Blog and Resources

To guide you in finding your own path to the summit.

5 Tips for Internal Spring Cleaning (the Gen X Way)
Michele Walter Michele Walter

5 Tips for Internal Spring Cleaning (the Gen X Way)

Spring is finally upon us! And with it comes renewed hope for making changes this year.

While many folks use spring to focus on external spring cleaning, it’s also a great time to do some internal spring cleaning that can support you in making a shift.

Here are five tips tailor-made for Gen X’ers to do some internal spring cleaning.

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Embracing 52: 8 Tips for GenX’ers Making Another Trip Around the Sun
Michele Walter Michele Walter

Embracing 52: 8 Tips for GenX’ers Making Another Trip Around the Sun

February 7th is my 52nd birthday.

And, as I tend to do every 365 days, I like to pause and reflect on what I've learned thus far in life, what I want to leave behind, and what I hope to experience going forward.

So this year, I want to pass my reflections onto you, my dear GenX'ers (along with some quotes from other badass GenXer's).

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When It Ain’t Workin’, Try the Costanza Approach:  Do the Opposite
Michele Walter Michele Walter

When It Ain’t Workin’, Try the Costanza Approach:  Do the Opposite

If you’re like most GenX’ers, then you’ll remember this classic Jerry/George exchange from a Seinfeld episode in 1994:

Jerry Seinfeld: “If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.”

George Costanza: “Yes, I will do the opposite. I used to sit here and do nothing, and regret it for the rest of the day, so now I will do the opposite, and I will do something!”

How many of you are banging your head against the wall doing the same thing over and over again, wondering why it’s not working? And then, weeks, months, or years later, you end up regretting that you’re still in the same place, banging your head against the wall?

Read more to learn how the Costanza approach could help you stop banging your head against the wall.

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Navigating Childlessness in Your 40s and 50s: A GenX Perspective
Michele Walter Michele Walter

Navigating Childlessness in Your 40s and 50s: A GenX Perspective

GenX is often viewed as the generation that reinvented adulthood. And along the way, many GenXers now find themselves Childless Not By Choice. This article explores what it means to be CNBC and how GenXers can use our unique generational traits to navigate being childless in our 40s and beyond.

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16 Bullshit-Free Tips to Connect to Your Purpose in Your 40s/50s
Michele Walter Michele Walter

16 Bullshit-Free Tips to Connect to Your Purpose in Your 40s/50s

A lot of GenX’ers I know — myself included — hit their 40s or 50s and start to wonder:

Who am I? What am I doing with my life? Is this all there is?

This post gives you 16 tips—that aren’t BS—that you can start using TODAY to find your purpose in your 40s and 50s.

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4 Tips for 40/50-Year-Old Lawyers to Reignite Their Freedom
Michele Walter Michele Walter

4 Tips for 40/50-Year-Old Lawyers to Reignite Their Freedom

There's a profound irony in celebrating the 4th of July.

We Americans love to celebrate our "freedom" on this day . . .

and yet . . .

the next day, we wake up and put on the same golden handcuffs we've been wearing that leave us feeling anything BUT free.

This irony is particularly true as we enter our 40s and 50s as lawyers.

So, in honor of truly celebrating our freedom, I want to share 4 Tips for 40/50-year-old lawyers to reignite their freedom all year around.

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How Learning My Core Values Changed My Life at 49
Michele Walter Michele Walter

How Learning My Core Values Changed My Life at 49

Listen up, because this week I’m going to share with you the one thing that has fundamentally changed how I live my life. That has allowed me to feel more empowered to make conscious choices to prioritize and honor what’s important to me. This is THE most important work that I think we can do for ourselves. So buckle up, settle in, and enjoy!

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4 Reasons for GenX’ers to Get Support in Their 40’s and 50’s
Michele Walter Michele Walter

4 Reasons for GenX’ers to Get Support in Their 40’s and 50’s

As a GenX’er in your 40’s and 50’s, you may have noticed some things lately. Feeling like every day is a roller coaster. Wondering how you got here. Questioning whether this is all there is. Feeling like there’s something “more” but you don’t know what. All of that is normal. And now, more than ever, is the time to recognize our tendencies to resist getting support for what we’re going through. This post talks about 4 benefits of receiving support in our 40’s and 50’s, and how we can lean into asking for and receiving more support.

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7 Things Tornadoes Can Teach Us About Mental Health
Michele Walter Michele Walter

7 Things Tornadoes Can Teach Us About Mental Health

Fifteen years ago - May 29, 2008 - around 5:25 p.m. Central Time, an EF2 tornado came tearing through the streets of northern Kearney, Nebraska. The tornado lasted for about an hour, measured nearly 400 yards in width, and had wind speeds of up to 135 miles per hour. It left a 30-mile path of destruction. And in that path was my mom’s house. In the last blog for this month of May - Mental Health Awareness Month - I reflect on 7 things that tornadoes can teach us about mental health challenges.

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Saying “Hello” to the Grief Beneath
Michele Walter Michele Walter

Saying “Hello” to the Grief Beneath

In my experience, grief is the undercurrent of so many mental health struggles. And like a riptide in the ocean, unseen grief can pull us under without any warning. Also like a riptide, the more we fight against the grief, the more likely we are to go under and drown in the ocean of our accumulated lifetime of grief. This week I invite us to say, “hello” to our grief, so that we can soften around it . . . and so it can soften its hold on us.

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This One Thing Will Make You an Unfuckwithable GenX’er
Michele Walter Michele Walter

This One Thing Will Make You an Unfuckwithable GenX’er

Learn the critical paradox that GenX’ers in their 40s and 50s can embrace to help make them unfuckwithable. What’s that mean? It means that when you can embrace this paradox, you can learn to suffer less in life. You can experience what life throws at us through a different, more empowering lens. And when you are able to do that, life doesn’t knock you down as easily or, when it does, you can get back up with more grace and ease.

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Unleash Your Inner GenX Power: Part 2 - The Generational Shadows
Michele Walter Michele Walter

Unleash Your Inner GenX Power: Part 2 - The Generational Shadows

Welcome to Unleash Your Inner GenX Power: Part 2 - The Generational Shadows. This week we explore the unique cultural experiences of GenX’ers that may have created shadows for them.

Growing up in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, GenX’ers were shaped by a range of cultural influences, from economic uncertainty to the Cold War to being independent latch-key kids. These events may have led many GenX’ers to develop coping mechanisms that they now recognize as shadow aspects. Discover what some of those events were and how they shaped the generational shadows.

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