The column “Everything will be fine” about the midlife crisis: the autumn of life

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Everything looks great from the outside. Through hard work, they built a life for themselves without worrying about supplies or heartbreak. You feel in good hands socially, financially and professionally and are happy to be able to do what you do. You are still a long way from feeling that planting a tulip bulb is arrogance, since it will not bloom until next spring.

But you are not so young anymore. And although you actually consider yourself a natural optimist, there are days when you realize that your future is getting shorter. This prospect leaves you with a stagnant feeling that your life will continue in such a predictable way, with retirement and decline at the end, and your index finger shaking so much that there is not enough of a tear to wipe from your cheek. With an unsettling mixture of emptiness, boredom, fear and sadness, you think about the life you hoped for and the life you actually live. What did you miss!

Luckily, there’s a term to describe your condition: midlife crisis. This shows: you are not alone.

If you’re a man, the stereotype now demands that you smoke your last cigarette, go to the gym, get a gold Rolex and a lover.

If you are a woman, you may be busy firstly dealing with your husband’s crisis and secondly taking care of your children and parents. If you still have time to take care of your own mental well-being, perhaps you can help yourself with Botox or Kiran Sethiya’s philosophical instruction on Midlife Crisis. Reading will free you from nostalgic glorification of youth. You understand that even in your youth, most dreams were born only to die unfulfilled – you just didn’t know which ones yet.

For a moment you are convinced that if you were young again, you would make better decisions today. However, looking back, I realize that it was these bad decisions that made you the person you are, so wise and great.

And if you still can’t come to terms with your situation: The New York Times recently asked millennials what they want. Those who are around 40 today responded that they want only one thing: peace and stability. So that’s exactly what you’re running away from. Everything will be fine.

Looking back on her life, Ursula von Arx loves being with Edith Piaf: she has no regrets, “rien de rien”. At least most of the time. Von Arx writes in Blick every other Monday.

Source: Blick