Midlife Mastery Journal

So, the clock strikes twelve, your dreams of success at the ball (or in your job or career or marriage) melt away farther with every ring of the bell, and, before you know it, you’re back in the scullery where you came from.

The truth is that nobody’s forcing you to do anything. The things you do (or don’t do) are all of your own volition. You either want to do something or don’t want to do something, and that’s the end of it.

Once I accepted the fact (years ago) that my vision would change over time, I also came to accept the fact that I needed help with it. I accepted the corrective lenses and the necessity for regular check ups. The same should be said for midlife.

If security is only an illusion, then what’s the point? The answer that eluded Gertrude Stein and all those who, like Isaiah, resist “the finality of the Lord’s judgment” rests in a very simple (non-intoxicating) attitude adjustment. The answer lies simply in acceptance — neither grudging nor simpering — just acceptance.

I suspect — alright: I believe — that the infamous midlife crisis is a product of our particularly western culture. I also believe that the closer one’s culture comes to the North American version, the more severe the midlife crisis is apt to be for the male (if not for the female) of our species.