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Have you heard of Ghostlighting? It’s like ghosting and gaslighting together. Dr. Bruce Y. Lee and I talk about ghostlighting and what it looks like in personal and work life. Get more from …

Have you heard of Gh…

Have you heard of Ghostlighting? It’s like ghosting and gaslighting together. Dr. Bruce Y. Lee and I talk about ghostlighting and what it looks like in personal and work life. Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

See all of our writing on Psychology Today and Forbes directly on our site We Do Mind! Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

See all of our writi…

See all of our writing on Psychology Today and Forbes directly on our site We Do Mind! Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

This was my personal journey… I was in my early 30s, updating my CV. Another conference presentation. Another line added under “Publications and Presentations.” I should have fel…

This was my personal…

This was my personal journey… I was in my early 30s, updating my CV. Another conference presentation. Another line added under “Publications and Presentations.” I should have felt proud, but instead I felt empty. I remember asking myself, “Did any of this actually matter?” I knew it mattered professionally. Publications and presentations were vitally important to my career. I had co-authored a book, secured several grants, and presented several times a year at conferences. On paper, I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do. But as I added that presenta…

As The Right Side of 40 has grown, I’ve started building out a few spaces and resources for readers who want to go deeper — not just read, but engage more fully with the ideas here. Paid …

As The Right Side of…

As The Right Side of 40 has grown, I’ve started building out a few spaces and resources for readers who want to go deeper — not just read, but engage more fully with the ideas here. Paid subscribers now have access to: Weekly Lives — livestreams with Q&A Monthly deep dives — longer pieces designed to be returned to A growing archive of essays and resources that support this work over time None of this replaces the free writing, which will continue. The goal isn’t to lock insight behind a wall — it’s to make room for depth, dialogue, and work t…

A first-person reckoning between optimism and honesty. The Right Side of 40 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. …

A first-person recko…

A first-person reckoning between optimism and honesty. The Right Side of 40 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. He said it with authority. “Just you wait.” Michael Friedman is 82. I’m in my 50s. We’ve known each other roughly two decades. He was one of the pioneers of geriatric Mental Health advocacy in New York, and I was a researcher and President of the State Society on Aging of New York when we met. My work was all about everything we fear as we age: Depression, frailty, and de…

Key pointsEmpty nest is a real transition, bringing Grief, relief, and identity loss for many parents. Empty-nest syndrome can involve depression, Anxiety, and purposelessness. Identity often become…

Key pointsEmpty nest…

Key pointsEmpty nest is a real transition, bringing grief, relief, and identity loss for many parents. Empty-nest syndrome can involve depression, anxiety, and purposelessness. Identity often becomes fused with the Parenting role. Reclaiming self starts with intentional curiosity about who you want to be now. Imagine that an alarm clock goes off. You pop out of bed, make your coffee, and listen for the sounds of the shower, doors slamming, and “Mom, where’s my __”. There’s nothing. Just quiet. You notice there are no shoes by the door. No backpack on the floor. No r…

Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

Get more from Debora…

Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

This is a wonderful article submitted by a student, Iqrah Malik, who saw more in vision than most of us ever will. I hope you enjoy this article and learn as much as I did from her work. Vision corre…

This is a wonderful …

This is a wonderful article submitted by a student, Iqrah Malik, who saw more in vision than most of us ever will. I hope you enjoy this article and learn as much as I did from her work. Vision correction is not merely a medical intervention; it is a transformative tool that profoundly impacts a person’s well-being. The psychological impact of Health literacy, refracted error, impaired, corrected, and uncorrected vision plays a significant role in everyday life. Vision impairment and uncorrected vision can be correlated with anxiety, depression, and lower self-esteem. Kozákov&aac…

Key pointsMidlife is a time of career strength—but also expanding expertise. People need mentors most just when they are expected to stand alone, dispensing expertise to others. No one outgrow…

Key pointsMidlife is…

Key pointsMidlife is a time of career strength—but also expanding expertise. People need mentors most just when they are expected to stand alone, dispensing expertise to others. No one outgrows the need for guidance, especially in a rapidly changing world. Peer mentoring is an opportunity for gaining skills and meaningful connections. If you were born between 1962 and 1982, middle-age has arrived! You’re done growing up, but you haven’t yet grown old. After decades of checking all the boxes—Education, entry job, and promotions at work—midlifers have quite a bi…

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

Thank you to everyon…

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

Thank you to everyon…

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get more from Deborah Heiser in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app

Key pointsOne act, one person, one day is a simple routine that compounds into Legacy. Impact amnesia is something midlifers often suffer from. Track impact to build a stable identity beyond titles …

Key pointsOne act, o…

Key pointsOne act, one person, one day is a simple routine that compounds into legacy. Impact amnesia is something midlifers often suffer from. Track impact to build a stable identity beyond titles and roles. Impact Source: Miriam Fischer / PexelsDo you suffer from impact amnesia? Many people in midlife and beyond begin to question whether they matter and question whether they’ve done anything meaningful. If …