What Is a Midlife Crisis Really?
Probably not what you think.
Whenever anyone mentions a “midlife crisis,” all I picture is a balding white dude who buys a convertible or gets a divorce to date younger women.
I know it’s a stereotype, but I never really put much thought into it.
That’s the mainstream understanding of a midlife crisis, right?
Not exactly.
Well, not really at all.
The thing is, we’re all human. Inside, I mostly still feel like I have the same abilities as when I was 25. So do all the other almost 40-year-olds I know.
Despite definitive proof that I’ve aged, my brain almost can’t comprehend that I’m not exactly the same as 15 years ago. I don’t FEEL older, you know?
I think that’s why elderly people are so loathe to stop driving or use a walker — in their heads, they still feel fully capable of driving, walking, and remembering stuff. It’s their body that betrays them.
Much like heart attack symptoms or ADHD presentation in women, what the general public understands about a midlife crisis is an overgeneralized man’s response.
