Rejoicing in the Dance

This post is the third in the series of vignettes from "Sharing the Dance", the drawing I created for the YWCA in 1993. I call this segment, "Rejoicing in the Dance." It is representative of the time in a woman's life and in the maturity level of her energy, when she can experience the gifts available to her during midlife.

At this time, much contemplation is often experienced, assessing where she has come from, reviewing what she has accomplished and discerning what she now wants to achieve in her life from this point on. With her children raised, she may experience the empty nest syndrome, yearning for a way to express her nurturing. In response to this yearning, dreams she had tucked away and put on hold will begin calling to her. When she directs her creative energy toward this calling and channels it into joyfully embracing the fullness that this period of life has to offer she will remember dance steps she had forgotten, adapt old ones and construct new ones.

This is a time for self-actualization, when she stands strong in her style and the way she presents herself to the world, regardless of what current trends may dictate to the public. Through the passing of time and the many things she has experienced in life, she has earned the knowledge of what works for her and what does not. A woman within this time of her life does not feel intimidated by going against the grain. If purple is not the popular choice for current fashion, she will wear it anyway and with glorious aplomb.

This can be a time of freedom on many levels. The symbolic quality of the years when the sun is setting can provide her spirit with a brilliant panorama of warmth and illumination. She is in the symbolic time of autumn when change and transformation are occurring. Regardless of challenges that may be presented to her at this time, rather than being a time of midlife crisis, this time in a woman's life can be a time of new awareness's and new beginnings. These are the years when, more than ever, a woman can attain a deeper quality of comfort with change and a rich sense of embracing the minutes available in each day to learn more, experience more, love more, laugh more...and to rejoice more in being part of the dance of life.