by Wendy Perrotti and Dana Hilmer, Co-Founders Camp Reinvention
Remember the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray plays a cynical jerk, stuck in a small Pennsylvania town and cursed to relive the same (groundhog) day over and over again?
Did you notice that it’s actually a midlife crisis crossroads movie?
Initially, the character holds tight to what he believes about himself and about the world.
He attempts to change his fate by taking actions that still allow him to preserve what he believes.
He accomplishes many new things each day, some dark and others heroic, but stuck in his old beliefs, HE remains the same and each morning wakes exactly as he did the day before.
Occasionally, one of his actions creates a shiny moment – one that shows him what he’s really yearning for. But foolishly, rather than learning from it, he pushes to repeat it and it falls away. He still can’t see that it wasn’t the action or the circumstance that created the shiny moment, but who he was in it, that altered things.
Only when he lets go – when he starts to use the tiny moments of each day to build on the next – does he begin to notice that something feels new.
He is growing.
Brilliantly, the film doesn’t allow for this fledgling growth to produce big magic – the curse remains the same. Only now, the thing that changes each day is him.
Of course, that’s when the big magic happens.
So much of what we experience is a product of patterns of belief and behavior that are so second nature, we don’t even recognize that they’re there. We humans are very efficient. The problem is that it leaves little room for the kind of change we yearn for as we grow older.
We all long to feel fully alive – to spend our time in ways that feel meaningful – to feel deeply connected to others and at peace within ourselves. But like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, we set goals and take actions that are more tethered to our beliefs from the past than they are to our future.
When we think about making career, relationship or life changes after 50 those patterns trigger fears that it’s too late, too hard or that we don’t have what it takes to make it happen. This also occurs when we want to create new habits or change old ones – especially if we’ve tried and failed in the past.
When you woke up this morning, it’s likely that things looked exactly the same as they did yesterday – and there’s plenty to be grateful for in that. But when you’re yearning for change, too many of those mornings can start to feel like Groundhog Day.
If that midlife crossroads feeling is real to you, we’ve opened the doors to Camp Reinvention’s 12-week program with an all new price-point and time commitment, making it easier than ever to join. Camp Reinvention has already helped hundreds of women over 50 get clear about what they want so they can live their dream and have a hell of a lot more fun doing it.
Are you ready to wake up to a brand-new day?
Brief bios
Wendy Perrotti and Dana Hilmer are the Co-Creators of Camp Reinvention, the most robust program and community committed to helping women at a midlife crossroads get clarity on what they want, make it happen and enjoy their life a hell of a lot more. As master-level coaches, they have helped thousands of women successfully reinvent their lives.
The post What Groundhog Day Can Teach us About Midlife Reinvention appeared first on Better After 50.
