Leap!: What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives?

Sara Davidson may not have been aware when she wrote Leap! that it would not only be a guide for aging baby boomers, but also a healing message for those in grief. Let me explain. I was intrigued by the Newsweek review of the book, and bought it in March shortly after it came out. However, I didn't read it right away. I have a high stress Silicon Valley job that leaves little time for reading books. "I'll get to it when I get a chance," I told myself. Regrettably, in the past month, I have had that chance. I've been on leave from my job since mid-April, when my 22-year old son drowned in a boating accident. Among other grief counseling, I have read "grief" related books people recommended -- but they were not terribly satisfactory. So over the last week, I picked up Leap! from my stack of unread books, and read it. Leap! has done more to focus my mind on what to do under these tragic circumstances than almost all, if not all, of the other things I have done. At a minimum, I am thinking about quitting my job (I can afford to) and live life as Davidson has suggested. My son's premature death has shown me that life is too short and uncertain to do anything else. So many thanks to Sara Davidson for writing something that, inadvertenly or not, has been a true inspiration and source of comfort. (This review written by Sue Kayton's husband using her account.)

In Leap, Sara Davidson writes with curousity and honesty about different people dealing with the joys and challenges of changing life in the later years. Don't misunderstand me. This is not a book about what do when you retire, or are downsized, or your children leave for college? Instead, it's a collection of stories - stories about people weaving lives that embrace past, present, and future. The narratives caused me to pause and reflect on who I was as a young adult, then a mother, a wife, my career, and how I want to live my life as I move forth in the years to come. Davidson makes no claims - she is not an author to offer answers. What she does is more compelling - she reaches out to the reader through story and personal narratives - and in the end - allows the reader to share in a journey. Davidson has a gift for language and truth. This book is a must for anyone who is facing the future a little uncertain, a little lost - yet highly believes that the answers are there - and if they take a quiet moment to pause and a moment to connect with those around them - the future will rise to meet them.

Having written The Courage To Trust: A Guide To Building Deep And Lasting Relationships, I respect the depth of Sara Davidson's gift to us in showing how she rebuilt self-trust when rejected by the world. Sara happens to have lots of rich and famous friends, many of whom became financially stressed and rejected by industry and media. Their stories add to her own experience of looking inward to find the courage to do what feels right. Aging, illness, broken hearts are part of getting ready for the next exciting phase of maturing. I love that she doesn't equate being recognized by the world as the only way to measure personal achievement. Sara is funny, compassionate, and intrigued with the human condition. The free workbook contains great questions, ones that will evoke your own wonderment about the next steps in your own life. Another resource for this phase is Angeles Arrien's, PhD, book The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom

Reading this book was a release from the guilt I'd felt in falling below "standards" I was "supposed to have achieved" at this time of my life. Every day we hear about "famous" and "successful" people who aren't losers like ourselves. "Leap" has brought us these very people- legends and icons, who are, now- alone, suddenly without careers, and searching for ways to fight back and stay in the game of life. Even those at the top can have everything crumble around them, find their mate suddenly turn cruel and leave, or watch their foundations collapse with no warning. So, no: if you're having a hard time struggling to make life work for you, it isn't because you are missing some magical ingredient. This book throws light on the universal nature of life's inconstancy, even for people who have already reached the mountain top, and reassures us that everybody has their share of struggles to overcome. It's an immensely reassuring read illuminating the fact that nobody is "charmed", because we are all alive, and that state carries with it the necessity of constant adjustment and growth. It really helps with this stage of life to read something like this.

When a friend gave me this book, I thought, "not another book for women about how to grow old." What the hell does that have to do with me? However,as is my habit to read the first paragraph of any book handed to me, I did-in this case just to confirm that LEAP was not for me. Three hours later,having had a few beers and stuffed a jar of peanuts in my mouth, I was deep into the book--that had everything to do with me. I'm a man over 60 who has had a successful career (still having it) but each day I feel a growing sense of despair. My kids are grown with families of their own, my once athletic body creaks with every push up and most important I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life. Reading LEAP made me want to leap into things I have been dreaming about for years. Instead of depressing me the stories in the book of people my age, famous and not so famous embracing getting older stirred me. I felt reenergized (I realize this sounds like a TV infomercial) about my future. In the short time I've had the book, I have returned to it almost daily to re-read sections. I've also bought the book for a number of men my age, who all gave me attitude until I pushed them to read the book-now they're LEAPING with me, not quite dunking the ball, like we dreamed we did 40 years ago but feeling like we could. What a great way to get ready for March Madness.