every 7 seconds — with evolving expectations that can sometimes be a struggle to meet.

Baby boomers are living longer, healthier lives that can require greater financial resources to sustain. How to support themselves while making sure they are living the kind of life they truly want to live is an important consideration for middle-aged adults.

That’s often where Waxman steps in as life coach, helping a client through a process of self discovery so that they step back before making that leap forward.

For more about Waxman’s work and her ideas on better managing life, listen to the podcast here.

Hitting age 50 means different things to different people.

For some, maybe those with children who have left home or others who have grown tired of their jobs, it’s a period of questioning: What’s working in my life and what isn’t? Am I doing what I really want to do? Does my life have genuine meaning and purpose?

Barbara Hessekiel-Waxman ’84 helps people find the answers to those puzzles.

A certified life coach and author of the 2007 book How to Love Your Retirement, Waxman holds two master’s degrees: one in gerontology and one in public administration. She founded The Odyssey Group in 2005 to coach people who are in what she calls “midlife and better.”

She talks about the role of a life coach and offers advice to those looking to take better control of their lives in the latest episode of Colgate Conversations, a series of podcast interviews with members of the Colgate community.

Waxman says that the one constant in anyone’s life is change, and that it is important to allow change to happen.

“We’d like our life to be a straight line and think that it will get better and better. But if you think about your real life line, it’s bumpy. Life is a bumpy ride,” she said, adding that that anticipating and preparing for that kind of ride is important.

Waxman’s work as a life coach has been discussed in California magazines, MSN Money, and Newsday. With clients in California and as far away as Argentina, she works with people in person or on the phone, and leads retreats in the Bay area.
She said coaching has gained a lot of exposure partly because the baby boomer generation is such a large group — a baby boomer turns 60