What Causes a Midlife Crisis?
The causes of a midlife crisis (MLC) are wide and varied. Some are based on small minor things that collate over a period of years and eventually spill over to a full blown crisis, while in others, some major incident or tragedy sets a person off into crisis. Every person is different, and have different experiences applied to them that can trigger a midlife crisis. This article will deal with just three of the most major and common causes of MLC.
The 3 Big Truths
A tragedy or major shock in your life – Someone close to you has died, or you have had a sudden near death experience. Incidents like that can lead to a person to begin questioning their own mortality, which can then lead to depression or MLC type symptoms.
A sudden realization of getting older – A person may look at what they’ve done with their life so far and feel or realize that they haven’t achieved what they had originally set out to do. They can become depressed with the realization that they are half way through life and may seek out different activities that they may never have done before.
The andropause (men) or menopause (women) – Both these physical changes in a person can affect hormones that could offset and perhaps warp a person’s mind in a way that makes them do things they’d never done before. Once again, this can lead to confusion amidst a midlife crisis.
Why is it Important to Identify it?
So, there are just three things that can cause a midlife crisis in people. Of course the first two causes can happen anytime in life, but midlife is becoming a key period in people’s lives, it is even being likened to adolescence, but in a potentially more volatile way. It’s therefore important to identify and try to manage as best as possible any crisis as this.
