It’s a stereotype tied to a label, and an incredibly effective one. It makes my skin crawl when I hear the word, because I know the reality to be so different.
When you Google “Mid-Life Crisis," any of the 125 million sites say it’s about facing your mortality, and while that’s not exactly correct, it’s not far off.
It’s about taking a look at your life, evaluating where you thought you were going, where you actually are, and re-evaluating where you want to be (which is usually not where you thought you wanted to be).
It’s not a crisis, it’s introspection.
Introspection leads to self-awareness which leads to what a mid-life crisis should be called: a mid-life correction.
Looking in from the outside, without the benefit of the other’s self-evaluation and introspection, behaviors can appear to be extreme. The extremeness is directly related to how far afield their life has gone and what is required to move it rapidly toward their new goal.
This may not always appear to be rational at first, but it is part of the journey. Sometimes it’s painful, sometimes it’s fun, sometimes frightening, but it’s always healthy compared to the alternative of regretting your past and loathing your future.
It takes great courage to look at yourself, see where you’ve gone astray, make new decisions, and actually do something about it to make that much needed mid-life correction.
For some it means a change of companions, careers, hopes, dreams, and goals. For some it means a new Corvette. For some it means a new camera case.
In the end, it’s part of the journey of self-exploration, self-discovery, and fulfillment.
Nothing could be more exciting than that.
Or I could be wrong...