Fifty-five took me captive today. It slipped into my bedroom at 5:15 this morning, edged along the wall and slithered up the side of the bed. I awoke with aching muscles, stiff joints, and a hunger for bran muffins.

I tried to wiggle out of this predicament. Surrendering to exercise, skim milk, and fat-free ice cream didn’t help. Offering to pay full price for McDonald’s coffee, didn’t change my dilemma. No matter how much I tried, I could not escape fifty-five.

I am now eligible to buy a home in Florida’s retirement communities, open a free checking account at my local bank, and purchase discount movie tickets on Tuesdays between 12:00 noon and 4:00 p.m. You would think I would be thrilled with all fifty-five has to offer. I’m not. If only fifty-five would release its hold, and let me flee back to my thirties.

But we know we can’t escape; we must accept it. So how do we prepare for the second half of our live?

The first half we focus on pleasing the outside world and allowing it to define our self-worth. Our emphasis is on what we accomplish. In our twenties, we want to prove to society that we are adults. In our thirties, we are addicted to successful careers. In our forties, we began to fear our demise. As the greeting cards say, “we are over the hill”. We gobble down vitamins, smear on moisturizer, and join a gym that promises to return us to flat tummies or trophy-wife bodies.

In our fifties, we plan for retirement and prepare to face the inescapable: life after work and family.

For the pessimist, it is a time of despondency. For the optimist, it is a time of opportunity.

At first, I was the pessimist. Sleeping late, drinking pots of coffee, and wandering the house in baggy pajamas, I reveled in the idea of not working. By afternoon, the couch was my world, complete with oil-laden potato chips and Oprah’s next crusade.

Sara Davidson, author of Leap! What Will We Do With the Rest of Our Lives?, describes this time as “the narrows”. “In the narrows, you’re in the dark, stripped of what you thought was your identity…”

It was twenty pounds later that I realized life’s journey couldn’t be finished, but just stalled for the moment. I needed a jumpstart. Mark Gerzon, author of Coming Into Our Own: Understanding Adult Metamorphosis, refers to entering the next phase of life as a quest and a challenge, a door you must walk through. “The purpose is to walk through it and go on to the other side-the side that’s called The Second Half of Life.”