decisions about healthcare for themselves or their significant other, management of budgets, and everyday household or business decisions. You can make better decisions and resolutions to things you could not see so clearly until now.

Forgiveness and Flourishing

Never underestimate the importance of forgiveness. It is a must-have for your plans to thrive and flourish later in life. Forgiveness is a positive opportunity that with age, enables us to find a bit of selfish optimism.

We cannot only see the shortcomings of others but can validate it within ourselves. Forgiveness helps us to not wallow in anger, self-pity, rage, sadness and a host of other emotions that can block us from flourishing at the highest of levels.

Arriving at a place of forgiveness is not as easy as the words above might indicate –especially when it has everything to do with others who have hurt us in some damaging way that harms us physically or mentally. However, the trek down this path can bring its own set of rewards to us including mental and physical wellness.

Health and Flourishing

Flourishing demands that we make our health a priority. Ask any woman over 50 who is living her best life, and she will talk about how she doesn’t even think about her age because she feels as good as she did in her thirties and forties.

Here are a few healthy aging habits that will help you thrive.

Keep Your Diet Healthy

As you age, it becomes that much more essential for us to guard our bodies and protect it from food that will not serve it well. Aging makes us more susceptible to food poisoning and food illness. Also, it increases our risk for chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes.

Get a Fitness Regimen

If you are not a fan of working out, you may want to find some form of physical fitness that will improve your tolerance of physical activity, muscle tone, and bone strength. Exercise may seem nearly impossible for the aging woman who still has a full-time job, but you can carve out 30 minutes a day to do some form of physical activity.

You can do it in ten-minute increments if that’s easier or all once. Remember, physical fitness does not require a gym membership. You can join a dance class, take up Zumba, swimming, water aerobics, or a walk around your neighborhood.

Lose Weight

Ladies now is the time to shed those unwanted pounds that are weighing you down and placing undue strain on your bones. As we age, excess weight creates much risk for debilitating health conditions and can have a damaging effect on our mental wellness. Changing your diet and boosting your fitness activity can help you to get on the path to shedding pounds. Get professional help if you find that devising and plan and sticking to it becomes too difficult to achieve.

Keep up with Your Preventative Health Screenings

Do not skip out on your preventative screenings. Mammograms, colon cancer screenings, HIV testing, lipids panel, metabolic panels, and well-woman checks are necessary actions that every woman over 50 should ensure she actively manages and schedules a time to complete. Get your vaccines on schedule –including your flu vaccine. Your body is depending on you not to shortchange it.

Manage Your Health

If you are suffering from conditions like osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood pressure or depression, prioritize managing it and see attention from your physician if your medications are not working properly or causing symptoms that leave you feeling miserable and likely not to comply with the prescribed medication regimen.

Menopause

Hot flashes, insomnia, depression, anxiety, fatigue and other symptoms that accompany perimenopause and menopause are manageable symptoms that nearly two million women experience each year. The key to surviving menopause is for women to manage the symptoms and take good care of their bodies.

In addition to participating in a physical regimen, women are also encouraged to practice stress relieving activities that improve mental wellness such as meditation or yoga.

Women can also use their diet to relieve menopausal symptoms. A plant-based diet may be a fantastic, alternative for women who would prefer not to use traditional hormone replacement therapy. Plant foods contain plant-based estrogen compounds known as phytoestrogens which resemble “regular” estrogen circulating in our body and can help to regulate estrogen flowing throughout our bodies.

Foods that Relieve Menopausal Symptoms

There are several kinds of foods you can consume to relieve some of those pesky, unwanted menopausal symptoms you may be experiencing. Keep in mind that as you embark on your natural remedy for menopausal symptoms, you may not see any relief for 60 to 90 days.

It takes a little time for the body to transition and recognizes these phytoestrogens. There is good news here. Once your body does adjust, you will notice the change and that will motivate you to comply with your new diet regimen.

Berries

Strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are ripe with antioxidants, vitamin C, and improve your immunity. Also, they can do wonders in helping you to manage hot flashes.

Chickpeas

Chickpeas are full of protein and fiber and support blood sugar control which is also essential for women as they age. They contain powerful levels of plant estrogens and will prove supportive in your quest to naturally add estrogen to your body.

Flaxseeds

Flaxseeds are tiny gems that may prove beneficial in aiding you in your fight against hot flashes. They contain a lot of fiber so, take it easy when consuming this item. Sprinkle a little on your salad.

Lentils

Lentils, much like chickpeas also help to stabilize your blood sugar. They help you to get rid of the “bad” hormones that can contribute to your nasty menopausal mood swings and may help you to lower your cholesterol.

Tofu

Tofu is another ally in your fight against menopausal symptoms. Tofu can help to stabilize estrogen levels and reduce feelings of fatigue or vaginal dryness.

Green Vegetables

Eat your veggies. Green, leafy vegetables can help you with keeping the weight gain from finding its way to your mid-section. They are rich with fiber and can help to stave off constipation.

What Foods Should I Avoid during Menopause?

Just as the list of what to eat is important, so is the list of what not to eat. There are some foods and beverages you should temporarily nix from your list. Of course, remember that your efforts to eradicate these foods and drinks from your list should take place over time to avoid failure. Pick a meal and start from there.

Caffeine

Studies show that women who stop consuming caffeine products during menopause experience fewer problems with concentration, mood or memory.

Spicy Foods

Spicy foods may be the source of your hot flashes if consumed in large quantities so tread carefully. Don’t worry; decreasing your intake of spicy foods does not mean your meals have to taste like cardboard or become mundane. It just means you will have to become creative and use a few more herbs.

Alcohol

Consume alcohol in moderation. Too much alcohol will destroy any dietary strides you are making and may contribute to those dreaded hot flashes.

Adopting a Plant-Based Diet to Remedy Menopausal Symptoms

If you are weighing the pros and cons of changing your diet and have any interest in starting a plant-based lifestyle, remember to set a few realistic goals for yourself before leaping. Start with one meal and slowly increase your plant intake over a period.

Identify the advantages and disadvantages of eating this way. Challenge yourself to examine what steps you will take to stick with your plan to change your lifestyle and way of eating.

Mental Wellness and Flourishing

Your mental well-being is another critical facet of flourishing with age. What is the connection between mental wellness and your ability to thrive? According to New Zealand’s Mental Health Foundation, positive mental health allows for the following.

Emotional Resilience

Emotional resilience is your ability to adjust under a cloud of a crisis or stressful situation. Resilient people can readily adapt to a stressful situation. They are flexible and have an inner strength that allows them to leap over just about any hurdle no matter how hard it gets.

Sustainable Happiness

Sustainable happiness is the foundation of resilience and our ability to age in the light of positivity. Dr. Catherine O’Brien describes it as being the happiness that contributes to who we are as an individual, community or global being. It does not take advantage of others, the environment, or generations to come in the future.

Improves Physical Health

Your mental health is like a looming figure over your ability to enjoy good physical health. Conditions like depression and anxiety can trigger a variety of physical health issues if you do not seek or adhere to proper treatment.

Depression can rob you of energy or desire to participate in activities that may benefit your overall health or motivation to comply with doctor’s orders to manage your existing health conditions.

Poor mental health impacts your problem-solving capacity which can be dangerous to any chance you have of flourishing at this stage.

Good Mental Health Bolsters Your Strengths

The woman who can own her mental health will thrive on her strengths. A woman’s strengths enable them to be happy and contributes to their lifespan and general physical health. Your strengths support your capacity to flourish. With access to your strengths, you are more likely to be resilient, resourceful, and able to recover in the face of a crisis rapidly.

Mindfulness

Women who are mentally healthy can be mindful. Having mindfulness means you can focus on the here and now. You are self-aware and do not spend your time worrying about the future.

As women age, their overall mental health and satisfaction with life also improve. Although there is some initial risk of an increase in the rate of anxiety or depression that may accompany menopause, statistics show that with age, these rates decrease. Many women report they are in fact living a wonderful life that is wrapped in unexpected, positive rewards. They are doing the things they never got the chance to do.

Marital satisfaction is higher during this time, and married women are generally happier in their marriages though some marriages do come to an end as other women seek something more in life.

Tips for Thriving

As you encounter life changes at this stage of your life, if you find that you are not thriving in the way you thought you might be, do not fret. It is not too late to take ownership of your life. There are a few tools you can pull out of the bag to get things back on track.

Rebuild Your Relationships

Evaluate your relationships and start rebuilding where the opportunity lives, and you have an interest. For example, if you are married and are actively experiencing problems in your marriage, now may be the time to rebuild that relationship one-to-one or with the help of a professional counselor.

Is It Time to Change Your Career?

If getting out of bed and going to work day after day feels physically and mentally draining, it might be time for a career change. You could go back to school, get a certificate or talk with your boss about different opportunities in your workplace.

Find Your Joy and Purpose

Have you found your purpose or meaning yet? If so, it’s time to kick it into high gear and if not, it’s time to figure out what it is you are supposed to be doing with your life. It’s time for you to flourish and you cannot do that if you are not living your best life yet. Figure out what it is that motivates you and act on it. Don’t forget to share your talents with the world so that can reap the emotional benefits ten-fold.

Final Thoughts

In summary, aging women can flourish in their later years in the face of change. To flourish means, you are living in your ultimate state of positivity and sustainable happiness. Women who are flourishing have good mental, physical, and emotional health.

You are a woman who is resilient and clear about who she is after having lived a long life of experiences that have taught you well. You are not one who languishes as this is evidenced by your well-being and ability to always have a favorable outcome in the face of unplanned life-events.

If you are not thriving at this time, you have an opportunity to take action. You must find your purpose, rebuild relationships, evaluate your job satisfaction and live your best life.