... men turning inward in the second half of our lives. Women need to turn outward, to develop a sense of "mastery" over the public world (especially women who have been full times wives and mothers), while men's journeys are just the opposite.
This is the same thing that turned the light on for me. Its not O'Connor alone, but many others that say the same thing in reference to mid-life transitions. And going back in time in the last 2 years I can vividly connect the dots in mind how I was starting to look "inward" and my W was turning "outward". Its worth living the life to know and appreciate these type of changes - its very fulfilling at least to me to learn about these during my sitch and how different God has created men and women. I feel midlife becomes a crisis only when you stay ignorant about these inevitable changes in yourself and do not learn to overcome these and work towards embracing the changes. It also seems to me that how well you embrace the changes without quitting on yourself and your M depends on your upbringing and your childhood.
The door remains open for my W to wake up to the good changes and return. In the meantime I need to move forward since I am so excited about the changes in myself that I cannot stand still!
