Are you in midlife or older and lost your zest for life?

Perhaps you long to find happiness and fulfillment in the second half of your life, maybe chronic health problems are weighing you down… perhaps you have given up hope.

Regardless of your age counselling at mid-life can help you:

	Your health and your potential to live deeply and fully
	Your energy and enthusiasm to try something completely new
	Your abilities and talents

Mid-life can bring a number of challenges ranging from feelings of emptiness or loneliness, chronic health problems, financial worries and anxiety about the future.

Concerns About Aging
It can be frightening to see yourself aging. Life seems to have passed by much too quickly. You may feel sad that you don’t have enough time left to realize all your dreams. Being older often brings a sense of loss of former identity as families, friends and jobs change. By midlife you may have lost some of your sense of purpose and self-worth. You may feel that your changing body is letting you down. It is hard to feel enthusiastic about the future.

Chronic Health Problems
The accumulation of life’s stressful events can have a devastating effect on your health at midlife. A major setback can trigger feelings of depression, anxiety, and frequent health problems or illnesses. You may be tired all the time and lack the energy to try anything new.

Retirement Plans and Financial Concerns
You’ve worked long and hard and feel that you should be considering retirement, but you fear taking this next step. You might be worried that you won’t have enough money to live comfortably when you retire. Or you may feel at a loss as to what you will do with your time once you leave your job. Thinking about retiring might make you feel anxious and confused about what you should do.

Relationship Problems
Relationships at midlife can go through a number of changes. Your friends and children may be moving on to new things leaving you feeling alone. It can be a time when you might feel discouraged. Friendships may have lost their sparkle. You may feel lonely or sad because you don’t have a life partner and fear you will grow old alone. Or, your marriage may seem boring and stagnant and yet, you don’t know how to make it better.

Career Concerns and Workplace Stress
Careers also go through a number of changes at midlife. Perhaps you feel restless and unfulfilled at work. By midlife you have likely mastered the skills of your job and have reached the career goals you set for yourself. You need to work because you need the money, but your heart is just not in it as much anymore. Work may feel like a burden. You wish you could do something else but you don’t want to start all over again.

If any of the above mid-life scenarios ring true for you, you can likely benefit from counselling during this stage of midlife.

“Aging is not ‘lost youth’ but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”

- Betty Friedan

Getting older does not have to be devastating.
It is possible to grow older and live fully with wisdom, creativity, humour, excitement and a gratifying sense of self worth.

Now you can become the person you were meant to be.
Counselling at midlife can help you recognize and find your own unique strengths and talents.

Benefits of Counselling at Mid-life:

Find more Meaning in your Life

Increase your energy and have more vitality and purpose in your life.
Release negative thoughts and habits, blame, guilt and expectations that are preventing you from feeling happy or content.
Develop passion for the future and create a plan for the coming years that excites you.

Get out of the Sickness Loop

Recover from feelings of depression, discouragement and despair.
Relieve anxiety and learn how to stay calm in stressful situations.
Be more resilient and able to handle life’s ups and downs.
Take better care of yourself both physically and emotionally.
Discover how to monitor your stress levels and reduce health problems.
Reduce chronic pain and tension.

Make Retirement Work for YOU

Discover your talents and abilities and begin to live with passion, energy and depth.
Learn what you want from your retirement or decide if you even want to retire.
Develop confidence to try new activities.
Build hope for the future.
Enjoy using your imagination and creativity to live the life you want.

Experience Greater Satisfaction at Work

Develop ways to increase your energy to manage the stresses at work.
Explore options for finding fulfillment at work.
Improve relationships with colleagues.

Have Relationships that nourish you

Develop rich, satisfying friendships.
Learn how to say “No” to people who deplete your energy
Enhance and deepen your intimate relationships

I can help you deal with the challenges of midlife.

As a counsellor in her sixties, I am fully aware of how the experience of midlife can replicate the disorienting feeling of culture shock. By the time I reached midlife I had experienced the breakdown of intimate relationships and lost family members and friends. I have felt the deterioration of my physical stamina and lived with chronic health problems, depression and the confusing dislocation of retirement.

With support from a counsellor I began to find my own unique way of traveling this part of life’s journey. I have come to realize that the joy of life exists in being curious about and appreciating the small things that are around us all the time. I have gained more understanding for how my attachment to past events kept me from enjoying life. I now have the ability to grow and live more fully in the present.

Because of my own experiences in midlife, I am passionate about and totally committed to helping you live fully with enthusiasm and purpose through the journey of midlife and beyond.

“No matter how old you are, there’s always something good to look forward to.”

- Lynn Johnston (For Better or Worse)

In counselling I will work creatively to help you understand and overcome the physical and emotional challenges that often occur at mid-life. You, too, can discover how to turn your midlife years into the best ones yet.

Take the first step now.

If you are ready to make the second half of your life the best that it can be, leave a message on my confidential voice mail at 604-218-1057 or send me an e-mail at, lauris@lauriswilliams.com to arrange for a FREE 30-minute phone consultation.

Together, we can help you find the meaning and joy that you long for.

My office is located in central Richmond, accessible by public transit and serving all areas in Metro-Vancouver, Delta, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby and New Westminster.