What Does A Positive Midlife Transformation Feel Like?
Big changes are hard to describe in words alone. Feelings and images are often the emotional and mental shortcut to understanding these complex experiences. Our guests have offered up their explanations, in their own words.
My experience of Second Harvest was externalizing a typically internal or solitary experience. Instead of writing a poem, I was engaged in a poetry slam. Or instead of cooking a meal by myself in the kitchen, I was joined by a group of famished friends and we each brought our own effort and ideas and supported each other in creating a shared meal. - Keith Hopper
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If I could answer with a feeling instead of words, I’d say it felt like exhaling after holding my breath for a long time. (I actually didn’t even know I was holding my breath). Second Harvest creates a container of openness, spaciousness, a place where you can take your mask off. I know we’d all like to believe we don’t wear masks, but we do. I think society has conditioned us to do that, sometimes we’re not even aware. The people showed up with open hearts, genuine curiosity, and a willingness to know themselves deeply. I also think the specific people that show up in these cohorts is divinely guided in someway- souls ready to meet and connect. I felt seen without being judged, challenged without being pushed, and supported without being rescued. It reminded me what it feels like to be fully human in the company of others who are committed to growing, healing, and living more authentically. - Mary Grace Levin
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For me, Second Harvest is about Community and Connection — you have this group of strangers who may not have otherwise crossed paths all come together (community) and share their stories and experiences with each other (connection). While we all come from different backgrounds, locations, experiences, there was room for everyone and in truth, in getting to know one another over 4/5 dedicated days helped me realize that we aren’t all that different from one another. I think the most beautiful part is what I am experiencing now post-SH. I have this group of amazing people who accepted me as I am that I know I can reach out to (and vice versa). Good people find good people. - Mallory Pagano
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For me…Second Harvest is a time out…from what trying to figure out shit…and being responsible to so many. The space that is created gives you a chance to take a deep breath and listen…to your inner knowing…and to others who are also going through similar things. It’s a perspective shift…it’s fun, engaging, thought provoking, it’s like coming home…to my authentic self. 💜💜 - Sandy Alemian
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This is the picture of sunlight coming through the forest canopy is what SH means to me. There was this feeling that is hard to describe while I was laying on the forest ground, in silence, with light raindrops falling on my face, wearing our plastic rain jackets. Though I was surrounded by everyone, we all stood still in our space… able to breathe, able to feel the strength of the ground and nature around us, able to reconnect with the purpose I knew was there all along. I just needed the simple space to rediscover it. This has become my screen saver on my computer. Presence and purpose.- Natalie Fernadez
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Everyone has put this so nicely and eloquently and the one that resonates closest to what I was feeling is Mary's interpretation. There were many things I didn't know I needed to deal with. I went in thinking I had it figured out and I really wasn't even at the starting point. Being in a place full of people that were there to truly listen and also give with no expectations and no judgment was such a fresh breath of air. I felt that the air was being sucked out of me coming into it, but really when we began talking I realized I had been suffocating for a long time. Processing what was really going on and just being in a place where it's you, your thoughts And tools to really start opening up threads as possible ways to move forward. Professionally, personally, and with family. And truly recognize and what matters and changing the patterns. - Nehal Patel
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If I had to describe Second Harvest with an image or feeling, I’d say it’s like finally setting down a backpack you’ve been carrying for years without realizing how heavy it had become. It’s an environment where, for maybe the first time in a long time, you give yourself permission to not be in control. You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be the strongest person in the room or keep up the version of yourself you think everyone expects. It’s a place where it’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to be vulnerable. It’s okay to take off the mask and just be yourself.
Ironically, it’s only when you stop trying to be someone else that you begin to discover who you really are. That’s what Second Harvest feels like to me. - Michael Rehak
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My experience can best be described as unconditional love. It felt like stepping into a bubble where I was completely accepted—free to explore both the world around me and the world within me. In that space of trust, curiosity, and connection — creativity emerged — making room for reflection and the possibility of becoming something new. I left feeling more grounded, more open, and deeply grateful for the freedom to simply be. - Stephanie Stamatos
