Do you ever feel that you are sometimes losing your identity? Perhaps you often find yourself questioning your existence or recognizing your age?
Maybe you feel as though you have not accomplished everything you wanted to and fear it is too late? Do you think you are currently coping with a midlife crisis?
This can be quite common for middle-aged individuals to experience and is not something to be ashamed of. This is often known as a ‘midlife crisis’ and is typically experienced by 45-64-year-olds.
I am going to be discussing the signs that may tell you that you are having a midlife crisis and also how you can cope with this. Firstly, let’s talk about what a midlife crisis actually is…
A ‘midlife crisis’ can occur when someone feels that they are transitioning from a younger person to an older adult. This normally happens between the mid-’40s and mid-’60s.
A midlife crisis has been described as a psychological crisis, where the said person starts to recognize that they are getting older. They may reflect on both their own accomplishments and their future.
Those who go through this phase of their life can sometimes feel regret, depression, anger, or resentment and often wish that they could be younger again.
It is quite common for an individual to reflect on what they have and haven’t achieved in their life, as they recognize that they are getting older.
Now that you know what a midlife crisis is, you may feel that you could be going through it yourself, or know someone who is.
I am going to talk about 7 signs that could indicate you are having a midlife crisis.
If you find yourself constantly asking yourself questions about your existence, whether you have achieved your goals, or just how you’ve lived your life so far, this could be a sign that you are going through a midlife crisis.
When you are having a midlife crisis, you may find that you are often reflecting on what you have and haven’t achieved in life.
You may feel that you have not accomplished everything you wanted to, or realize that you followed your parent’s dreams that they had for you, rather than your own.
This may seem like quite a negative thing to be thinking about, but research has shown that individuals who asked themselves these questions and found that they hadn’t achieved everything they wanted, often found the passion and motivation to face their challenges.
It’s quite normal for us, as humans, to fear death and worry about our health. As we get older, we can start to fear this more and worry about our health.
If you find that you are often panicking about your health and often think that you are not well, it could be a sign that you are going through a midlife crisis.
It’s natural that as we get older we worry about our health, and want to stay healthy and fit.
So, there is no surprise that this can often be magnetized when someone is going through a midlife crisis.
If you find that you are always worrying about your health and the future, or going to the doctors more frequently at a small hint of illness, it could be that you are facing a midlife crisis.
Although, it’s worth mentioning that this is quite normal, and wanting to stay healthy can also really benefit you.
As we get older, we often reach a peak of our success. This could be in terms of our career, goals, or other versions of success.
As humans, we are often driven by success, whether it’s a job or not, so it’s no surprise that we can find ourselves worrying more about this as we get older.
You may find that you are comparing yourself to others, including their own achievements and goals.
This could be family, friends, or even work colleagues and could range from accomplishments like money, home, cars, work, etc.
It’s very easy to compare yourself to others and feel disappointed if others have achieved more than you have, in your eyes.
Try and focus on the positives and look at what you can achieve, and still can accomplish in the future.
Related article: How To Stay Focused On Your Goals Whilst Focusing On Positivity
No matter how much or little you earn, you may find that you begin to question the career path you took and whether it’s too late to change.
As you approach middle age, you are likely to have worked for most of your life, and this can sometimes seem ‘boring’ and be a continuous routine.
In a midlife crisis, you might find that you want to change career paths completely as you feel that you have not accomplished what you wanted to accomplish in life.
You could also just feel disheartened that you have not chosen the right career path. You might fear it’s too late to change.
This can be quite a common fear with those who are middle-aged, as they can reflect more on their career and goals, which can make people change their job to follow their own dreams if they feel that they have not already done that.
It’s not always bad to become more aware of your fitness or appearance, but when you begin to obsess over it, it could become a problem.
As you get older, you may become more aware of your appearance changing (wrinkles, gaining weight, etc), which might trigger you to start changing things.
It’s not a bad thing to try and stay fit and healthy as long as you don’t begin to obsess over it.
We often strive for youth and perfection, but this is not always possible and growing older is a part of life.
So, it’s always good to try and accept it, whilst staying healthy and fit.
You may feel that you are experiencing different behaviors that you are used to, maybe even erratic behavior.
It’s quite common that as you get older, you could feel that you have not got a lot to lose in your life.
This could then cause you to change the way that you live, or develop unexpected behavioral changes, such as staying out late or drinking a lot more alcohol.
This could be because you want to relive your youth and can be a common occurrence for middle-aged people who are experiencing a midlife crisis.
It can be a common occurrence that you feel bored or unmotivated as you get older.
This could be because you feel that the future is not exciting, and you don’t have the passion to try and do new things anymore.
Sometimes, the pressures of work or family can be quite stressful, which causes you to feel stuck in your same daily routine. If you feel like this, you could be experiencing a midlife crisis.
Try and do something new and exciting to get you motivated, maybe something you like to do such as cooking or sports.
If you can go out and try new things, it can really help you to make your life a bit more exciting and have things to look forward to.
It can be hard to cope when you are having a midlife crisis and you may not know what you should do.
Overall, a midlife crisis, or even a quarter-life crisis is not a bad thing and it can become easier to cope with, the most important thing to have during this time is support from others, so it may be worth you talking to your loved ones about what you are going through.