by Jean Sidden

Created on: December 31, 2009

Many of us view middle age as the time when our lives are set in stone. Predictability settles in as our children begin to grow up and routines are unshakable. However, middle age is also a time of reflection. If changes are to be made they need to take place at this point so we can restructure our lives around them. Middle age has become a time when many of us decide to return to school.

This isn't an easy decision. It entails a shift in our vision of what our lives are. It requires a leap of faith because of all the doubts and confusion that surround this change. However, with the normal ambivalence comes exhilaration. Once the decision is made there is a sense that we have the ability to shape our lives to what we want.

We question our ability to handle the requirements of school. Do our brains work well enough to be in school? Have our memories gone bad? Can we remember how to take notes, study, write papers and take exams? Are we just plain too old?

The evidence is that we can do all those things and much more. Middle aged people aren't having any problems handling the work load of school. In fact, it's been proved that we are excellent students due to our maturity. We care very much about doing well and are willing to put the required work into getting excellent grades.

Sometimes we have families that will need to jump into the adventure with us. Schedules need to be altered and expectations of a parent's time must be geared down. But middle age is the time when, for the most part, our children are no longer babies, have reached an age of awareness and can understand what it's like to be in school. After all, they are in school themselves.

It may seem like the entire notion surrounding a return to school entails such a long period of time that it appears as inconceivable. What we have to remember is that time will pass whether we're in school or not. We can mark the years in a degree program, doing something important for our lives, or we can stay predictably set in stone the way life has always been.

Once we wriggle our way out of our routine lives and return to school we open the door for the best opportunities to come flowing in to us. It is possible to start over and improve on our lives. If school is the path to that improvement, it's a worthy one that will fly by in the same way most of our life experiences do. The difference is this experience rewards us with a degree, a sense of accomplishment and the proof that we can do anything.

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