Remaking Your Life: A WestCoast Story
WestCoast Goods is part of a midlife journey towards something better.
Some place better. We've started this journey under a drab Michigan sky, looking West to the beaches of Hawaii, the Tiki Bars of Southern California and San Francisco, and the boho vibes of the Pacific Northwest. We love our home state of Michigan, but we wanted to remind ourselves, and our friends, that all these things exist here in some form or another. Even if they thrive most vividly in our minds and imaginations.
We are referencing the West Coast of Michigan, while also pointing to the Pacific.
"WestCoast" actually has a bit of a double meaning. We are referencing the West Coast of Michigan while also pointing to the Pacific. The beaches of Lake Michigan are some of the most stunning I've ever visited. Max's South Seas, in Grand Rapids, is a top shelf Tiki Bar. We live in the land of the Great Lakes and are surrounded by lush forests and stunning rivers. Yet sometimes, we just can't see it through the auto industry smog and the daily grind.
Midlife Crisis? Or Chance for Change?
Just like a lot of people my age, we’re getting to that dreaded mid-life point. The point we’ve watched our parents generation flounder through so much that it became a common sitcom and movie trope. The mid-life affairs, the sports car, all the rest of the clichés. For those of us in Generation X, we said we’d never be like them.
And the good news is, I don't think we are. But the bad news is, we are still going through this stage and the restlessness that comes with it.
Falling Upward
Franciscan Monk, Richard Rohr, paints the picture clearly in his book, ‘Falling Upward’, when he says that there are two halves of life: During the first stage, you work on building your life and acquiring the pieces you need. Creating a career. Starting a family. Doing your best to achieve stability. And some people never move past this. They stick in the 'acquiring' stage. Sometimes out of necessity, but more often because they were never inspired to want for more.
But then there's people like us who desire more for the second half. If we've built enough stability in the first stage we can move onto something richer, more peaceful, and more real. This doesn't mean you've achieved riches. It simply means you recognize when enough is enough and that more isn't always better.
My husband and I would love to change our path with our new venture, WestCoast Goods. Starting it has been the leap off the diving board into, what we hope will be, our second half. We want to have jobs that are like a tropical vacation. We want to be around the Tiki life and the Midwest surf scene. We want to surround ourselves here, in the state we love, with people seeking that West Coast State of Mind. If we can create a second half of life that lives and thrives in that outlook each and every day, and bring that state of mind to those around us, then that is extremely exciting to us!
You're Not Dead Yet
In the Chicago Tribune, Robert Pagliarini, writes about his experience after reading “The Handbook of Motivation Science”. It in he speaks of this multiple future-selves you have. He also talks about the dreaded self that results if you simply follow the path of least resistance: the one that just floats along thoughtlessly and uninspired until you kick the bucket.
But wait…We can get better because we're not dead yet! We can be those better future-selves by changing our path, doing the things that reflect what we want to be, and that it will, in turn, change who you become.
I see people in my age bracket, all around me, showing glimpses of exciting new ventures.
What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
I’m excited to see Gen X enter the second half because I KNOW it will look different. I see people in my age bracket, all around me, showing glimpses of exciting new ventures. One is a successful Etsy maker already, another is teaching future rock stars, and another mid-life-soul is studying to be a tattoo artist as his second act.
So I ask you, what do you want to be when you grow up? What does that person do? Do some of those things and see what sticks. Sure you might fail. But doesn't that beat the alternative of doing nothing at all?