YOUR SECOND ACT

How to engage in acts of change instead of a midlife crisis.

Heaton acknowledges that aging and growth are difficult; however, she writes, “there are countless people in the world right now finding drive, purpose, and passionately reinventing themselves in all kinds of beautiful ways.” In the first short essays, the author shares her personal story of growth and the changes she’s made recently as an “ambassador for the Christian aid organization World Vision.” After her tale of transformation, she describes those of others across the country who have felt an inner need to do something different with their lives in middle age and beyond. Some followed their passions while others were forced into change due to external circumstances. Yet each person mustered the strength, oftentimes by relying on a strong Christian faith, to overcome obstacles and achieve success, however they defined it. Liz Smothers created a lucrative pie-making company; Lisa Johnson, a night-shift nurse and single mother of four, began a lucrative medical staffing company. An injury altered the path of Ta’u Pupu’a from that of a football player to an opera singer. Yudi Bennett is helping autistic people find work in the film industry. Regardless of the direction each person has taken, the stories are motivational and offer glimpses into the possibilities open to anyone willing to put in the work to find a new direction in life. Heaton follows each story with a Q&A with each interviewee, a summary of key ideas—“Patty’s Points”—to take away from each lesson, and a few reflection questions and space for readers to write down their reactions and thoughts. The book is very much in the traditional self-help vein and so will appeal to readers of the genre, but each narrative offers a compressed vision of hope and accomplishment that many will find appealing.

A series of encouraging narratives of reinvention.