In the Primes of Life

When you write "morning pages" on The Artist's Way, you never know what you will find yourself writing, and where that thinking will lead you.

The other day, I started writing down a list of prime numbers, up to a hundred. I've always liked playing with numbers and patterns – maybe why I'm a juggler and several of my friends are mathematicians or economists.

I started thinking about what had happened in my life around the ages the prime numbers represent. And guess what? It seemed those years often corresponded to major events/growth periods/beginnings in my life.

I then wrote a list of my significant life events. And guess what? They match, albeit with a few additions around the "4" years – 4, 10, 24, 34. This second list was almost certainly biased by doing the first, I know.

But, regardless, a lot of big changes – some endings and more beginnings corresponded to prime number years. The years which weren't necessarily easy, but which contained trigger events when I changed course. Maybe years which "primed the pump" for changes to come.

Over the past few days I've been thinking about doing a workshop for women who are approaching or have reached what used to be called "retirement age". Contrary to stereotypes, women aged around 50-70 have a lot of creative energy, inspiration, and are ready to enjoy themselves. They are often motivated to make the best of their life, try new things, have fun, and live life to the full. Marti Barletta calls women aged 50-70 them "PrimeTime Women", and points out that, in the US at least, women in this age group are the "the healthiest, wealthiest, most active, educated and engaged generation of women in history".

So I started thinking "when is the prime of your life? Some people would place it in your 20s, when you have a lot of freedom, Some talk about it being your 30s or 40s, when you're still young, but may be reaping the benefits of a career. If it's when you get most attention and are happiest, then being 11 months old has a lot to recommend it. My goddaughter laughs dozens of times a day and seems to find everything in life interesting and fun at the moment!

My conclusions:
- The primes of your life come at least every 6 years. There's always another to look forward to! Life changes occur, and they'll keep on changing but there's no such thing as one prime of your life. The Primes of Life will keep on coming - whether you're 16 or 60.
- A good argument is that the best time of your life is now! It's the only time you can actually get to live in, the only time you can make changes, after all.

Follow ups
*To join me in a Creative Cluster on the Artist's Way e-mail me at rachel@liketothelark.com
*If you're interested in the mathematics of juggling, check out Ben Beever's free e-book on Siteswap notation.
*If you like numbers, or have kids at school checkout the actress Danica McKellar's website. She was a child actress on The Wonder Years, before doing a mathematics degree. When she's not starring on shows like The West Wing, she's encourages girls to enjoy maths, and look at maths and science related careers.]
*For more on the benefits of marketing to "Prime Time Women?" check out Marti Barletta's book and website.