How to Create Meaningful Rituals for Midlife Transitions | Empty Nest, Menopause, Career Change
New video: Discover practical ways to honor your midlife transitions with intention and meaning.
Some passages in our lives receive grand celebrations. We all know the usual suspects: weddings, graduations, births. Yet others, including the most profound transformations of our middle years, pass by largely unacknowledged.
Today, I'm sharing a new video exploring why these midlife transitions deserve to be marked with intention, and how creating simple ceremonies can transform our relationship with change.
The Moments Our Culture Doesn't Honor
Think about the significant changes that have shaped your recent years.
Perhaps you've experienced an empty nest as children have left home. Or navigated the physical and emotional landscape of menopause. Maybe you've pivoted careers, stepping away from a professional identity that defined you for decades.
These threshold experiences are profound. They reshape our identities, our daily rhythms, our sense of purpose. Yet our culture offers few formal ways to honor these passages.
Throughout history, women's significant life changes have often been either medicalized or minimized. Menopause becomes a "condition" to manage rather than a powerful life passage to honor. An empty nest gets reduced to "more free time" rather than recognized as the complex emotional landscape it truly is.
Why Marking These Moments Matters
There's fascinating research behind why creating ceremonies for life's significant thresholds is so powerful:
We activate the meaning-making centers of our brains, literally creating neural pathways that help us make sense of change
Ceremonies provide a container for processing complex emotions during times of uncertainty
They create what anthropologists call "liminal space": a threshold between what was and what will be
Perhaps most importantly, ceremonies transform passive experiences into active choices
A Personal Reflection
One of my own significant life changes was leaving London, my lifelong home, to move to New York City at 40. I had no job lined up, knew almost no one besides my husband, and was stepping into a completely unfamiliar life.
What I didn't realize then was how much I needed to mark that threshold moment. To acknowledge what I was leaving behind and what I was stepping into.
I wish I had created even a simple ceremony to mark that time. Writing a letter to my future self, selecting a symbolic object to carry forward, or gathering a few friends for a threshold marking ritual (instead of too much Pinot Grigio in numerous London bars!)
A Simple Practice
If you're navigating a significant life change right now, here's a simple practice you might try:
The Threshold Stone Ritual
Find a small stone that fits comfortably in your palm
Hold it in your hand and reflect on what you're releasing in this moment of change
Speaking aloud or silently, acknowledge each aspect you're letting go
Turn the stone over in your hand
Now reflect on what you're welcoming or stepping into
Again, name each aspect, whether aloud or in silence
Place this stone somewhere you'll see it regularly
Each time you notice it, reconnect with your intention for this passage
This simple practice takes just minutes but creates a powerful marker for your experience.
As always, I love hearing from you: What significant change in your life deserved more recognition than it received? How did you mark it, or how might you have marked it in retrospect?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, or if you prefer privacy and space held, simply reply directly to this email.
Warmly,
Skylar
P.S. If you're navigating a significant life change and would value support in creating a meaningful ceremony to mark this threshold, I've recently begun offering Customized Ceremonies for women in midlife. These personalized rituals are designed specifically for your unique journey. I'd be honored to witness your becoming. Special pricing until March 22nd.