The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Midlife and Beyond

The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Midlife and Beyond is a must have reference and guide for women over fifty years old. This book contains articles, reference material, and practical exercise on every imaginable subject from the self image and emotions through the spiritual and the creative self to dealing with family and personal finances. Each of these sections comes complete with meaningful quotes, first hand accounts from other fifty plus women, and a series of questions that the reader can ask herself relating to these important subjects. This book also comes with a study guide. The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Midlife and Beyond is extremely complete. This book covers every possible topic that the reader could ever have imagined and a few they probably never knew existed. More importantly though, this book also details a lot of those questions we'd all like to ask or those feelings that we could never feel comfortable enough to share with friends or family. Complete empowerment for women.

Picture sitting down to tea on a warm sunny porch in early spring with your favorite Aunt. She's honest, witty, full of important information delivered with love and affection which helps pave the way for your continuing growth and development. With The Next Fifty Years, Pamela Blair has officially become one of my favorite aunts, gently guiding me through the challenges of midlife with grace and humor. The essays, on every topic imaginable, are beautifully written and punctuated with fabulous quotes from women only. At the end of each essay, wonderfully thought-provoking questions transform this book into an interactive conversation where my journaled responses become part of the journey. Order this book, put the kettle on and pull up a cozy chair - you'll be glad you did!

This book is well timed for the crossing over of us baby-boomer women into the seemingly formidable midlife threshold. It is a fun read that entices its reader to accompany-and, years hence, to revisit-it into a ripe and rich old age that (we like to think) makes the young-and-promising positively tremble with eager anticipation and even a little envy. As our youth recedes, we gain in wisdom-or so we fervently hope. This book provides a nice direction on topics to start cogitating about, if we aren't already saying "me too" at their very mention. Both held true for this 50-something reviewer. The journaling pages add a new dimension to the author's musings and down-to-earth advice about how aging affects cultural attitudes, relationship to self and others in our lives, and logistical concerns. The think-and-do format seems designed for those of us (such as myself) who whittle away seeming eternities in waiting rooms ripping out and filling in self-diagnostic tests from women's magazines. This book is written with avid readers of women's magazines in mind. This format helps with journaling, an increasingly valuable skill to those whose need for verbal processing exceeds the capacity of even our closest friends, therapists, not to mention our sanity. Ms. Blair offers much practical wisdom on stress management, the more than occasional need to say "no", how to prune out obsolete junk and simplify-even how to sell your house and create a more comfortable and manageable living space for yourself. The author takes some of the sting out of certain unpleasantries-such as the death of loved ones, working retirement, parenting "old" children, employers' prejudices against older workers-by articulating and describing them, and creating a guided journal entry. Her tone is warm and motherly without being scolding or condescending. I would have liked more information on the logistics around the deaths of parents, but no reviewer can have everything. It works best to take in this book as a self-paced mini-course, pausing at your leisure to dialogue with the author by filling in the journal entries as you journey through it. Though the content builds on itself, the table of contents' organization and the self-contained coherence of each chapter makes for a nice nibbler too.

This is a winner! Wise, pertinent advice for all women who are aging- every topic covered to enable graceful, joyful, healthy, sexy aging with ample opportunity to record personal thoughts. Includes a useful format for workshops. Is is an outstanding all inclusive compendium for all women. Buy it today!

This book has indeed encouraged me to re-envision my life for the years ahead. The essays by women who are successfully aging are short. There is room after each essay for journaling, answering specific question about the essay. This has made it possible for me to explore my beliefs about aging. I have made the book my own and have actually written on every page. The wide margins encourage note taking. Usually I will write in pencil so my material can be erased. In this book my comments are in ink. I have claimed the book as my own. It is a book that I will give to my friends who are stuck in the myths of aging. After reading this I know that I do not have to age like my Mother or Grandmother. My age now is 68 and I know now that I have many fulfilling years ahead of me. This is the first interactive book i have seen on aging.