In his best selling book Old Age, A Beginner’s Guide, Michael Kinsley observes: “What you actually really want, or should want, is long years of good health, not long years of simply breathing in and out.”  Reeve Lindbergh observes in her book   Forward From Here: Leaving Middle Age–and Other Unexpected Adventures  “Time flies, but if I am willing to fly with it, then I can be airborne, too.”

Each one of us has to decide what’s important to us in our own life. But we can certainly take inspiration from people like Kinsley and Lindbergh to reflect on and make decisions about how we want to live the rest of our lives, what we want, and equally importantly, what we don’t want from it. So we encourage you to put on that thinking cap, talk to those whose opinions you value, put pen to paper and write a short letter to yourself on what’s is important to you in the rest of your life, what you want from it, what you value above all else.  When you are done, you will have created a blueprint that will help you lead a full and fulfilling life, and guide important decisions as you take other steps preparing for what’s ahead.