Finding Out the Next Big Thing

Is anyone out there besides me struggling with this game of “rewiring” after the big career? I worked for 40 years in broadcasting, the last 35 years at WCVB-TV in a job I loved: news. Actually, for the better part of those years, I never thought of it as “job.” It was a calling, a partnership with a team with whom I worked and with hundreds of thousands of people I never met, but felt I knew. There was always an indescribable kinship between me and people I thought of as my neighbors, as opposed to “viewers.”

I realize the demographic of bostonmagazine.com is more my daughter’s age than mine, so maybe you want to pass this on to your parents. On the other hand, it probably someone from your generation that I need to find.

For 4 years I have wanted to build a meeting place where people ages 50, 60+ could gather and learn from each other with an eye toward mapping out this next season of life. I actually trademarked MyNextBigThing.com, but the site remains in abeyance.

It is not the lack of energy or passion that holds me back. It is more the lack of a team. I am not one to sit in front of a computer all day. I’d rather run a team of people than a website, but it is the online world where people do gather today.

Enough about my angst. My research, empirical and otherwise, suggests a primary need to find balance at this stage of life, balance between work and play. The economy has made the need for income primal for many. Beyond that is the unsettling knowledge that time is more limited, so relationships with family and friends move higher on the priority list. Fulfilling childhood dreams becomes, “now or never.” Keeping fit and staying healthy have a new urgency.

“What’s It All About Alfie” keeps playing in the background. Was Joss Stone right? In the end, is it all about love and being loved?

In the meantime, what’s my next big thing? What’s yours? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.