Why I Founded Midlife Magazine

By John Teng

I founded Midlife Magazine with the intent to convince middle age men and women that these precious years can and should be the very best years of their lives. With that purpose in mind, I created a one minute introduction video http://youtu.be/Mzt4MImmwzs that I wanted to convey the spirit of fun, excitement, and privilege that fun that is possible during our middle-age years. Yes, middle-age is also fraught with a lot of very serious issues, but this particular video was meant to focus on the positive aspects of this phase of life.

I have asked several middle-age people a simple question: “Would you trade your current life situation to that of your former self from twenty-years earlier?” Would you believe that those I asked this question answered “no?” Of course, one of the obvious reasons why someone would want to go backwards in time is that they would get to be twenty years younger and who wouldn’t want that! But upon further inspection, here are a few more things to consider before making your decision as follows:

1. Was I happier person twenty years ago than I am today?
2. Was I in a better financial position twenty years ago?
3. Did I have as many friends and family surrounding me back then as compared to today?
4. Was I more grounded and at peace with myself as a person?
5. Was I able to make more meaningful contributions to society?
6. Have I been able to travel and see more of the world?
7. Did I have more decision making power?
8. Did I have more leadership opportunities?
9. Was I able to make a bigger difference for good in my home, community, and world?
10. Did I appreciate life more?

It’s not reasonable to think that every single aspect of your life is better now than 20 years ago. Truth be told, yes, I would definitely like to have a body with twenty less years of “mileage” on it. But comparing apples to apples, I venture to guess that most of you have more good things going for you now than you did twenty years ago, and that’s my point! Middle age is THE BEST PHASE OF YOUR LIFE and should be appreciated and enjoyed having that understanding. So here’s to the best years of our lives, folks! Here’s to Midlife Magazine!
John Teng Founder Midlife Magazine