In his 2022 bestseller, “From Power to Power: Discovering Success, Happiness, and Deep Function within the Second Half of Life,” Harvard professor Arthur Brooks outlines a technique to actually assist individuals get higher with age. Primarily based on exhaustive analysis, Brooks gives a roadmap for individuals to reimagine their lives after the age of fifty in ways in which present extra goal and that means. At a time when many start to query their relevance and whether or not time has handed them by, Brooks gives an inspiring look into growing old that turns the normal view of the second half of life on its head.
Brooks’s important premise is that when people transition from what he calls “fluid intelligence” to “crystallized intelligence,” they encounter a second curve, a time in life when knowledge and expertise tends to trump expertise and onerous work. On this second curve, persons are extra prone to discover pleasure and satisfaction in experiences reasonably than achievements, and in supporting others reasonably than selling themselves.
Just lately, I’ve been reflecting on Brooks’s concepts within the context of my life as an growing old long-distance runner. I distinctly recall a time about 10 years in the past after I felt myself present process a gradual transition from fluid intelligence to crystallized intelligence. I used to be experiencing the everyday slow-down that’s a part of rising older — accidents had been piling up, and the robust urge to compete, an urge that characterised a lot of my working life in my thirties and early forties, was fading. I used to be transitioning to my second curve. In that second, I needed to settle for the truth that, whether or not I appreciated it or not, my aggressive days had been behind me and that for me to stay lively within the sport I wanted to embrace a brand new model of myself — a model of myself that was generative.
AJW working in Colorado in 2020. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
On account of this era of acceptance, I grew to become extra dedicated to my teaching apply. I spent extra time volunteering at occasions and fewer time competing in them. I spent extra time learning the science of the game and fewer time specializing in the artwork of the game. And, maybe most of all, I spent increasingly time sharing with others my previous experiences within the sport reasonably than straight experiencing the game myself. It was a transcendent course of and one which has allowed me to proceed to expertise the enjoyment and magic of path working and ultrarunning lengthy after my days as a competitor have ended.
As Brooks suggests on the finish of “From Power to Power,” transitioning to the second curve just isn’t straightforward and may really feel nearly unattainable for some. It requires us to make ourselves susceptible and content material with the truth that growing old entails deterioration. Whereas the considered deterioration may be disturbing at first, as soon as accepted, vulnerability and deterioration turn into superpowers and permit us to share our expertise and knowledge with the world in ways in which solely those that’ve been via years and years of life and dwelling can do.
Bottoms up!
Dr. Terrie Wurzbacher through the 2021 Vol State 500k, then aged 72. Picture courtesy of Terrie Wurzbacher.
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s beer of the week comes from Rogue Ales and Spirits in Newport, Oregon. Rogue’s Honey Kolsch is a lightweight and crisp beer with only a trace of sweetness. Brewed with pure Oregon honey, this can be a contemporary take an the normal Kolsch selection and is an ideal late summer time beer.
Name for Feedback
- Are you a runner on that “second curve?”
- Would you prefer to share how this section of life goes for you?