As we reach midlife, we are not prepared for the idea that time can run out on us, or for the startling truth that if we don't hurry to pursue our own definition of a meaningful existence, life can become a repetition of trivial maintenance duties. Gail Sheehy More Quotes by Gail Sheehy More Quotes From Gail Sheehy Since nobody upstages Rudolph Giuliani, his will be a Broadway-class show, perhaps his final bravura performance before November 2000, when he hopes to be turned out of the mayor's office by virtue of his election to the United States Senate. Gail Sheehy broadway office class I actually like getting out of my comfort zone. It shakes me up. Gail Sheehy like me comfort-zone comfort We really only have two choices. Play it safe, or take a chance. For me, pulling back because of fear has always made me feel worse. Gail Sheehy feel me chance fear Eventually, all mentor-disciple relationships are meant to pull apart, usually sometime in the mid-30s. Those who hang on, eventually the mentor drops the disciple, and that's no fun. Gail Sheehy drops relationships mentor fun Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties. Gail Sheehy letting go creativity letting-go Be willing to shed parts of your previous life. For example, in our 20s, we wear a mask; we pretend we know more than we do. We must be willing, as we get older, to shed cocktail party phoniness and admit, 'I am who I am.' Gail Sheehy wear i-am know life People in grief need someone to walk with them without judging them. Gail Sheehy walk someone grief people Spontaneity, the hallmark of childhood, is well worth cultivating to counteract the rigidity that may otherwise set in as we grow older. Gail Sheehy worth well grow childhood I was devastated when I got the review for my first book. The book came out a couple years before the women's movement broke through, and people were putting it down, asking, 'Why does the woman in this book need to get a divorce? Why can't she just shut up and be happy?' Gail Sheehy be-happy woman women people I did not give my daughter the kind of childhood anybody would want. The vision of the divided loyalty between a mother and father who don't live together and don't share in decisions is a great depravation for children. Gail Sheehy childhood daughter mother children No one can control the aging process or the trajectory of illness. Gail Sheehy control aging illness process The feminist spirit still lives! It shows most boldly among younger women from the millennial generation. Gail Sheehy generation still women spirit I dare to do things - that's how I survive. Gail Sheehy survive how things dare I found that female pathfinders generally integrate characteristics commonly associated with being women - like the capacity to be intimate - with 'male' ones like ambition and courage. Gail Sheehy like women ambition courage