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New York Times Bestseller * USA Today Bestseller * Los Angeles Times Bestseller * Publishers Weekly BestsellerThe instant New York Times bestseller from the author of Reviving Ophelia–a guide to wisdom, authenticity, and bliss for women as they age.Women growing older contend with ageism, misogyny, and loss. Yet as Mary Pipher shows, most older women are deeply happy and filled with gratitude for the gifts of life. Their struggles help them grow into the authentic, empathetic, and wise people they have always wanted to be.In Women Rowing North, Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face. “If we can keep our wits about us, think clearly, and manage our emotions skillfully,” Pipher writes, “we will experience a joyous time of our lives. If we have planned carefully and packed properly, if we have good maps and guides, the journey can be transcendent.”From the Introduction:Quote:Women Rowing North is about the specific issues women face as we transition from middle age to old age. The core concern of this life stage, with all of its perils and pleasures, is how to cultivate resilient responses to the challenges we face. Resilience is built by attention and intention. We can take responsibility for our attitudes and focus on our strengths and our joys. We can go deep and face truth squarely. We can learn the skills that allow us to adapt to anything. Yes, anything.With each new stage of life, we outgrow the strategies that worked for us at an earlier stage. We find ourselves in an environment that pelts us with more challenges than our current self can manage. If we don’t grow bigger, we can become bitter. When our problems become too big for us, our healthiest response is to expand our capacities. That growth is qualitative. We become deeper, kinder to ourselves and others, and more capable of bliss.Attitude is not everything, but it is almost everything. In fact, in many situations, it is all we have. Especially as we age, we can see clearly that we do not always have control, but we do have choices. That is our power. These choices determine whether we stagnate or grow into fully realized people.Of course, the world is not divided into two types of women: those who grow and those who don’t. All of us fit into both groups almost every day of our lives. Some of the time, we are good copers and resilient human beings; in other moments, we are reactive and pessimistic. Pain, sorrow, and anger will always be with us. But with will, intentionality, and the right set of skills, we can be happier over the long haul.There are some lucky people who seem to be naturally sunny, but for many of us, happiness doesn’t come easily. My knowledge about happiness comes from being someone who has struggled with sadness and anxiety much of my life.I know how to take care of others and to be good, but it has been a lifelong journey to learn to take care of myself. I am from a family tree whose fruits include psychosis, depression, alcoholism, and suicide. As a girl I suffered a great deal of parental absence and I became the overly responsible, hypervigilant big sister. Once I told a friend I was theoretically happy and she laughed. She said, “You can’t be theoretically happy any more than you can be theoretically orgasmic.”ContentsCoverDedicationBy the Same Author Title Page Contents IntroductionI. Challenges of the JourneyII. Travel SkillsIII. The People on the BoatIV. The Northern Lights Acknowledgments IndexA Note on the Author CopyrightHardcover: 272 pagesPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing; 1 edition (January 15, 2019)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1632869608ISBN-13: 978-1632869609ASIN: B07FLDP872Source: http://www.amazon.com/Women-Rowing-North-Navigating-Flourish…