Fading Green, Unveiling Gold: How Midlife Reveals Your True Colors
True colours coming through…
Autumn has always been a season of transformation. The magic of it isn't in adding something new, though. It’s in the profound act of letting go and revealing a beauty that was always there.
A maple tree in August is nothing but a riot of green. It's the color of summer, the color of peak production, powered by the mighty molecule, chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the star of the show, working tirelessly to convert sunlight into energy. Its vibrant green pigment dominates all others.
But as the days shorten and the sun’s strength begins to fade, the tree senses the shift. The relentless, high-energy work of summer slows, then comes to a stop.
And that's when the true revelation occurs.
Unveiling the Hidden Hues
Once the green curtain falls away, the pigments that have been present in the leaves all along, quietly working behind the scenes or waiting dormant, finally step into the light:
💛 Xanthophylls: The radiant yellows.
🧡 Carotenoids: The deep oranges and golds (the same pigments that color carrots and pumpkins).
❤️ Anthocyanins: The breathtaking reds and purples, often manufactured after the chlorophyll is gone, triggered by the remaining sunlight and sugars trapped in the leaf.
What’s amazing is that the leaf isn't acquiring new colors; it is simply letting its dominant, working-identity color fade away so that the other ones hidden within can finally be seen.
The Midlife Parallel
This stunning seasonal change offers a profound metaphor for what happens to many of us at midlife.
For years—perhaps decades—we identify ourselves by our primary "chlorophyll": a career, a job title, a role, or an outward identity that required intense, high-energy production. We become defined by our output and the demands of our working life. This identity is powerful, necessary, and vital for that season of our lives.
But then, for whatever reason, the light begins to fade.
The old identity, the "green" of peak production, starts to feel worn out, spent, and unsustainable. The drive that powered us begins to slow down. We might experience burnout, a sudden loss of passion, or a deep questioning of "Is this all there is?"
This can be a moment of deep discomfort, even panic. The tendency is to frantically try to ramp up the "chlorophyll" again—to chase a new, equally demanding, external identity to replace the old one.
The Power of Patience and Trust
The lesson of the autumn leaf is to resist the panic and trust the season of fading.
If we remain patient and allow the old work-identity to truly decline—if we trust the process of deceleration—we create the space for our own hidden pigments to emerge.
The xanthophylls and carotenoids that emerge in our midlife autumn are the parts of ourselves that have always been present but were overshadowed by the demands of our main production:
The long-ignored passion for painting.
The deep satisfaction of community service.
The quiet joy of deep, intellectual study.
The true gift for mentoring rather than managing.
The unexpected pull towards a completely different field.
These are the inherent, true colors of your character and spirit. They are not fabricated; they are revealed.
Midlife is not an ending; it is a vital, necessary shedding that precedes a rebirth. By letting the green of a spent identity dissipate, we allow the rich, beautiful spectrum of our whole self to finally emerge. This radical act of letting go is what will usher in your next colorful chapter.
Embrace your midlife autumn. Allow your true colors to shine through.