In her five previous best-selling books, Maria Shriver has drawn on her own life experiences and the questions of her four children to address concerns like how to talk to kids about Alzheimer’s disease and how to face life’s challenges with courage and conviction. In her newest book, “Just Who Will You Be?” (Hyperion, hardcover), Shriver, 52, addresses one of life’s fundamental questions: “What do I believe and who do I want to be?”

Shriver's career as an award-winning journalist, took a surprising change when her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California and she had to leave her job at NBC. ‘Just like that my career was gone,” Shriver said, “and with it went the person I’d been for 25 years.” She went into a tailspin of doubt, questioning the direction her life should take.

When her nephew asked her to give the graduation speech at his high school, she looked hard at her own situation and at how to deal with life’s transitions. These topics became the subject of her speech -- and ultimately of this new book. Part poem, part hard-earned advice, the speech wound up changing her own life and resonated not just with the young adults, but the adults too. She urged her audience to ask themselves not what they want to be when they grow up, but who they want to be and who they will become.

Shriver writes that these questions are important throughout life -- not just when you are starting out. The book is a concrete reminder that we are all a work-in-progress. Change and failure are essential to living a rich life. She urges readers to shake off other people’s expectations and, above all, to listen to your own voice.

“Just Who Will You Be?” is available at local bookstores, or online at hyperion.com and amazon.com.

Claire Yezbak Fadden is the Associate Editor of LifeAfter50.com.