REIGNITE Workshop: Navigating Life Transitions in Middle Adulthood Through Art
Completing a phase in life often leads us to ask “What’s next?”.
This often happens to adults in their midlife, between the ages of 40-65. When major responsibilities begin to settle, children leave home, or retirement approaches, it’s common to experience a sense of emptiness or loss of direction.
Understanding these common concerns and struggles in this stage of life, OURI held a workshop for the Sanur Women Alumni from Santa Ursula ‘85 on Tuesday, 9 September 2025, at Richie Garden Resto & Villa, Sentul. The event, called “REIGNITE: Menghadapi Transisi Hidup Melalui Seni”, was designed to help women in midlife navigate the psychological transition and emotional challenges that often come during this stage – offering them space to explore and rediscover meaning in their life ahead.
During the workshop, our psychologist Ghianina Armand, BSc., MSc., M.Psi., Psikolog and Asaelia Aleeza, B.Sc., M.Sc., M.Psi, Psikolog led a psychoeducation session discussing the developmental stage of middle adulthood from a psychological perspective – as well as self-care tips to manage this phase. They shared how the need to nurture, guide, or contribute to the next generation is one of the main tasks of development during 40-65 years old – which explains why people at this age are often motivated to give advice and mentor their children. However, middle adulthood also often comes with feelings of loneliness or losing purpose. Psychologist Ghianina and Asaelia mentioned that these feelings are valid and it’s common to be experienced especially at this phase of life – but there are steps that can be taken to manage these feelings. Our psychologists helped the participants recognize how social support, self-management skills, and counselling or therapy can be a helpful resource during this stage. That’s why we then invited the participants to engage in a therapeutic art session focusing on creative exploration of their life ahead through art.
Guided by our psychologists, participants engaged in collage making about “My Next Chapter” by exploring and cutting out images, texts, or colors from magazines that they felt can represent the meaning of their life ahead – and combining them into a poster that felt personal and meaningful. In creating their life poster, psychologist Ghianina and Asaelia also gave guided reflective question prompts to help them rediscover parts of themselves that felt foreign, what they’re curious about or what they want to explore next, and what gives them joy and comfort.
The workshop wrapped up with some participants sharing the self-exploration they depicted on their poster – everything they discover and reignite again. At last, we gave participants the time for a deep reflection on the things they learned that day and steps they plan to take on this transition stage of life.
As a final message, we believe that “Midlife is not the end of the story, but the beginning of a new chapter.” – and we hope this message resonates with participants in this workshop.
