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As longevity increases, perceptions change and new
opportunities are there for the taking.

MWESVA

The old demarcations of
adulthood — 21 through
65 — are hopelessly out of
date. And so too other im-
ages of age: What does 30,
50, or even 70 mean -to-
day?
Age isn't even a good predictor any-
more of the timing of life events.
Because people are taking longer to
grow up and much longer to die, it be-
comes unclear who a person should
"be" at a given time.
Turning 50 is also punctuated with
the awareness of one's own mortality.
For many, this represents an awak-
ening filled with overwhelming desire
for choices and new beginnings. For
others, turning 50 is over the hill or
the beginning of decline.
"These folks need to reconsider,"
says therapist and social worker Judy

Norine Zimmer of Huntington Woods
is a practicing gerontologist.

REBEGINNING page 72

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Judy Beltarnan: "I began to reconsider everything."

VAMSM.I.

Schneider. "It's not like when we were
young and change had a sense of ur-
gency, desperation and seen with a
success-or-fail attitude. At 50, change
is seen as an adventure or an explo-
ration.
"People need to see something new
from an optimistic perspective and
take chances at being more creative,"
says Schneider. "Believe that change
will work because now you have the
maturity and wisdom to make it work
or to deal with it if it doesn't work in
a realistic way."
Longer life and changing values in-
vites a second adulthood that leaves
behind earlier uncertainties, delu-
sions, shoulds and shouldn'ts. Each
decade presents new beginnings, but
not from the bottom up, rather from
the solid base and higher up.
Midyears are times for self-renew-
al and self-discovery, especially for
those who embrace this stage. They

PHO TOS B Y DANIEL LIPPITT

NORINE GREEN ZIMMER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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