Why do people often have a ‘mid-life crisis,’ and is it just a fancy way of saying they’ve hit a point where they finally realize they’ve been doing everything wrong?
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*Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain*
*And you are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today*
*And then one day you find ten years have got behind you*
*No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun*
Your youth starts declining at 25. By your 30’s, there will be a lot of things that you just can no longer do. A mid life crisis is realizing that you missed out on those things because you’ll never get to do them now.
It’s the point in life when one realizes they are far enough down the adulthood path to no longer be able to realistically entertain certain key aspirations for oneself. It’s a recognition that one is not as young and full of promise as they used to be.
Sometimes there’s a culmination of not being where you wanted to be career, family, and money wise. And you look older than you used to and can’t physically do everything you used to
So you feel less useful, less certain about the next half of your life, and sometimes that needs comforting and for some people that’s a new car, new wife, new job, or new whatever
It’s like when you’ve opened your last present at Christmas and realize there is no more Christmas so you want to play with all your toys to hide the fact that Christmas is over and not back for another year.
Except there is no next Christmas and instead you die.
I don’t know the reason but I just witnessed by ex boss totally implode over the course of 8 months. Had an affair with an employee, was auditioning to be the CEO of the company (was going to get it), getting divorced, now living in a one bedroom apartment working at a much smaller company at a much lower level.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he is much happier but man did he really leave a lot of carnage on his way out.
You realize the “big thing” you’ve been waiting for that you thought was gonna come along and allow your life to “really begin” is never coming and what you’ve been doing this whole time is all there is. This is life and so much of it is already passed while you were focusing on other things. It’s both terrifying and liberating in the sense that it can be a wake up call to start being more in the moment and appreciating the small things that matter most.
A real mid life crisis is realizing that you have hit an age where certain things are no longer possible/likely. We as people tend to think, I’ll do that when I get older, or there’s still time for _______. But at a certain age you just realize that you are now closer to death than birth and its unlikely you will ever be able to ________.
I was in my early fifties, a widow and my sons were out on their own. I felt lost, didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. My identity as a wife and mother for more than 20 years was gone.
After not too much thought I decided to change up everything about my life. Quit my job, sold everything and ran away to Mexico to become an English teacher. My sons were very supportive.
I’ve been here for 10 years and have absolutely no regrets.
I like to reframe this as a spiritual awakening. Despite the name, it truly is a crisis that you can experience several times in your life but often happens around 25 and 40. Hopefully you come out stronger and with a redirected life purpose ❤️
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