Ruchi Verma What is a Midlife crisis? It is something we hear the most but what it is exactly we need to understand. Growing up or Aging is a beautiful process but the transition from one phase to another always brings up challenges. Just like there are so many challenges faced by a tween entering their teenage, the transition phase between 35 years to 55 years is termed a Midlife Crisis (MLC).
What is MidLife Crisis?
According to Wikipedia, they define it as “The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person’s growing age, inevitable mortality, and possibly lack of accomplishments in life.”
To elaborate more not everyone experiences MLC. Let me explain more simply when we are born our vision and dreams are small and restricted to a certain point. As we grow with age, we realize that our vision is a little bigger and add more dreams to our life baggage.
We grow and the life baggage of dreams grows with our dreams and dreams of our loved ones which we somehow start feeling our dreams and our responsibility. A midlife crisis happens when we enter a phase where we realize our half-life is over and yet to accomplish and complete more jobs.
It certainly helps many to feel more youthful as they struggle to complete the goals they have planned for themselves and their loved ones.
You can also read about Andropause
What are the Symptoms?
When we talk about the causes of MLC or its symptoms, we first need to understand that –
- It varies from person to person.
- It is different for both genders.
The age bracket is 35years to 55 years and if we consider common midlife symptoms, both in men and women would be as listed:
- Impulsive behaviour
- Dramatic change in appearance and behaviour
- The feeling of unfulfillment in life
- Rash actions
- Feeling of rejection
- Comparing oneself with other who seems happier in life.
- Changes in sleep habits, either insomnia or sleeping too much
- Changes in appetite
- Aches and pains without an identifiable cause, including muscle pain, digestive problems, and headaches
- No interest in social gathering
- Feelings of guilt and worthlessness
How to determine the difference between symptoms in men and women?
If we talk about symptoms of midlife crisis in men, the irritability and anger are higher in them, erectile dysfunction and sadness whereas in women the symptoms of midlife crisis include tearfulness, uncontrollable emotions, and because of menopause, it is a little more complex.
The situation is worse when both menopause and midlife crises are happening together. We misunderstood between MLC and Depression, let me try to bring out the difference between them.
Is Midlife Crisis is same as depression?
There are a few similarities between midlife crisis and depression both mean that a person is having negative thoughts. Check out the basic 3 differences between them
| DEPRESSION | MIDLIFE CRISIS | |
| Depression is not linked to the particular age of any person’s life. | Happens with people aged between 35 to 55 | |
| Can happen with anyone regardless of their age and their satisfaction in life and career. | The external situations aggravate it. | |
| It has nothing to do with goal-directed behavior | MLC happens to achieve a certain goal in life. |
How to Handle Midlife Crisis?
Coping with MLC is difficult but with simple things, we can easily do this:
- Talk to someone: Communication is the key and a person going through MLC often feels lonely. You should find someone to whom you can open up and trust.
- Take no hasty decisions: Remember, one decision taken at the wrong time in a hurry can spoil all. The bigger is your decision, it needs more thought and discussion with loved ones.
- Bring out creativity: You need to bring out your creative side, something that makes you feel good and a stress buster, that creative side will help you to unwind and get to know yourself more.
- Go out: Just go out with the people you love to spend time with and talk with like-minded people. Reconnect with your old good friends.
- Take off from social media: Social media nowadays is the biggest source of depression and feeling low. Take days off from such toxic things which gives you pressure.
- Gratitude: Daily write 3 things you are thankful for early in the morning. Trust me it will bring happiness and positive change in life.
FINAL THOUGHTS: “Don’t make the midlife crisis a crisis, but convert it as a chance to change and make a difference in your life.”
© Ruchie Verma.
Disclaimer: This blog post is meant to be educational in nature and does not replace the advice of a medical professional.
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MLC is not much talked about. We often term it as day-to-day or routine challenges.The symptoms that you have mentioned seem so usual that it is tough for anyone to differentiate between MLC and anxiety or depressions.
First I really liked your theme for blogchatter project. midlife crisis is a common problem that affects many women but sadly it is rarely discussed in society. it is great that you are spreading awareness about it with this series. communication and using creative ways can help a lot to deal with this situation positively.
MidLife crisis is a reality. I guess the pressures of social media have only served to aggravate it. It however needs to be managed with a positive outlook and adapting to the rapid changes in the external environment. Your post delves deep into this subject and comes up with some invaluable suggestions.
Midlife crisis is very common these days. The important thing is to know the symptoms and work on them. This post should be shared with everyone
It will help many people
I like the pointers where u have explained the difference between mid-life crises and depression. And thanks for sharing tips on how to handle it.
Six years ago, I thought I had hit my midlife crisis. Luckily, I took control and got my life back on track with some help from family. I don’t want to take that route again, ever!
There are so many angles to MLC, it is not as we casually treat it. You have rightly pointed a few reasons and how it could lead to some bigger issues if not handled well in time and right way. You have done a great job in corroborating this post.
I remember when I was young, my friends and I always made fun of MLC. But now I know that it is surely real and it can impact people in different ways. This is a very good post with so much information about MLC. Writing a gratitude journal helps in many ways I think and people tend to appreciate things more.
Thanks for writing this article. This will surely be helpful for many in the age group of 35-55 years. Though similarities between mid-life crisis and depression are there but glad that you have shared means by which one can feel better when stuck in this situation.
Such an important topic my dear, I have come across many women in my academy battling this phase all they needed some support and tight guidance
The symptoms that you have mentioned seem so usual that it is tough for anyone to differentiate between MLC and anxiety or depressions. Great thoughts.
I’m not in that age group yet but it sounds scary to ne. Glad that you have written how to identify and deal with it. Will share with my older cousins.
I used to think that I would.never have midlife crisis but no as the years go by I could feel the insecurity seeping in slowly