What is mid-life crisis and why is it happening to you?

One morning, you stood in front of the mirror and wonder, “What’s next?”

You’re on the edge of early adulthood, entering a new stage of life called midlife. 

A lot of people associate midlife with the midlife crisis, but is it really a crisis? The truth is, it’s not, according to experts. And there’s a reason why it’s happening to you — at the midlife stage.

What is Midlife Crisis?

Despite the word “crisis”, being in this stage is not necessarily a bad thing. Midlife crisis is a stage in life where huge events occur during your 35 – 65s that triggered you to deeply contemplate about your life.

In psychology, the midlife crisis is actually part of the adult development stage. Daniel Levinson, a psychologist of the University of Yale, says the midlife transition makes people more compassionate, reflective, less negatively affected by internal and external demands and love themselves and others more. 

Why Are You Experiencing Midlife Crisis?

During midlife, you’ve most likely checked all the boxes: buying a house, owning a car, get married, have two kids, earn a stable income, etc. When all the boxes are checked, you wonder, what’s next?

You’re unsure what else you need to do. Perhaps you’re wondering what is it that you actually want to do?

Another reason is:

You’re at the stage where everything is stable. You’re in the safest zone compared to 5 – 10 years ago. Yes, you may struggle in terms of finances, relationships, or health, but you’re not in life-and-death situations.

A safe zone sounds like a good thing, but on the contrary, it’s making you feel bored, unfulfilled, and sometimes useless. This could lead to 2 different paths. 

Either you grow out of it and become stronger, happier.

Or you become depressed and get trapped in the never-ending depression spiral. This is why the ‘crisis’ word comes in.

In Short

A midlife crisis is an inaccurate term. It is actually a midlife transition that everyone goes through, and whether or not the person grows out of it depends on the person’s mental and emotional strength and support from others. 

Growing out of midlife crisis doesn’t have to be scary or make drastic changes to your life. By understanding yourself — what you actually want, what motivates you, what makes you happy, what thrills you, what burns you out — and slowly transition to do the things that excite you will end midlife crisis.