What are the four phases of creativity as you age?

The four phases of creativity are:

Re-evaluation phase
Liberation phase
Summing-up phase
Encore phase

In the re-evaluation phase, from your 50s on, your creative expression is intensified by a sense of crisis or quest. Although you often hear the term midlife crisis, most adults are searching for ways to make their life and work more gratifying. The re-evaluation stage combines the capacity for insightful reflection with a powerful desire to create meaning in life.

In the liberation phase, typically from a person's 60s to his or her 70s, creative endeavors are charged with personal freedom that comes from within and from retirement or a change from full-time to part-time work. Creative expression at this stage includes translating a feeling of "if not now, when?" into action.

In the summing-up phase, from your 70s, you feel a more urgent desire to find a larger meaning in the story of your life through a process of looking back, summing up and giving back. You also see yourself as a keeper of the culture, and wish to contribute what you have gained in wisdom and wealth. Creative expression in this phase often includes autobiography and storytelling, philanthropy, community activism and volunteerism.

The encore phase, in your 80s or older, reflects the energy of advancing age, in which creative expression is shaped by the desire to make yet further contributions on a personal or community level. Actions include affirming life, taking care of unfinished business and celebrating one's place in family and community.