The Mid-Life Crisis

A midlife crisis is caused by people in their mid ages who become extremely bored with their same routine that they do every day. It can cause people to undergo radical changes to them and the people around them. A midlife crisis can be avoided by constantly going outside your usual routine and trying something

Individuals who are not fully satisfied or fulfilled with life could experience a midlife crisis during their 40s or 50s. “Confronting mortality can happen at any time, but for most, it occurs when something triggers life’s limitations. Sometimes physical signs of aging set it off (graying hair, wrinkles, loss of libido) and other times it’s more psychological (loss of a loved one, the empty nest).” Additionally, “Suicide rates are highest among adults between 45 and 64 at 19.6 percent” according to Mental Health America. Paley explains the condition of the man’s life, she writes, the man “had finished high school, married a good friend, was in a responsible job, and going to night school” (Paley). Perhaps he was not truly satisfied in his life, according to Dr. Vivian Diller “Those who feel gratified by lives well spent tend to feel less conflicted as they look back, and then forward” (Diller).

The area of greatest disagreement was the area of midlife crisis. “Levinson (1978) views midlife as a crisis, arguing that the middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life’s continuity (Santrock, 2013 p. 512). This is particularly interesting because the female responded that she was experiencing a midlife crisis and the male did not. However, in this instance, the female is still in the workforce and the male is retired. The experiences that the female related closely resemble the conditions of the male during the time of Levinson’s study. In addition to still working, the female had recently changed her place of employment, and within the past five years lost both of her parents. While the male was retired and took care of the house and children, his stress level had been reduced as he became the primary care giver to this in-laws and their passing reduced his overall daily responsibilities. Both maintain close relationships with their siblings and frequently get together with them.

Middle-aged adults experience change in many different areas of their life at this time, they will find that not only their health is changing, but their appearance, their family, their thinking, and their emotions are changes as well. When discussing people that fall into the middle adulthood age of life, the term “midlife crisis” is often used, but according to an article titled Middle Adulthood Developmental Psychology, “most people during middle adulthood are satisfied and pleased with their lives”, ("Physical Changes," 2008-2013, expression 1). This article also states that the age range for middle adulthood is approximately age thirty-five to sixty-four. Midlife crisis is a when an individual views themselves and are unhappy with

Erikson's says that individuals go through a “crisis”, which is where the term “midlife crisis” comes from, but there is no extra disturbance within the stage compared to others in his theory. Generally, women and men in midlife reported having positive personality characteristics and successful aging

     During this time, there may be turmoil in the family, marital distress, and general dissatisfaction with our lives. Many people during this time go through what we call the "mid-life crisis". A mid-life crisis may be caused by many different issues. During the early 30’s, the woman’s primary duty is child rearing and may also be pursuing a career. Most men focus on

Although mid-life crisis can be triggered by difference experience, it can also be triggered by external factors. Those who have a difficult time transitioning into mid-life and suffer from a mid-life crisis is due to external factors ("Development in midlife," 2004). The transition can be more difficult because the person may be experiencing stress in their or they may have childhood issues that was never dealt with before that have come to the surface during the transition ("Development in midlife," 2004). Some examples of external factors that can make transition into mid-life difficult are debt because most people are living above their means and accumulated credit card debt ("Development in midlife," 2004). This can be problematic for someone in their middle age because they are in debt and facing retirement which causes more stress to an already stressful time. In this particular situation, someone who isn’t suffering form a mid-life crisis would seek help for their debt issue and consolidate their loans

Late adulthood is a time many people tend to suppress in their minds. Late adulthood is often considered a time of physical and mental decline, but in reality for many older adults it is a time of mental and spiritual growth. During late adulthood, people tend to start reflecting on their lives and what is really important. During younger ages, people tend to focus on things that may not matter in the future, and spend time worrying about things that are unimportant. Through interviewing older adults, younger people can learn several important life lessons and begin to appreciate the things that really matter in life.

Aging is a normal process that everyone will journey through in a life time. A journey that produces change and experience that will cause a person to go through transitions. Transitioning can be a difficult process to adapt to if lacking support and resources. Retirement is a transition that many people will experience. Retirement does not affect everyone the same way. Some people are happy to retire and some people are unhappy about retirement. The retirement age for Americans is 65 years old. This age group is part of the late adulthood and is known as seniors or older adults. In late adulthood, people can transition through three different stages. According to Ashford & LeCroy (2012), “The sub-period for late adulthood are young-old, middle-old,

I watched another man having a mid-life crisis, pull out of the Novak car dealership across the street in a silver convertible. My uncle ran that dealership. I scanned my dad’s car lot; the cars were much older with red numbers written on the windshields, and they were Hondas rather than BMWs. Dad was having an intense phone call in the dimly lit back office. From where I sat at the desk, I could hear snippets of the conversation that filtered through the gap through the door.

Mid-life crisis explain as a extremity in a middle ages, in people’s lives. Where middle ages may face a disappearance of identity and reduce their self-confidence. Midlife crisis has been known around the world for many years but has not always been believed by everyone because not everyone face it. Mid-life crisis is more of a normal change period that generally happen the time of a major life event that emphasizes getting older. A midlife crisis is something more person dependent rather than something everyone experiences. People go through many different experiences in their lives that happen at different time periods in their lives. Some experiences may seem worse than others and can make people feel like they will never be equal to anyone. On the other side, Some people may not experience any type of crisis during their middle age years. As we grow older we begin to put people aside and focus on new experiences in our lives such as having a career or having children. I accept that midlife crises do exist, but I am sure not everyone believe the same because some people might not happen .

Not everyone even acknowledges that midlife crisis is an actual event that takes place in life. Midlife crisis has been extremely blown up in our American society by hollywood, literature, and even medical institutions. (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2010, p. 53-54) Countless movies, books, articles, and courses about midlife crisis have been made and in most cases mislead the average person. I know to a certain extent that I have been mislead about midlife crisis. Although I am a young adult I have at times worried if my parents were going to experience such an event and what the severity of it may be. At this point however they have not done anything irrational and have stayed the same. They have by no means experienced a stereotypical mid life crisis. Which I believe now is what most people experience. They don’t so much experience a crisis but rather just become more reflective. I think our American society has created the crisis for middle age people more than

The stage that follows early adulthood is known as middle adulthood where people are generally caught between being productive and being stagnant. This stage reflects the need to create a living legacy: they would either need to feel they have become an important figure for the next generation to follow or they would develop a sense of purposelessness which is generally known as a “mid-life crisis”. This crisis can be solved by having the adults care and nurture children or help the fore-coming generation in other ways or means, however if the crisis remains the person would persist in random non-age-appropriate behavior as well as a continued feeling in stagnation. During this stage adults lose some of their physical aspects as their muscular strength, ability and agility weakens. Women will go through a menopausal

Some of the tasks that have to be dealt with in this phase, by both men and women include accepting one’s own mortality, physical limitations, and health risks. Along with this comes many stereotype for example a man is said go out and buy a fast sports car, or motorcycle. Maybe get a younger girlfriend or go on vacations. For the women she likes to shop and go on cruises to fill her time. Maybe she wants that younger boyfriend all are your typical stereotype, but how true are they? Researchers say that the myths are indeed facts, but depending on cultures will determine if it is looked upon as a “crisis” or not. Yes there has been a significant occurrence in this person’s life, but researchers say that this person may finally be embracing life knowing that there is limited time

It is, however, very common and seen by people who can recognize others make drastic changes. It is common to see a man buy a sports car or a woman go on a shopping spree to improve their looks. For whatever reason, adults who undergo such a change do so in ways that are concerning. Counseling could help, but some are not fond of telling their feelings to a random person, so they rather help themselves in the ways they know they can. The midlife crisis is common and can happen at anytime. Happiness in all aspects needs to be fulfilled to prevent radical changes. The midlife crisis is about fulfilling the unfulfilled and turning back the clock – by any