Meeting the Muse After Midlife

By Sally Jean Fox

EMBRACING A MORE CREATIVE PATH AFTER MIDLIFE

Many of us reach midlife without a roadmap for making meaning in the years ahead. Sally Jean Fox found her direction by following a path of creative expression.

When Sally turned 50, she heard a voice that said, “There’s more.” Guided by the presence of a Muse, she embarked upon the quest of a lifetime as she explored and experimented with different forms of creativity. She found joy in a range of art forms from gardening and clowning to singing, painting, and writing—all while learning to fill her life with more beauty, reverence, and wonder.

Sally does not sugarcoat the hardships that can come with the progression of years, yet she finds aging to be her ally as she makes peace with her old self-judgment demons and learns to trust her inner wisdom. While sharing the truths she discovers about the second half of life, Sally celebrates the freedoms, joy, and growth life after 50 can offer. We can create with new freedom. “Our bodies will decline with age,” she writes, “but if we feed our souls, our spirits will be able to soar.”