YOUniversity with Chip Conley

Learning to Love Midlife: Why Life Gets Better with Age

The midlife crisis is the butt of so many jokes, but this long-derided life stage has an upside. What if we could reframe our thinking about the natural transition of midlife not as a crisis, but as a chrysalis—a time when something profound awakens in us, as we shed our skin, spread our wings, and pollinate our wisdom to the world?
In Learning to Love Midlife, Chip Conley offers an alternative narrative to the way we commonly think of our 40s, 50s and 60s. Drawing on the latest social science research, inspiring stories, and timeless wisdom, he reveals many reasons why life gets better with age. They include:

• The relief of “my body doesn’t define me:” We finally grow comfortable in our own skin
• Stepping off the treadmill: We redefine what a successful life looks like
• The “Great Midlife Edit:” We let go of our emotional baggage, mindsets, and obligations that no longer serve us
• Growing whole: We begin to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves

No matter where you are in your midlife journey, this perspective shifting guide will inspire you to find joy, purpose and success in the years that lie ahead—and how those years can be your best ones yet.

BONUS: All attendees will receive a copy of Chip’s latest book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age (a $25 value)!

More About Chip Conley

Chip Conley is on a mission. After disrupting the hospitality industry twice, first as the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second-largest operator of boutique hotels in the U.S., and then as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, leading a worldwide revolution in travel, Conley co-founded MEA (Modern Elder Academy) in January 2018.

Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a ‘modern elder’ at Airbnb, where his guidance was instrumental to the company’s extraordinary transformation from a fast-growing start-up to the world’s most valuable hospitality brand, MEA is the world’s first ‘midlife wisdom school.’

Dedicated to reframing the concept of aging, MEA supports students to navigate midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.

A New York Times bestselling author, Conley’s 7th book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age, is about rebranding midlife to help people understand the upside of this often-misunderstood life stage, and he was asked to give a 2023 TED talk on the “midlife chrysalis.”