Argues that the need for change as one grows older is a human phenomenon and assists the individual psychologically and spiritually to reframe this transition so that it leads to a sense of joy and awakening.

Identifies options for middle-aged people who are contemplating their senior-life opportunities and outlines recommendations for how American society can collectively and productively address demographic shifts pertaining to unprecedented life spans.

"Roughly 68 million North American women currently grapple with the challenges of midlife, faced with a culture that tells them their "best-before date" has long passed. In Navigating the Messy Middle, Ann Douglas pushes back against this toxic narrative, providing a fierce and unapologetic book for and about midlife women. In this deeply validating and encouraging book, Douglas interviews well over one hundred women of different backgrounds and identities,...

"By age 50, Maria Leonard Olsen had drunk her way out of her 25-year marriage. She had, against advice, put all her eggs in the motherhood basket, willfully derailing her successful law career. As teenagers, her precious children did not need her in the hands-on way they previously had. She was depressed and stuck. So when she turned 50, her gift to herself was to go on a crusade to make the most of whatever time she had left. She set out to do 50...