Post from David Buck

With all the possibilities before us, and experience under our belts, I am hoping we get to live our lives at this mid-phase, with a sense of anticipation of upcoming adventure — as much as we can.  Yes, there are “the marsh” days to slog through, but then there the days where everything is blue sky.  When you’re in the blue-sky-zone, everything is a possibility and everything is noticed.  I want more of that, thank you!

Remember going off to camp in the summer as a kid?  Our 15 yr old  Riley and 14 yr old Griffin are going off to Washington DC for a mission trip.  They are excited, and a bit nervous. Remember that feeling when you started a significant trip with a group of people you didn’t know?  I remember the beginning of Global Semester and going around the world with 30 St. Olaf students full of anticipation of the adventure, and just as significant, the idea of adventuring together, with these fellow travelers.

Last night a special group of people got together for the first time — SHiFT’s new board.  We went around and shared our backgrounds and our interest in getting involved with this strange new pioneer organization, SHiFT.  I think we all felt the same thing… here we are, the group that is going to experience a special year together, building a new organization that is so needed.

So, as my father would say… “hazahhhh” …. for what’s ahead.  In midlife, upcoming mission trips, and upcoming board experiences. “It’s a bountiful life! ”

I hope you’ll join us as SHiFT steps on into its next, new adventure.  There are a lot of interesting travelers.

SHiFT On!

Post From David Buck

The new SHiFT brochure begins:

“SHiFT:  The Hub for Midlife Transition:
We need or want to work longer into our lives.  We want work that aligns with who we’ve become. All while the world of work is changing faster every day.” 

These really are three core realities we face today at midlife – aren’t they?

I was preparing a speech the other day, and came up with three images to help remind us of this.  The Lion, The Tin Man, and the Scarecrow.   The Lion represents the courage we need to truly see it’s in our interest to work longer and dog-gone it, we might as well start now.  The Tin Man represents the importance of doing work we love.  And the Scarecrow represents how we have to be smart and nimble enough on our feet to react to the shifting ground beneath them.

Then I was thinking about the highest social impact of SHiFT.  The mission of SHiFT is: move to meaning in life and work.  But it’s striking me more and more these days that this is just a piece of the equation, one-third actually. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to have to work, for a long time. My wife and I were lucky, we were able to refinance our mortgage so we can stay in our house.  Our new mortgage does not end till the year 2042 (I’ll be 83).  Okay, we hope to pay it off sooner than that… but heck… I’ve got to work.   Don’t get me wrong.  I’m happy to, because the kind of work I’ll be doing will bring me joy.   I don’t think I’m alone, I think there are millions of us who need to continue earning an income and stay vibrant members of the community. 

Yes, we want to do work that matters to us, meaningful work keeps us vital and healthier.  But we also may have to work, and how we do it in a world where jobs and job hunting techniques change in the time you just blinked, is a real challenge.

So, what impact can SHiFT really help make? 

• Advocate with employers to work with people at midlife and beyond. It’s in everyone’s interest to keep skilled, talented, experienced workers in the workplace – in new and innovative ways.  The Midternship program is doing this now. 
•  Connect us and create a community where we can leverage our cumulative talents and knowledge so we can help each other. 
• Push us a little to change, adapt, reframe our portfolio of talents to help us find new ways to engage our experiences in ways that are relevant and needed in the world. 

So the more I think about it, here’s the twist on what those 3 characters represent that I think is really at the soul of SHiFT:

                            Oz:            Courage      Heart         Brains
                            SHiFT:     Work           Thrive        Reframe

So, what do you think about this?  Do we have this right?  Or perhaps there are some other characters we need to add to this?  What do you need most from SHiFT?

In the Swamp?

I’ve come upon a period of “tough-going” in my midlife transition (the reason I haven’t written lately), and I wonder if this relates to your midlife work transition. I really believed I was going to get a Bush Fellowship I had applied for; it was an important piece of the economic puzzle here at the Buck household, as well as for SHiFT. Alas… it didn’t come through. I got a rejection e-mail that spun me downward. I know I set myself up for this.

Sometimes pursuing what you think is the right course feels like continually pounding your head against a wall. And sometimes it feels like coming upon a giant swamp as far and wide as you can see, and the only way to continue is to go through that watery mucky bastard.

Working straight toward your core, inner work is not easy. It can be long, painful, and full of angst.

A good friend of our family is a very successful children’s book author. She was over the other day and we were all doing some assessing together (okay, for my benefit). You’d think being a nationally renowned author would be a pretty joyous thing most all of the time – getting to write whatever you want every morning, stories that inspire and entertain, getting movies made from your art, getting in front of audiences and sharing yourself… how could it be anything different? But she shared with us that the majority of her time is not joyous at her house, it’s damn hard work. Putting yourself out there on the line, digging deep, grappling with that evil stiff wind of resistance and anxiety that only blows harder the closer you get to the center…

So, yeah, there’s a lot of swamp in this work of our’s. Our friend said “You should do a SHiFT forum on The Misery of Doing the Work You Love.” So, we’re going to do that. (If you know someone who’d be good to speak on a panel for this, let me know.)

So, here are 5 things that might help you with your swamp slogging:

• Be gentle and kind to yourself. You are doing hard work and you have to down-shift a little sometimes, if not even put it all the way in neutral.
• Notice your voice of judgment and don’t let it get the best of you.  Take a nap, walk a little longer around a new lake. Do this during the hardest initial part of a difficult time.  (And my wife says, “tell that VOJ it’s stupid.”)
• Gain perspective by talking to a trusted friend. They might just be able to help you see a bigger picture.
• Getting out of neutral again, ease back in. Don’t overload yourself with a To Do list you’ll never complete.
• These are time when spiritual practices are most helpful – which ones work best for you? Prayer? Meditation? For me, when I get down, it’s cathartic to write it “release it” down on paper – either keep it in a journal, or burn it.

Notice yourself coming out of a slump… it will help recharge your sooner. The boat eventually always “rights” itself — doesn’t it?

So, fellow Swamp-sloggers? What do you think? Any more tips? Let me know…