The Next Chapter" explores how midlife crises can lead to personal growth and provides practical tools for shifting mindsets toward a more fulfilling future. It acknowledges past challenges while offering a "reboot" option for moving forward. The book examines life's paradoxes, such as desiring drama without trauma and stability without predictability, highlighting how our values shape decisions and experiences. As we navigate the intersection of youthful aspirations and adult responsibilities, our choices profoundly impact our future in terms of mindset, health, relationships, finances, and legacy.
The book urges readers to embrace this transformative phase with clarity and purpose, aiming to align aspirations with practical goals for a balanced and meaningful life. By reassessing priorities and embracing change, individuals can navigate midlife challenges to redefine success on their terms. It emphasizes the importance of addressing the clash between past dreams and current realities, encouraging a proactive approach to shaping the quality and direction of life ahead.
Ultimately, "The Next Chapter" serves as a guide for leveraging midlife crises as catalysts for personal reinvention. It emphasizes the potential for growth and renewal during this pivotal stage, providing insights and strategies to navigate transitions with resilience and optimism.
The book urges readers to embrace this transformative phase with clarity and purpose, aiming to align aspirations with practical goals for a balanced and meaningful life. By reassessing priorities and embracing change, individuals can navigate midlife challenges to redefine success on their terms. It emphasizes the importance of addressing the clash between past dreams and current realities, encouraging a proactive approach to shaping the quality and direction of life ahead.
Ultimately, "The Next Chapter" serves as a guide for leveraging midlife crises as catalysts for personal reinvention. It emphasizes the potential for growth and renewal during this pivotal stage, providing insights and strategies to navigate transitions with resilience and optimism.
1st Extract from THE NEXT CHAPTER – CHANGE THE MINDSET, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
So, Where Did I Go So Wrong? Ignoring the Signs along the Way…
“How could I have gotten it so wrong?” we continually ask ourselves as we look at the ruins of who, where, and what we have built and once were. In a very short time, sometimes just a few hours, days, or weeks, some of us have managed to destroy our health, our careers, our financial achievements, and our relationships with family and friends and have lost the respect of peers and mentors. In many of these cases (if we can be truly honest with ourselves), we have become experts at beating ourselves up. What happened (or didn’t happen) that justified sacrificing the reasonably comfortable life we’d been living? What fleeting fancy or naïve attempt to reclaim our youth was worth the pain and hurt it brought? The answer to this question is perhaps the most important that anyone who has found themselves in this situation can pursue…and it can only come from time spent alone and searching within. For most, it was a disconnect—as early as adolescence—between the person we saw ourselves as being…and who we actually became. Whether it was a sudden awareness or a slow, creeping realization that overtook us along the way, we eventually realized that something was wrong—really wrong! While it’s typically unclear what brought us to this realization, as we sit among the debris of the dead and wounded dreams we shattered, some of us got it together and started again. Others, despondent and unable to forgive themselves became defined by their uncharacteristic actions and simply gave up. Fortunately, most of us discover someone or something to believe in again and go on to build a new success story. And for those who can forgive themselves, even if everyone else didn’t, there can still be a bright future, one we can learn from and that builds upon our past mistakes. By clearly understanding the priorities and lifestyle expectations we have set for ourselves and ensuring that future relationships are in sync with these priorities from the beginning, we can create the future we want to be there for us when we ultimately arrive.
2nd Extract from THE NEXT CHAPTER – CHANGE THE MINDSET, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Are you tired of politics and bureaucracy at home?
In this segment, meet Colin and Kat who had lived in Ontario most of their lives. Colin’s parents had come from England after the war when he was very young, lured by the promise of the economic freedoms Canada offered. Kat’s parents had come from Europe seeking a new life and to leave the pain and loss of the war years behind them as well.
Both were true entrepreneurs and had owned several businesses, as they’d concluded they weren’t well suited to work for anyone else. But as governments changed, business owners were finding it harder to make a profit, attract and keep quality employees, meet the onerous new rules on minimum wages and workplace safety, or adhere to the privacy and anti-SPAM legislation.
The IRS in the US and the Canadian Revenue Agency are not government departments (i.e., cost centres), but rather, they are set up as independent profit centres. As such, they have become very aggressive in their audit and collections practices. In Canada for example, the CRA’s mandate is to generate a profit on the budget dollars provided by the federal government to fund their agency. To meet these objectives, the CRA seems to be targeting Canadian business owners, like Colin and Kat. As small businesses tend to have poorer accounting records and either can’t afford to or aren’t aware that they should lawyer-up to protect themselves, being a small business owner is making people like them an endangered species.
Having survived several audits and an employee’s wrongful dismal suit, Colin and Kat were done! “Enough is enough,” Kat said to Colin one evening after a particularly stressful day that became unbearable when she opened the mail on her desk and found an invoice from her lawyers for $34,563.42. While her business was doing okay, it certainly could not afford the ongoing legal fees of continually having to protect them and their business, as she and Colin had been doing over the past several years.
When Colin asked her what she meant, uncharacteristically, she broke down in tears, dropped into a chair, and said, “I just can’t do this anymore; it’s not worth it.” Dropping to his knee, he put his arms around her and pulled her close. “What would you like to do?” he asked. Her answer shocked him, though it shouldn’t have, as they had talked about it before, but usually it was just a flippant comment. This time, however, there was a firm sense of finality in her voice. “I’m done! They win; let’s sell everything and leave this country for good.”
Colin’s answer was even more surprising: “I had expected you’d come to that conclusion sooner or later and have been doing some research. Want to open a bottle of wine and talk about it?” To which she stood up, put her arms around him, and said, “Yes, let’s start over somewhere else. If we were able to do it here, then we can do it again!” And so…they did just that.
Six months later, Colin and Kat opened the doors of their first business in Costa Rica. They had been through several Central American countries on vacation, and as they both loved the water and the hospitality business was a comfortable fit, they had leased an old storefront building on the boardwalk with a view of the ocean.
They had done their market research and found there was a need for a specialty products store that offered health foods, supplements, and skin-care products not available elsewhere in this part of the country. They split the large vacant building, and in the other half, they opened a small bistro that served all-day breakfast, Tim Horton’s and Starbuck’s coffee that was always fresh, and the best muffins and bagels this side of Buffalo.
The rest…well, it’s up to your imagination to finish the story. But the reality is that Colin and Kat’s story is becoming a common trend, as expats are choosing to pull up roots and deciding to settle in other parts of the world. Bringing their skills and expertise, they’re able to succeed abroad. And while it’s not without its challenges, there seems to be less hassle than what they left behind.
So, Where Did I Go So Wrong? Ignoring the Signs along the Way…
“How could I have gotten it so wrong?” we continually ask ourselves as we look at the ruins of who, where, and what we have built and once were. In a very short time, sometimes just a few hours, days, or weeks, some of us have managed to destroy our health, our careers, our financial achievements, and our relationships with family and friends and have lost the respect of peers and mentors. In many of these cases (if we can be truly honest with ourselves), we have become experts at beating ourselves up. What happened (or didn’t happen) that justified sacrificing the reasonably comfortable life we’d been living? What fleeting fancy or naïve attempt to reclaim our youth was worth the pain and hurt it brought? The answer to this question is perhaps the most important that anyone who has found themselves in this situation can pursue…and it can only come from time spent alone and searching within. For most, it was a disconnect—as early as adolescence—between the person we saw ourselves as being…and who we actually became. Whether it was a sudden awareness or a slow, creeping realization that overtook us along the way, we eventually realized that something was wrong—really wrong! While it’s typically unclear what brought us to this realization, as we sit among the debris of the dead and wounded dreams we shattered, some of us got it together and started again. Others, despondent and unable to forgive themselves became defined by their uncharacteristic actions and simply gave up. Fortunately, most of us discover someone or something to believe in again and go on to build a new success story. And for those who can forgive themselves, even if everyone else didn’t, there can still be a bright future, one we can learn from and that builds upon our past mistakes. By clearly understanding the priorities and lifestyle expectations we have set for ourselves and ensuring that future relationships are in sync with these priorities from the beginning, we can create the future we want to be there for us when we ultimately arrive.
2nd Extract from THE NEXT CHAPTER – CHANGE THE MINDSET, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Are you tired of politics and bureaucracy at home?
In this segment, meet Colin and Kat who had lived in Ontario most of their lives. Colin’s parents had come from England after the war when he was very young, lured by the promise of the economic freedoms Canada offered. Kat’s parents had come from Europe seeking a new life and to leave the pain and loss of the war years behind them as well.
Both were true entrepreneurs and had owned several businesses, as they’d concluded they weren’t well suited to work for anyone else. But as governments changed, business owners were finding it harder to make a profit, attract and keep quality employees, meet the onerous new rules on minimum wages and workplace safety, or adhere to the privacy and anti-SPAM legislation.
The IRS in the US and the Canadian Revenue Agency are not government departments (i.e., cost centres), but rather, they are set up as independent profit centres. As such, they have become very aggressive in their audit and collections practices. In Canada for example, the CRA’s mandate is to generate a profit on the budget dollars provided by the federal government to fund their agency. To meet these objectives, the CRA seems to be targeting Canadian business owners, like Colin and Kat. As small businesses tend to have poorer accounting records and either can’t afford to or aren’t aware that they should lawyer-up to protect themselves, being a small business owner is making people like them an endangered species.
Having survived several audits and an employee’s wrongful dismal suit, Colin and Kat were done! “Enough is enough,” Kat said to Colin one evening after a particularly stressful day that became unbearable when she opened the mail on her desk and found an invoice from her lawyers for $34,563.42. While her business was doing okay, it certainly could not afford the ongoing legal fees of continually having to protect them and their business, as she and Colin had been doing over the past several years.
When Colin asked her what she meant, uncharacteristically, she broke down in tears, dropped into a chair, and said, “I just can’t do this anymore; it’s not worth it.” Dropping to his knee, he put his arms around her and pulled her close. “What would you like to do?” he asked. Her answer shocked him, though it shouldn’t have, as they had talked about it before, but usually it was just a flippant comment. This time, however, there was a firm sense of finality in her voice. “I’m done! They win; let’s sell everything and leave this country for good.”
Colin’s answer was even more surprising: “I had expected you’d come to that conclusion sooner or later and have been doing some research. Want to open a bottle of wine and talk about it?” To which she stood up, put her arms around him, and said, “Yes, let’s start over somewhere else. If we were able to do it here, then we can do it again!” And so…they did just that.
Six months later, Colin and Kat opened the doors of their first business in Costa Rica. They had been through several Central American countries on vacation, and as they both loved the water and the hospitality business was a comfortable fit, they had leased an old storefront building on the boardwalk with a view of the ocean.
They had done their market research and found there was a need for a specialty products store that offered health foods, supplements, and skin-care products not available elsewhere in this part of the country. They split the large vacant building, and in the other half, they opened a small bistro that served all-day breakfast, Tim Horton’s and Starbuck’s coffee that was always fresh, and the best muffins and bagels this side of Buffalo.
The rest…well, it’s up to your imagination to finish the story. But the reality is that Colin and Kat’s story is becoming a common trend, as expats are choosing to pull up roots and deciding to settle in other parts of the world. Bringing their skills and expertise, they’re able to succeed abroad. And while it’s not without its challenges, there seems to be less hassle than what they left behind.