Mid life can be a time for reflection and reassessment.   But it does not need to necessarily become a period of crisis, if you can understand what it entails and be prepared to face and address your mid-life.

Mid Life need not be a crisis.  If you are faced with one, you could convert it into an opportunity to reinvent yourself. To rediscover the joys that you enjoyed earlier that you have forgotten to or haven’t had the time to. This could be a time when you start finding a new meaning or purpose for your life.  This could be the opportunity to push yourself beyond your comfort zone.  And for people who have been running all the time, to stop, look back, reassess, re-energize and move forward.

Many people can deal with the mid life and crisis if any, gradually if they can realize that it is a transition time, take stock of their life progress and make relevant adjustments as needed.

How to deal with your mid-life crisis

• Channelize your energies into productive activities of interest to you. This could be towards social work that may give you a sense of purpose.
• You may get this strong instinct to help others and take up activities to help others in difficult life situations. But it is also very important that you also support yourself and be kind to yourself in the process.
• Go ahead and do what you need to do to look good and get back in shape.  But be aware that your beauty or worth comes from the inner you.
• Pursue some activity that is focused on fun but is harmless. This could be a childhood hobby you couldn’t pursue, some sport that you always wanted to play or a creative activity that you wanted to learn but couldn’t.
• You can look for adventure and new experiences, in such a way that is in line with your life style and your values.
• Keep a positive mind. Focus on all that you have accomplished and make it a habit to count your blessings and things that you have now.
• Talk to someone and discuss your feelings.  This could be your family or friends who are trust worthy and empathetic to you. Ensure that, when you share your feelings, it is done in a way that doesn’t damage the relationship.

But for many this may be more complicated and emotionally draining experience. If you get stressed out, if you have other significant parallel issues going on, it is good to get help from a professional counselor or a therapist. This would help you deal with your life situations and the mid life crisis, to be kind to yourself and to others.

If you would like to meet with a professional counsellor, call us at +91 96321 46316 or write to us at counselor@innerdawn.in

We provide professional and confidential counselling services at different locations in Bangalore – Jayanagar, Koramangala, Cox Town, Marathahalli, Mahadevpura.

The post Dealing with Mid-life Crisis first appeared on Inner Dawn Counselling.

The concept of midlife is changing every decade.  Some decades back, 50 and above would be mid life.  The last couple of decades, midlife was above 40.  As of now, we call 30s as early mid life and late 30 as the beginning of mid-life.

Mid life is that uncomfortable time when you may start questioning your life choices, regarding your career; life partner; family and friends; and perhaps everything.

It’s a time when you don’t feel secure about the present, may feel regret when you think of the past and feel apprehensive when you think of the future.

Midlife crisis may be about significant emotional impact due to varied events or situations that happen. When some of these happen concurrently, a crisis may get precipitated. This could be hitting a road block in your career, a job loss or change, financial crisis, death of a parent or a loved one, divorce, children becoming fairly independent, sudden illness, near death experience etc.

Mid life crisis can be a period of self-doubt and self esteem issues may come up.  Different parts of your life may get affected.

Work life :  This could be a time when you may feel overwhelmed, feel a loss of purpose or identity.  After achieving a good growth in your career during early years, now your career growth at your profession may stagnate and if you are someone who gets a lot of validation from your work, you can feel unimportant, feel that your work doesn’t make any difference or that you are not being recognized or rewarded for your work. A Job change or a job loss may also make you question your sense of worth.

You may feel regret at lost opportunities or unfulfilled potential, question the decisions made earlier in life and the validity of those decisions.

Personal life : You may feel anger towards your life partner and may resent many things that you liked earlier. You may feel that the relationship has kept you from achieving your potential in other areas.

Your sex life may hit a low and you could possibly feel attracted to someone outside and crave for an intense intimate relationship.

For home makers, this is the time when children become more independent. This could make you kind of feel redundant questioning the value of yourself and an overall feeling of lack of direction.

Body Image : Mid life could bring about doubts about yourself.  It could make you feel a sense of loss of youth and beauty and strength.  Wrinkles may creep in, your waist line may increase, greys appear or increase, physical exertions could leave you panting for breathe.

You may end up questioning your own value and worth on account of this. This also may lead you to avoid doing things that interests you or that you used to have fun doing.

Mid-life need not become a crisis. But if it does, seek support for yourself.  Talking to a counsellor / therapist, who is supportive and accepting can help deal with your situation in a more effective manner.

Read more on how to deal with Midlife Crisis in our next post , Dealing with Mid-life Crisis.

If you would like to meet with a professional counsellor call us at +91 96321 46316 or write to us at counselor@innerdawn.in

We provide professional and confidential counselling services at different locations in Bangalore – Jayanagar, Koramangala, Cox Town, Marathahalli, Mahadevpura.

The post What is Mid-Life Crisis? first appeared on Inner Dawn Counselling.