Forward From 50 is back in business. That certainly was a longer-than-expected break.
I left Arizona Oct. 5 to begin a semi-annual trip, which I call “The Circuit,” to visit my daughters and their families in Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin. This time, I added a business trip to Florida to the driving itinerary.
After seven weeks and nearly 8,000 miles, I arrived back in Arizona exhausted the weekend after Thanksgiving. That’s when I decided to move the Forward From 50 platform to a new home.
Typically, those type of migration exercises are easy-peasy. The right experts can usually do the job in minutes. But, this time, it required the entire website to be rebuilt.
Since the middle of June, Forward From 50 had been hosted on the Kajabi network. But, after several months of discovering disappointing limitations technical support problems regarding what the website and, especially, the Passionate Purpose podcast, could do on that platform, I decided to move everything back to WordPress.
That required all the website pages to be rebuilt as well as all the stories and images to be individually migrated from one platform to another by a time-consuming cut-and-paste process. While I grew up using technology as a very early adopter of computers, website programming has grown considerably complex in recent years.
To be an online content creator today, it almost requires someone to conceive a child and hope he or she grows up loving technology. Thankfully, because of some very helpful YouTube videos and informational posts on other websites, I was able to complete the process a few days ago.
You can’t go home again
You may have heard the old adage “you can’t go home again.” It’s true. Doing so is increasingly difficult.
I was born and raised in Wisconsin. Except for a brief period in the 1980s when I lived in New Mexico courtesy of the U.S. Air Force and when trying to start a photography business, I have lived most of my life near the Madison area.
Yet, every time I have returned to that region during the past 10 years, there is one less reason for me to do so. Long-time friends move out of the area or simply move on with their lives in a way that doesn’t include me. Such is life.
This time, while I was able to maintain a regular writing schedule during the first leg of my trip to Texas, by the time I arrived in the chaotic circus of Wisconsin, all bets were off. Pulled in many different directions, I got out of the habit of posting regular content and interviewing people over 50.
I don’t know about any of you, but every long-driving trip extracts a greater toll on my body, mind and mood. After driving 10 to 12 hours a day, I’ll confess that I didn’t feel like writing a new blog post or researching a new story in a hotel room. All I could hope to do was sleep long enough to recharge my battery for another extended day of driving.
I love my grandchildren — really. But with five under eight, just being around all that energy works to sap it from me. Whether it’s listening to the “Wheels on the bus go round and round” for the umpteenth time that day, or being jumped on, tugged and tripped repeatedly, I’m ready for a long nap by noon.
So I apologize for dropping the ball on creating new content for Forward From 50. However, the experience reinvigorated me to work even harder to make this website and platform a go-to resource for men and women over 50 who are struggling with reclaiming a sense of purpose.
Just reading about, talking to and writing about go-getters who are passionately pursuing new directions for their lives has a magical impact on my own psyche. It motivates me to want to do more to help inspire others to attempt more in their own lives.
So, as 2022 winds down and we get ready for another new year, I’ll be firmly parked in Arizona until May at the earliest. Expect more great interviews with some pumped-up seasoned citizens embracing new purpose for their lives.
I also want to complete an online course to guide people through the process of identifying a purpose for the second half of their lives and, more importantly, taking the first step to begin that journey.
I’m glad to be back and even happier to have you with me on this journey. Merry Christmas!
After closing his business and enduring several painful years of uncertainty regarding what to do with his life, Greg founded Forward From 50 to help men and women over 50 to live more purposeful lives by pursuing things they are passionate about. A Wisconsin native, Greg currently lives in Arizona.