Q & A | 04/06/2009 9:00 am

Mary Wells: Feeling Stuck, Baby Boomers? Paula Forman Has the Solution

Mary Wells interviews Paula Forman about her pitch-perfect new book, The Hourglass Solution: A Boomer’s Guide to the Rest of Your Life, which could heat up your life – and maybe take you to the stars!

By Mary Wells

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Paula Forman

PAULA: Jeff and I have known each other forever, but we really became good friends through this process. I think the fact that we both worked in advertising really helped — creating ads is a very collaborative process — and we shared a commitment to language that was precise and edgy and a bias toward practical and fact-based solutions. We were both very committed to the project and it didn’t take long for us to find a division of labor that suited both our talents and our interests, which, as it happens, are different but complimentary. However, the most important thing is that we really like each other.

MARY: One last thing: If you had one single piece of advice for our readers who feel stuck, what would that be?

PAULA: Change something big! Move, change careers or change an important relationship. Getting through the neck of the hourglass and claiming the rewards of greater adulthood isn’t for sissies — it is serious work. But for those with the courage to go for it, the rewards are greater than you may ever have imagined!

Click here to visit TheHourglassSolution.com

8 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

I love this idea.

But, respectfully, I would say the most important thing to change to get unstuck is your ATTITUDE.

(Also, get a little itty bitty dog that requires a lot of walking. Getting outside, breathing fresh air, maybe listening to a great CD, I like the Stones, it will get you out of the house, and out of YOU. And then you will come up with better ideas)

Can’t wait to read the book!

By nanchan u on 04/06/2009 1:16 pm

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I have to read this. I realize how afraid I am of my future- and I have never been afraid before. I used to be credited with being so brave- and now I do feel stuck, my life choices are over and I am scared.

By Kay Sara on 04/06/2009 3:49 pm

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This whole idea is dead on — this book should be required reading. I lost my job last fall, before all of the major lay-offs started. I thought I couldn’t survive but I knew that I couldn’t keep living the way I had been. I found myself saying, over and over, I have no choice — I have to find another (similar) job right away. A lot of us are being forced to look at our lives now and realize that we weren’t making any choices, which is why we were miserable — I remember a sign in my college dorm that said "not to decide is to decide". That was me, for years.

By Nora Peck on 04/06/2009 7:30 pm

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"Change something big! Move, change careers or change an important relationship. Getting through the neck of the hourglass and claiming the rewards of greater adulthood isn’t for sissies — it is serious work. But for those with the courage to go for it, the rewards are greater than you may ever have imagined! "

Oh my gawd YES!!! I have been saying this to people for YEARS. as i am not a person who has been "stuck" in my life (yet…. ). 9 years ago i’d been in a job i had once adored for about 4 years to long. everyone around me (all of whom are still there) had that dialogue. how they wanted to be doing something else but were "stuck" for whatever reason. how they wish they could but… and one day i said "f—- this. this is NOT going to define me". and i called a television station advertising department and asked if they’d mind talking to me about what it takes to be in advertising. four weeks later i left an industry i’d been in for 15 years. a government steady decent paying job for 100% commissioned sales! and i never looked back.

six years ago i left the town i’d lived in for 20+ years… and i’ve never looked back.

every time anything truly life changing has happened in my life it’s because i MADE it happen. i lept off of a diving board. and the thing it did the most for me is this… I KNOW that if I am ever truly miserable the one thing i will not tell myself is that i have no choices. i’ve lept off the diving board before and i could do it again.

By Chrome Toe on 04/06/2009 8:32 pm

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You are so right Chrome Toe! My sisters are always amazed at how "adaptable" I am. But the reality is, big changes shake things up and make me think about things in a new way. Going to college-in my 30s-really made a huge difference. I feel like I got more out of those classes than the kids did because I had life experience to go with it.

I am amazed at how many people quit trying and quit leaping because change is uncomfortable. I am right there on that diving board with you Chrome Toe. It maybe scary to take that leap, but to me, not leaping…now that is truly frightening.

By Samantha Hale on 04/09/2009 2:46 pm

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I cant wait to read the book. What an inspiration!

http://www.famousprice.com

By larry aden on 04/07/2009 10:58 am

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this gives me hope with my book proposal on midlife women. Our numbers are so high and the potential to make a difference in the world is enormous.

Thanks for keeping the fire under the other boomers. What have we got to lose? A better life and more fun and freedom?

sometimes we make a change and sometimes it is thrust upon us. Either way it’s an aopporuntiy.

I lost my job, became a certified life and career coach and started my book. I just want to keep being surpised by life and also by what I am and can do.

Thanks for the reminder!

By elizabeth cassidy on 04/09/2009 5:18 pm