‘Midlife Crisis’ OR, Just a ‘Perspective’?￼

Date: 03 Apr, 2022

So, what is the Midlife Crisis? And at what age does it occur?

Well, I would say that ‘Midlife Crisis’ is nothing but a feeling triggered by an awareness of mortality, or the daily occurring physical changes. It is existential and anything like the loss of a partner or a friend or in some extremely sensitive cases, a single strand of white hair, or a few wrinkles or hair loss can make you feel bad too.

Empty Nest Syndrome

This is also the phase of life where kids have grown up and most of them have left for higher education or for pursuing their career since better options lie in other cities and countries mostly (our city is never enough). Our society is such that we devote all our life to our kids. Our happiness depends on our kids all our lives. Now that they are gone, the house becomes empty and it looks like they took everything with them. Many couples lose the charm of living happily. Thinking and worrying and trying to connect with their kids is all they do now, forgetting that they have each other and they still have a beautiful life to live. A life they can enjoy and spend their time the way they so craved. But now that they finally got a chance, their focus is diverted.

Feeling Stuck

Even if you get through these issues somehow, or learn to live with them, there are many other stressful thoughts that don’t let you relax even for a while. Feelings like, ‘My life is stuck’, ‘I am not going anywhere, ‘what have I achieved in my life?’ or ‘who did I waste my life for?’ ‘I have no time left now, ‘It’s all over and so on, keep occupying the mind all the time, no matter how hard you try to surround yourself with good energies and happy people. And then, there is loneliness, a disease (as I call it), from which not only divorced or widowed people, but married people suffer too. Married people suffer due to non-compatibility and lack of acceptance.

When we talk of acceptance, it is not only about people or circumstances around us, but majorly about the physical changes that age brings with it. There are hardly any people out there who welcome these changes with grace. The rest of the crowd tries to fight it.

Money Making Insecurities

Many companies benefit from their situation. For example, there are creams that claim to remove wrinkles, under-eye puffiness and dark circles, to grow hair on the balding heads, make hair black again, then there are medicines that claim to get you your lost energy back.

Think twice. Where are you investing money? Can these products really do that? Does anything called ‘reverse ageing’ actually exist?

Not trying to disappoint anyone here. I am just trying to bring you face to face with reality. Because all these efforts and denial are going to get you nothing but stress. Yes, it definitely is painful to see the changes it brings in, especially when you have people younger than you around.

The Other Perspective

But one thing is important to understand, that we are still alive. Worrying about lost times, or trying to catch up with what is gone, is going to create only one thing – stress. A problem that is the root cause of every other problem.

Instead, how about welcoming this new phase of life with open arms? We can’t fight life, but we can develop new interests, to accommodate new changes. How about keeping your skin healthy instead of trying to make it wrinkle-free? Healthy skin will glow more, making the wrinkles insignificant.

You don’t like white hair? Fine, even though it is gracefully adorned by the younger generation nowadays (so much so that it has been launched as a fashion colour). How about choosing a nice hair colour, instead of black (since it’s again like chasing the lost times) and giving yourself a glamorous look?

What’s the pressure to lose that belly fat and look young? How about exercising and walking daily to keep yourself healthy? Choose any sort of physical activity you like, be consistent and feel the change.

A happy mind resides in a healthy body. And a healthy body is the one that creates wonders, no matter what your age is.