About Marcia Smalley

I never used to think of myself as creative. Artists are creative, and artists paint. I can’t even draw. Read More

The Heroine’s (or Hero’s) Journey is a recognizable framework. It’s been used in myths and stories throughout the ages and studied by scholars like Joseph Campbell. In a nutshell, a regular person leading an ordinary life unexpectedly…
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Life is short. Take the trip. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake. (Anonymous)

The older I get, the harder it is to argue with this advice. Knee deep into my sixth decade, I’ve gathered a few more pearls of wisdom along the way. These lessons are helping me blaze an easier trail through my journey of aging. Read More

I remember being disappointed when I turned 50. I felt like Oprah had let me down. I wasn’t coming into my own body the way all the magazines said I would, the way I was ‘supposed’ to. Read More

The road I live on isn’t paved. It stretches for a mile – a dusty avenue wide enough for two vehicles, and treacherous after a heavy rain.

I knew this a dozen years ago when we found our property, which ultimately became our home, at the end of this road. But I never loved the drive in. My aging compact car rumbled fiercely every foot of the way; forget ever staying clean. Read More

Back in February, I didn’t realize the timeliness of the article I wrote about resilience and the lessons we learn that help us bounce back from difficult days. Here we are now, in a crisis bigger than any of us imagined a month ago…
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Do you ever wonder how you’ve made it this far with everything life’s thrown at you. You might credit your staying power to luck or to chance. You might thank divine intervention. Maybe all of the above…

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Retirement takes a lot of us by surprise. After traveling a couple of years down the path of my own retirement – and having many conversations with other women – I’m more convinced than ever that retirement holds a lot of unknowns…
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As the calendar page turns, many of us are once again making resolutions. We’re clarifying our intentions for the year ahead. We’re contemplating our dreams. Read More

Life can feel like a litany of lessons learned. I bet I could fill a library with my lessons. A lot of what I’ve had to learn came wrapped in suffering, fear, uncertainty…
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