Here:
The mid-life crisis is a cliché: balding, paunchy man in red sports car, frantically trying to convince himself that women still find him attractive. Implicit in the word “crisis” is a sudden change. You wake up some day in your forties to realize that you are no longer young. The resulting angst—it’s all straight downhill to death from here—nudges people to do crazy things.
The truth is more complex, writes Jonathan Rauch in his new book, The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50. Across cultures and demographics, people’s life satisfaction declines in their forties. It is rarely a crisis, though; it’s more of a malaise. But then a funny thing happens around age 50. Mood bottoms out and begins to climb. Indeed, people in their sixties and seventies report themselves as being far happier than they ever imagined they’d be.
This has been my experience almost exactly. My mid-life 'crisis' -- the going term but not particularly happy, pun intended -- began when I was 41 and was in full flood for five years. But then at age 49 I entered into the happiest period of my life, a period still going strong as I approach 68 and a half.
Related: A Philosopher on the Midlife Crisis, wherein I cite an excellent essay by Kieran Setiya and tell my story.
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