The Freedom to Choose
The Wisdom of the Body
Fifty-four
So why should he slow down when things were going so well when he was an active,
Little by little during the
It was a time when he had reached many of his career goals, with little challenge left. At age 46 he was (unknowingly) ripe for change. But he had not really
It was a time when, in many ways, Rollie was at his peak. His department had just been commended as a "model for the nation" by a team of educators sent from Washington to learn what he was doing and how he did it. With all of this happening it seemed there was no logical reason to change his vocation.
It was a time, however, when his body was sending messages that he was slow to pick up. He recalls, "In retrospect I now see things more clearly. I was
It was also a time when a friend encouraged Rollie to join him in a pioneering effort in a small, start-up
Rollie wanted
Fortunately, Rollie's wife, Doris, was there to listen and help him clarify. They grew closer, and he began to realize that security in the conventional sense did not mean everything. He began to experience a feeling of freedom and control of his future. Security took on new meaning. "Security," Rollie learned, "is largely within me."
Rollie felt more
The decision Rollie made at age 46 eventually led to opportunities that he could never have imagined. Working
In retrospect, now at age 82, new
"At 82," says Rollie, "it's easy to lose your motivation. My purpose keeps me motivated. Sun City turns me off. I don't want to spend all my time with old people. Keeping a youthfulness (and mentoring youth) is critical to me. Working out brings me to life! And giving something away
Purpose is not a matter of theology. Our beliefs about the hereafter are not what ultimately matter. What matters is whether we live out our beliefs. Or as Stephen Levine puts it in Who Dies?: "Death is not the enemy. The enemy is ignorance and lovelessness."
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The reason why the issue of purpose is so important to a
By thinking intentionally about our life's purpose—by thoughtfully reflecting on our life's meaning—we give
New Elder
Cal Wick
American industry spends 31 billion dollars a year on corporate education. The problem, though, is that few people who
attend corporate training courses actually apply what they learn. All their good intentions to put into practice what they've learned in seminars, trainings, and workshops quickly evaporate once they are back on the job.Cal Wick, the 60-year-old CEO of Fort Hill Company in Montchanin, Delaware, recognized this problem and has built a business in response to it."'Creating new ways to help people learn how to do important things is how I define my purpose." Cal has turned his purpose into a profitable enterprise in the second half of his life. He is
passionate about the things that Fort Hill is doing as an expression of that purpose to help transform companies such as Pfizer, Home Depot, and Hewlett-Packard.Cal, a former Episcopalian priest, is a new elder. Like the other new elders who appear on the pages of this book, he has life lessons to teach us.
Cal takes pains to stress that he is proud of being well into the second half of life; it's not at all something he is ashamed of, recoils from, or is afraid to admit. He is proud of the deepening of his emotions and the ripening of his faith that would have been
impossible even five years earlier. He says,"I'm in roles that I've never had before. At times,I wake up with wisdom that was previously inaccessible to me—I'm like a child learning to speak." For Cal, learning how to lead has gone hand in hand with learning how to age.In our interviews with new elders, we were struck by the similarities between what happens as we approach the second half of life and what happens to those who survive near-death experiences. After undergoing medical emergencies or accidents that brought them close to death, people report major changes in their lives and attitudes about living. These major changes include a deeper sense of purpose and a
fuller appreciation for the inter-connectedness of all life.At age 59, Cal found that he had potential throat can- cer and was losing his voice. This awareness of his mortality penetrated deeply into his consciousness. He says that as a direct result of this experience,"I feel much more
open about saying what's on my mind. Having cancer you know that you don't know how much time you have left. It causes you to wrestle with your faith."While passing by a San Francisco bookstore several years ago, he saw a book about
honoring the Sabbath and it changed his life."I was working flat-out seven days a week and I was fried." Today, Cal Wick lives out his beliefs through his own "Sabbath practices."Cal
reports that, for him, Saturday and Sunday are both Sabbath days. He says,"In my prayers from Friday to Sunday, I only give thanks. I spend no money on Sundays. Through this practice, a real sense of gratitude has emerged. It slows me down enough to listen. Sometimes prayers come to me which I put on my website: www.greatprayers.com. The book of Genesis talks about time being holy. My Sabbath practice connects my living with eternity."People who are living on purpose during the second half of life like Cal Wick are not drifting
quietly onto the golf course but are using their gifts, purpose, and passion in service to others. For Cal, this means not only running a purposeful organization but also serving through preaching four or five times a year, plus doing weddings and coaching people through difficult life transitions. As Caldemonstrates , the gift of the second half of life is fully appreciated only when it is shared.
