Quality of Life? Start the New Year with this easy survey!

There she stood just inside our front door with her hands on her hips. “You keep writing about other people’s After 50 stories.”, she said, “Mine is different and it deserves telling, too”.  Pushing past me she settled into a chair in our living room, said, “OK. Help me.”

“OK. I’ll play.”, I said sitting down opposite Coleen. “Who are you?”  Her answer: “I’m Coleen White.  I recently met you and your wife, Linda, at one of our fundraising parties for childrens’ charities.  I’m 67, recently divorced, a retired nurse, not very connected to my grandchildren, far from wealthy but ok, not religious, still like men and romance, smart, funny, and a bit bored.  I like where I’m living. I’m finding it difficult to get my thoughts organized enough around my Quality of Life.”

“What does Quality of Life mean to you?” I asked.  Her answer: “Your writing provoked my interest in Becoming After 50.  Most people don’t seem to get that After 50 is a prime time for personal becoming.  I get it.  I was married to a physician for years.  When he left he liberated both of us – I can see now – from a terrible inertia.  I’m a new kind of free. I like it. Quality of Life is suddenly the key for me.  I don’t want just more of the same.  I don’t need to solve problems from my past.  I don’t need therapy.  I want Quality of Life to be an everyday thing, not some place I visit on special trips and vacations. I need a way to evaluate and prioritize. I want to create myself and my future. So here I am.”

I sat back in my chair.  “Quality of Life”, I said, “is a very personal thing.  It changes periodically, being made up of moving components.  If it were easily measured it would be called Quantity of Life but that’s not what you’re talking about is it?”  “No”, she said, “I’m talking about Quality of Life that I can create and adjust as my life progresses.  I want clarity.  I’ll need to be adaptable, too.”

“Would it help if I gave you a Quality of Life Survey as a starting place?”, I asked.  “Are you kidding?  Of course!”, she replied.

So I gave her the following survey.

As she left I reminded Coleen that not every component can or should be a 10 all the time.   “Don’t worry.  I’ll remember”, she said, “and I’ll be back soon.  Finally, a framework I can work with for my Quality of Life.  World, get out of my way!”

Coleen went on to do the work of exploring her answers to the questionnaire and building a very successful action plan as a result.

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to give the questionnaire to you as a New Years gift. So I am doing just that.

What are you most interested in exploring about yourself and your life today?