As I approached my 29th birthday, something in me went bezerk. I started to question everything and nothing seemed to have meaning. Soon after my 29th birthday I abruptly quit my high-powered corporate job as an IT consultant. I could only describe what I was going through as a mid life crisis. I would imagine that people used to experience this on approaching 40, but more and more people in my generation are reporting a certain sense of urgency, near panic, as they turn 30 or soon after. Have we - Gen X’ers and Gen Y’ers - moved the decade of the mid-life crisis?

Suddenly, faced with a life you always thought you wanted, you don’t fit. Not the job that you aspired to in college and got (with equal pay no less). Not the house that you got to show the world just how grown up you are. Not the husband that treated you exactly how they do in the chick flicks. None of it fits, least of all your clothes.

What do you do when this happens? At 32, I’m still working on re-arranging my life, but I could share with you what’s worked for me so far.

Stand Still

You may be tempted to do more, to get more, to say more, but do the opposite. Rest more, give more, listen more. Remain as still as the eye in the storm, for that is the safest place to be. Let your life swirl around you until it exhausts itself and collapses. The shattered pieces may terrify you, but only then will you be able to be whole again.

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

–David Wagoner, Lost

Attend to Your Spritual Practice

Whether it’s journaling, silent meditation, or reading a Sacred text, develop the daily practice of going within to find the still, cool, refreshing pool of wisdom deep inside you. Take a dip in it everyday.

The only way to gain power in a world that is moving too fast is to learn to slow down.

And the only way to spread one’s influence wide is to learn to go deep. The world we want for ourselves and our children will not emerge from electronic speed but rather from spiritual stillness that takes root in our souls.

Then, and only then, will we create a world that reflects the heart instead of shattering it.

–Marianne Williamson

Stay Alert, Awake, and Aware

Spirit will guide you in all your endeavors. Look for the signposts. You are searching. You will find It, but you have to stay awake.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

–Rumi, Don’t Go Back to Sleep

Your path will clear before you with such ease, you will be astonished. What will be left will be for you to have the courage to follow it.

In Spirit,
Nneka