Welcome to 2025! I cherish this time of year because, after years on this planet, it’s become written in my DNA—while September feels like a fresh start after years of  schooling, January offers a unique chance to reflect on the past, celebrate successes, and gain wisdom from challenges. It’s a moment to recalibrate our personal compass and set a clear path for the journey ahead, making this season one of growth and clarity.

This year, I’m stretching my imagination beyond the immediate horizon. What does vibrant wellbeing look like, not just this year, but in 2035 or even 2050? This isn’t idle daydreaming—it’s strategic visioning for a remarkable opportunity we’ve never had before. This is future-proofing our lives. Why am I called to a longer, more expansive view this year?

Consider this: Modern medicine has gifted us an extraordinary 30 additional years of life expectancy in little more than a century. Yet our roadmap for living these bonus decades remains stuck in the past, failing to capture the purposeful, energized lives we know are possible.

The life map we know has with three predictable junction points:

Beginning: learn, explore who we are, set up for our future.

Middle: Find the ‘one’ partner, raise an ideal family, build the ultimate career.

End: retire, travel, spend time with grandchildren, decline.

That may be our default mindset from the past, but it doesn’t reflect the reality of how we are living today. Our lives don’t fit into that neat and linear map. We are going off-road and experiencing lifequakes that require a change to our routing. We’re on a road but our map is outdated, creating futures without the tools we deserve to help us update the map in real time so as to guide the way. Life isn’t a linear journey—it’s a rich, complex journey that defies such rigid categorization. This outdated roadmap not only misses the mark but actively constrains our potential.

Here’s the revolutionary truth: Of those 30 bonus years, about 20 transform what I call Middlescence—around the ages 45 to 65—into an unprecedented opportunity for growth and reinvention. Whether approaching this phase, immersed in it, or carrying its wisdom forward, you are part of the first generations charting a course for a new narrative.

If roughly 20 of these bonus years have created Middlescence, what of the remaining decade-plus? I call these the Trophy Years™—the culmination of a life well-lived. Designing this expanded journey from Middlescence through our Trophy Years™ is new, good work.Unlike any other achievement, reaching these years with independence, energy, joy, and purpose represents life’s ultimate victory. Imagine yourself not just surviving but thriving during this pinnacle phase.

Over decades of work as a gerontologist and coach, I’ve seen firsthand how individuals long for guidance to navigate this expanded life map. That desire inspired me to create The Longevity Roadmap™—a framework not for chasing perfection or following strict wellness protocols but for living a life as rich in joy as it is in purpose. I’m thrilled to launch this initiative at MEA in March.

The Longevity Roadmap™ workshop will help you identify and focus on what truly matters. It will help you create a sustainable lifestyle that will serve you for decades, filled with the people, causes and experiences you’ll cherish most.


A few spaces remain, I’d love for you to join us. The time has come to honor your past choices while intentionally designing your vibrant future, ensuring that health, purpose, and vitality illuminate every precious year ahead.

Author(s)

  • Barbara Waxman

    Leadership Coach, Gerontologist, Life Stage Expert, Angel Investor

    Barbara Waxman, founder of The Odyssey Group, is a highly sought-after longevity and leadership advocate, advisor, coach, speaker and author. Barbara translates cutting-edge research and collective wisdom in ways that enable others to understand how the dynamics of our aging world impact individuals, communities, companies, and the planet. Barbara's leadership as a gerontologist in the coaching field has culminated in the transformative coaching model Entrepreneurship Turned Inward™️ (ETI), the evidence informed Seven Lifestyle Levers Assessment™️ and the Longevity Roadmap™️.  Barbara is an Advisor to the Stanford Center on Longevity, Stanford Lifestyle Medicine and is a faculty member at Chip Conley's Modern Elder Academy.    Website: https://barbarawaxman.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarawaxman/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbarawaxman/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBarbaraWaxman/