This is an IHeart podcast.

People talk about midlife crisis.

People talk about empty nester. What people don't talk about is the bridge in between and it's a critical bridge. And only someone of a certain age understands this bridge. You cannot explain it. You have to go through it. What does it mean? You're one of the guys that I meet. They're good looking. They're successful. They are wealthy. They're in shape.

They're brilliant minded. Their kids are 14, 15. So they are sitting in a holding pattern.

Now, they're single. They want a date. They can see the end of the tunnel. You have kids that are 13, 14, 15, 16, okay? They're going to go to college. But in this moment, they're in purgatory because you don't know exactly what your purpose is. Your kids don't really need you. You could go out of town for a week. They don't really care. They've got their homework. They've got their sports. They've got their friends. They can cook for themselves, clean for themselves, organized for themselves, pack for themselves, plan for themselves.

They understand their calendar. And they are fully functioning beings, which is why in Shakespearean times,

they were getting married. Okay. So they are humans that make decisions and are almost adults.

So your identity is not tied to them anymore.

Maybe your kids have gone off to college. You're a 55-year-old man. You're a 54-year-old woman.

You're 51. You are not yet an empty nest syndrome. So you don't know what decisions to make because you are aware of the fact that in two, three years, you could live in Florida. You could go to France. Your kids are going to college. You know that right now they barely need you and you could go to France now, but you still have to be home and you have to be a functioning individual in your home and you're going to take your kids on the college tours and you're going to the softball and soccer and lacrosse games.

So you still have to be here in body, but you're just basically a driver, housekeeper,

errand, doer, concierge, planner, ATM machine.

So you're in this purgatory bridge phase.

So you think the decisions you're making, like you're going on a date with someone, you're like, yeah, I, yes, I do live right now in Des Moines, but in two years my kids will be gone. I could live anywhere I want. I can live in Tallum and St. Barts or Africa. You're trying to like make decisions. In addition, you're kind of purposeless for that same reason. You're working, but like you have more free time.

You kind of know where you are in your life.

And you're just sort of like this body scarecrow that's just putting your arms in different directions

to, like, direct people where to go and what to do.

You're just waiting till you get to live your own fucking Ramona Pino Grigio

move down to Palm Beach, Boka, tennis, pickleball, golf club lifestyle.

Right?

That's what it is, you know?

Or you're taking, you're praying and loving or you're painting.

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