but when people ask you how you are doing, you answer, “I’m not unhappy.” Hearing yourself, you discover that not unhappy is becoming increasingly unacceptable.

Or, maybe you’ve come to the point where your children are getting more independent, and you realize that having them and raising them to this point was an athletic endeavor in itself. At forty-five, you have lost touch with your inner jock. After all the years of being a patient, giving parent, it’s time to hop on a bicycle, be aggressive, and get your grrr back.

Is there something you’ve always wanted to do but never dreamed it was possible? Compete in an Ironman? Open a bakery? Write a book? Surf? Climb mountains? Volunteer at an animal rescue shelter? Launch a foundation? Be a hospice volunteer?

Do friends tell you, “Wow, you’re really funny; you should be a stand-up comic,” or “You’re awesome at fundraising”? But, you’ve never fully come to realize what those skills could mean  —  to yourself and to the world. Maybe it’s time to think like an elite athlete, or at least start testing yourself in a singles tennis league. Or a hang a shingle over your door and start baking pies for business. Take a comedy writing class at Second City. Bake a tray of lasagna for the local soup kitchen. Raise your hand to plan the 5K fund-raiser for your local cancer society.

Are you starting to question, What’s it all about? Your 9-to-5 is stale, seems meaningless in the larger scheme of things, and you don’t want to keel over at your desk one day and call it a life. Do you find yourself pondering the deeper