Being a pathfinder is to be willing to risk failure and still go on.

In my memoir, I admit that I've been as fearful of success as of failure. In fact, when 'Passages' was published, I so dreaded bad reviews that I ran away to Italy with a girlfriend and our children to hide out.

The dream for many millennial women is to make a difference as social or political entrepreneurs. They are using the social media and marketing tools they have mastered to empower less fortunate women and direct them onto career tracks that women have traditionally avoided, like science and technology.

When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking.

The delights of self-discovery are always available.

We really only have two choices. Play it safe, or take a chance. For me, pulling back because of fear has always made me feel worse.

I do think taking the 20s to take the most chances you can is important, because you're not going to hurt anyone else during that time. And if you do have a partner, you need a couple years to rehearse that relationship.

I found that female pathfinders generally integrate characteristics commonly associated with being women - like the capacity to be intimate - with 'male' ones like ambition and courage.

In rough times, pathfinders rely on work, friends, humor and prayer. They develop a support network.