Boomers Get Second Chance At Adulthood

Today there is not only life after youth, but life after empty nest. There is life after layoff and early retirement. There is life after menopause. There is life after widowhood. There is life after coronary. There is likely to be life after cancer. Another life to find a dream for, to plan for, to train for, to invest in, to anticipate now.

Why?

Because Second Adulthood is not an aberration; it is an evolution. It’s almost Darwinian. We have broken the evolutionary code.

The two generations of baby boomers - the Vietnam Generation and the Me Generation - are set to become the longest-living humans in American history. Leading experts on aging now predict that if we do things right over the next few decades, at least half the boomers can expect to live well into their late 80s and 90s, remaining healthy and active. A million of them, it is predicted by the Census Bureau, will live past 100. And their children may live another 20 years beyond their parents.

Consider this: By the year 2000, of all adult American women, fully 30 percent will be 50 and over! The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that this powerhouse age-group will number nearly 42 million by then, and it will only swell: The fastest-growing age population is women between 45 and 54.

The forward guard of the boomers, having indulged itself in the longest adolescence in history, betrays a collective terror and disgust of aging. In surveys and interviews, I find almost no one in his or her 40s or early 50s identifies with the unspeakable term “middle age.” In fact, from this generation’s perspective, there is no more middle age.

Here is my prediction: The men and women who brought us the Youth Revolution are in the midst of creating another great quake that will shake up the social and economic landscape. Boomers will redefine middle age - as the Adult Revolution. Boomers will make the 50s their own.

What is the meaning of this second act? Is there something special we are meant to do? At this critical point of turning in the life cycle, strange new questions knock at the back of the mind:

Now that I’ve done it, what does it all mean?

Do I really like the person I turned out to be? Is it too late to change?

How will my way of loving change?

Where do I find a real sense of community?

If I start over again with a second family, will I feel younger or older? Or, without children, how do I remain connected to the future?

If I haven’t made it in earlier career incarnations, is this the end of promise? Or, conversely, what do I do when I’ve exceeded all my dreams?

If I don’t subscribe to a formal religion, how do I find spiritual comfort?

Will society recognize us as the wise people or cast us aside as superfluous?

Such questions are likely to bring on a “meaning crisis.” The hunger for wholeness and the search for meaning become universal preoccupations. Life as we have known it in our young adulthood is not meant to continue as it was. Second Adulthood has its own joys, tasks and obstacles, and a different scale of relevancy against which to measure what is really important in life. Life goes on, but the possibilities and rewards are beyond anything we have anticipated. It is a part of the human experience that we never had before in any significant numbers.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Gail Sheehy Universal Press Syndicate