Mid-life Crisis

Mid-life Crisis:
Every man goes through a predictable series of physical and psychological changes. It's helpful to view this process as a series of bridges that men have to cross at different stages of life, beginning in youth and going all the way to the senior adult years. All men will cross a bridge in the middle years of life, (somewhere between the ages of 35 to 55), but not all men will experience a crisis because of it. This bridge is positioned halfway through life and becomes a crisis because of several challenging factors.


Why it happens:
Here are some reasons men crash their lives and have such a crisis on the bridge called 'mid-life.'
-Stress and pressure are at peak levels during a man's middle years due to the responsibilities of parenting kids on one side and beginning to care for aging parents on the other.
-He may be making more money than ever before, but it spends faster than ever before too, which creates huge worries or fights about money.
-The massive responsibilities of the middle years can cause men to fantasize about running away from the harsh realities of their live today to swap with another man's life, which they always think will be easier than sorting through their own life.
-We live in a youth oriented culture which places great value on the 'package' outside instead of the 'product' inside. An aging body or balding head is viewed as a weakness by many, so some men focus on looking back to the simplicity of their youth, instead of finding the strength to look ahead past the pressures of today to face the rest of their life with boldness.


How to survive it:
Some guys think about escaping pressure by getting a sports car, others about getting a 'hot babe' to sit next to them in that car and still others chase mental fantasies of one day having enough cash to afford the car or the girl, while knowing that if given the choice between these three options, they would simply take the money. Don't miss the fact that fantasies aren't real and time wasted on chasing a mirage is time and energy that you will never get back.

I recommend that men don't go it alone, stay close to a group of guys they relate to, (through hobbies, sports, religious or charitable activities or through professional networking or development on their job). Take half of your anxiety and pressure can be relieved if you reach out and plug into healthy men who are moving in the same direction you are. Watching them successfully cross that bridge ahead of you will give you the courage to cross when your time comes.

The game isn't over at half-time, but play time is, so many men use these years as a chance to regroup and refocus on what matters most to them. The strength they experience by not chasing mid-life fantasies will give them the power they need to finish the game with strength and power.