In a weird way, the whole midlife crisis thing just sort of happens randomly, as it can happen right out of the blue the second you start showing some signs of aging. But no, it’s not like any of this happens in a sort of dramatic way either, like buying a motorcycle, looking for a cottage to move to, changing your wardrobe, a new haircut, like, nothing big like that.
Instead, it’s more like looking in the mirror and thinking who is this, and why does this person need more sleep than they used to? Or realizing the body doesn’t bounce back the same way, the patience level is different, the energy is different, and suddenly everything feels like it needs a little more effort than it used to. At this point, you probably get the whole idea here.
But no, you’re not losing it or anything like that, but yes, there’s this weird mix of not feeling like yourself, but you kinda do at the same time. Basically, a new version of you. And so people try to fix that feeling with a big change, be it with a new diet, a new workout plan, a new look, a new hobby, or a new everything. Basically, a full reinvention. But sure, reinvention sounds exciting here, and at the same time, it’s also exhausting.
So instead of reinventing yourself, you could instead just consider making upgrades instead, rather than trying to change who you are (or trying to make this change into your personality train).
Just Start with the Preventive Check-Ins
Well, this is the part people avoid because it’s not fun, and it doesn’t come with a fun before-and-after photo. But midlife is when skipping the basics starts costing more. It’s not fun, sure, but you do need to do the blood pressure checks, cholesterol, basic labs, vision checks, all of that. Actually, hearing checks belong here too, even if that sounds random. In fact, a lot of people don’t realize hearing can shift gradually, so they blame everything else first.
A lot of people don’t even realize this either, but hearing loss by gender is a real thing people talk about, because risk factors and noise exposure patterns aren’t always the same for everyone, so it can help explain why certain changes show up sooner for some people.
No, Health isn’t an “Old Person” Topic
Well, just above preventive care was mentioned, but it should go beyond that too, though, and for whatever reason, there are some things that get this “old person” label to it, like cholesterol, heart health, eyesight, joint pain, blood pressure, and even hearing health too. But yeah, the whole problem here is that during midlife, it’s when a lot of people start doing this mental gymnastics thing where they’re like, “I’m too young for that,” while then dealing with said issues.
Like it or not, but things still happen to your body, even if you are young, you can still get vision changes, during pregnnacy blood pressure can be an issue, and sometime its just stays, eat too much dairy, well, there goes the cholesterol. Besides, the quicker these things are checked, the less scary they feel.
How Bad is the Sleep and Stress?
Well, for the most part here, sleep can get weird, falling asleep is harder, and just staying asleep is harder. Well, that, and waking up at 3 a.m. and thinking about every embarrassing thing ever, is surprisingly common too. It’s not that much different for stress either. Like there’s the work pressure, finances, family stuff, kids, aging parents, relationship stress, the general feeling of carrying too much.
