Seven Resources for the
Path Forward

Hey there! I’ve got some great stuff for you this week, but first, a bit of news.

I’ve completely restocked the Further store. We have a new minimalist design that people are loving, plus new laptop stickers, leggings, and a premium Champion hoodie.

But don’t pull our your credit card just yet. There’s another way to get this Further gear.

All you have to do is recommend Further to your Gen X friends, and you can earn items for free based on how many referrals you make.

Check out the number of referrals needed for each by clicking here.

Each Further subscriber has their own, unique referral link. Here are some handy ways to share with your link already included:

• Email
• Twitter
• Facebook
• WhatsApp

And here’s your individual referral link so you can manually share it anywhere:

{{Subscribers Only}}

So, if you’re enjoying Further, would you mind sharing it with fellow Gen Xer friends? The newsletter only grows when people like you spread the word, but I don’t expect you to do it for free … so I’m happy to dish out this cool gear in return.

Thank you for your support! Now, on to this week’s resources.

Pandemic Pounds

After maintaining my fitness pretty well during the early stages of COVID-19, things went downhill for me over the summer. If the same happened to you, let’s get back on track.

How to Lose the Quarantine Weight

Your Robot Overlord

While AI might not take your job, it could still make your job miserable: “In the workplace, self-learning algorithmic computer systems are being introduced by companies to assist in areas such as hiring, setting tasks, measuring productivity, evaluating performance, and even terminating employment.”

Algorithms Workers Can’t See Are Increasingly Pulling the Management Strings

Unlearn and Relearn

As we’ve explored, unlearning will be as important to your path forward as learning will be. As futurist Alvin Toffler once wrote, “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

5 Things to Unlearn

Making Meaning

One of the symptoms of midlife dissatisfaction is the feeling that no matter how successful you’ve been or become, it’s all pretty much meaningless. The key to dealing with this is to understand that it’s fairly common, and then proceed to make your own meaning for the path forward.

“My Life Has Been Meaningless”

The Theatre of the Absurd

“[Absurdity] ultimately leads us to reaffirm who we are, and sharpens the mind as we look for new ways to make sense of the world. The findings also suggest new ways to improve education, and even help to explain our responses to some of the more absurd political events of recent years.”

A Touch of Absurdity Can Help to Wrap Your Mind Around Reality

Be Excellent to Each Other

While this one may not seem as essential, anything that creates a better dialogue with our Gen Z kids is important. Which means you should probably watch the entire Bill & Ted trilogy as an exercise in better parenting.

‘Bill & Ted’ Explained by Gen X to Gen Z

Down below, Trudi delivers perhaps the most important resource for moving forward — getting your head together with four months of 2020 still to go. And in the Flashback, it’s a long day, livin’ in Reseda ….

Keep going-

Brian Clark

Powering Up Your Mental Surge Protection

By Trudi Roth

Think fast, respond honestly: how are you doing?

If you’re like me, the answer is somewhere between meh and miserable. The initial energy sparked by the urgent adjustment to pandemic life has died off.

Mask-wearing, homeschooling, social distancing, and working remotely is the norm. Resistance feels futile, as the virus spikes without that vigilance.

And so, what’s left is acceptance, which is the last stage of grief. Even if you’re lucky enough to have not lost a loved one, we’re all mourning something: routine, income, space, live music, motivation, patience, focus. The gamut is wide, yet the loss is personal.

When uncertainty is the only sure thing, the struggle is real. And it’ll take something stronger than self-care alone to shake off the malaise.

Surge Capacity Under Siege

Wondering when you’ll adjust to the “new normal”? The good news is if you’re running on empty, you’re probably already there.

Psychologist and resilience expert Ann Masten, PhD, explains that humans use “surge capacity” — a combination of physical and mental adaptive practices — for short-term survival in a crisis. Prolonged trauma blocks your ability to renew that vital energy:

It’s important to recognize that it’s normal in a situation of great uncertainty and chronic stress to get exhausted and to feel ups and downs, to feel like you’re depleted or experience periods of burnout.

This is especially true if you’re a Type A personality who thrives on productivity. The kind of wreckage we’re facing is “ambiguous loss,” a term pioneered by family therapist Dr. Pauline Boss.

With our way of life upended, routine and habits aren’t there to fall back on. There are, however, some helpful paths forward.

How to Power Through

While it’s easy to get overwhelmed by how different life is, getting mired in the gap between what is and what you wish it were is fertile ground for mental health issues to take root. Stop sowing that space by first trying radical acceptance. If you can fully embrace that things suck for now, you can redirect that fretting energy elsewhere.

Finding meaning and purpose from a new vantage point is something we at midlife can relate to. And using “both-and” thinking can help.

For example, you can acknowledge both the pandemic’s brutal losses and appreciate that it has brought people closer together. It’s these connections that can help you rebuild your “resilience bank account,” along with tending to the self-care that recharges your batteries, like getting enough sleep, nutrition, exercise, meditation, and self-compassion.

The point is, nothing today is as simple as plug and play. Without the usual outlets available, the best way to fill your tank is to remember to be kind to yourself.

Your Surge Capacity is Depleted. It’s Why You Feel Awful (Medium)