boomers | Brian Collinson

Vibrant Jung Thing Blog

Jungian Psychotherapy & Baby Boomer Midlife Transition

September 3rd, 2011 · baby boomer, boomer, Jungian, Jungian psychotherapy, midlife, midlife transition, Psychotherapy

The baby boomer generation is entering the later part of midlife transition. Jungian psychotherapy has a lot to say about what happens at that time in life. Much has happened during the course of the baby boomer generation. Even more is happening at present, and will continue to occur.

This is true society-wide, and even more so on the level of the personal journey. Reflecting on our journey at 45, 50 or 60, we are stunned at how different life is for us than it was 30 or 40 years ago.

Life is Very Different

In our 20s, for many of us, the challenge was to move out on our own, complete our education, start a career, find a life partner, and have children. Now, we’ve done most of those things. So we ask, “What’s important and meaningful now in my life?” Challenges may be much less clear cut than they were earlier in life.

The World is Very Different

Since our teens, and earlier adulthood, the world has changed tremendously, and we have been carried along with it. The generation before the boomers had a whole set of established assumptions about the world; baby boomers have seen those assumptions fade with ever increasing rapidity.

I am Very Different

Clearly I am different now than I was in my 20s. Challenges and things that motivated me then likely don’t motivate so much now. Perhaps I’ve done many things in my life that I would never have believed that I could. My body is not the same as it was. Where what life wanted of me may have been clear at earlier points, it may well not be clear now. It’s up to me to find what is meaningful to me at this stage in my life, and to devote myself to that.

The Symbol of the Night Sea Journey

The journey now may well not be laid out in advance: it is very individual. It’s like the journey of a vessel on the sea at night. I must find my own path, finding what is meaningful to me and living that out. To do that, I must get to know myself in ways that I never have before. I’m looking for something real and unique, that lasts, and Jungian psychotherapy may be key in helping me find what I need.