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When most people hear the word “midlife,” they likely associate it with the word “crisis,” either knowingly or subconsciously. Some say that midlife crisis is a myth, while others believe wholeheartedly that it’s real, it’s horrible and that every person going through midlife will experience it.
I happen to fall somewhere in the middle. While midlife crisis is a real thing, that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone will experience a crisis. Yes, we can giggle at the jabs that society takes at midlifers and our destined crises – men buying red sports cars, wearing lots of gold chains and trading in the hideous comb over for an equally bad toupee, and women getting oodles of plastic surgery, dating younger men and giving her entire wardrobe an overhaul – but not everyone slams into crisis mode just because they’ve hit ‘that age.’
On this episode, I’m exploring the roots of the phrase, “midlife crisis,” how it’s become standard lingo in our society and how you can tell if you’re living midlife without the crisis.
Show Highlights
[0:54] — History of the phrase “midlife crisis.”
[3:24] — Gail Sheehy further popularizes the phrase “midlife crisis” in her book, “Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life.”
[4:23] — Society has taken to heart the notion of crisis being a part of midlife.
[5:02] — A study shows that only 10-20% of Americans have a true midlife crisis.
[5:51] — The definition of crisis.
[6:30] — Words synonymous with crisis.
[7:18] — Does every bad episode in midlife have to equate to a crisis?
[9:10] — We can’t seem to separate “midlife” from “crisis.”
[10:44] — Change is a part of life and difficulties can arise at any stage in life.
[12:05] — Midlife doesn’t have to be defined by crisis.
[13:12] — Ten things to help you recognize when you’re living midlife without crisis.
[17:11] — Show closing.
“Midlife-A-Go-Go the podcast!” is hosted by Valerie Albarda
Show Resources:
Gail Sheehy’s book: “Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life”
“Midlife in the United States” website: http://www.midus.wisc.edu/
The 1995/1996 MIDUS Study: http://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/3.pdf
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Music Credits:
“My Street” by Lee Rosevere Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)
“Basic Implosion” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com); Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
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