by Michael Holland
The perspective a man has on his season of life can yield tremendous insight. What season are you currently in? What about other men in your life? What season of the year do you feel best represents the current season of your lives?
Typically, we’d think that the answer would correlate to each man’s approximate age: a man in his 60’s would say early winter, while a man in his 20’s would say early spring. What’s amazing is that men often feel like they are in a much later season than the one in which others perceive them. There is a magical tipping point in our early 40s when we suddenly sense the speeding up of time, and it dawns on us that more of our life is behind us than ahead of us. But this perception (you could call it a self-delusion) is brought on by the weight of societal peer pressure that says we are supposed to be ahead of wherever we are with our career, our finances, our health, and the functionality of our family.
When faced with this pressure, one of my friends answered this question about seasons of life very well. While most of his contemporaries would most likely say they are in late summer, he says he’s in May, or maybe early June. I love this difference, because I love the way it shows in the reality of how my friend lives his life. He’s focused on the speed he is gaining as he pursues life, and most importantly, he’s motivated by how much more he can do for others now. His perception drives his reality.
The season of life a man chooses affects his reality: you are what you perceive yourself to be.
The season of life a man chooses affects his reality: you are what you perceive yourself to be. You can decide to be in the late fall of your life, or you can decide that you’re in mid-spring. I believe that when answering this season of life question, men should take their first instinct and subtract 3 to 4 months. Then they will be better able to focus all their energy on being in that season of life and leveraging the wisdom they’ve accumulated.
