I'm having a midlife crisis (at 35) - ask me anything!

[Pale Blue Dot]

Go ahead, or post your own midlife crisis stories.

[Maple]

1. You can't be having a midlife crisis

35 is not midlife....not even close.

You may have other concerns...but midlife ain't one of them.

[Ivory_Tower]

2. You're ahead of schedule

I figure I haven't really grown up yet even though I'm in my early forties, so I won't have a mid-life crisis for another decade or so.

Either that or my whole life has been a mid-life crisis. :)

[catzies]

3. Mine's just getting started too! I'm 41, and an empty nester already too.

Had one, and I'm done. She's in college and I just may spend her inheritance on a condo in Boca Raton and a cabana boy named Raul who brings me mojitos.

Oh, and drive a black Saleen Mustang. The "Official Car of the Midlife Crisis."

But instead I drive a paid-off Honda and make a mortgage payment in California, and go to work every day. But I live to subvert the dominant paradigm, that's why I'm an evil DUer :evilgrin:

What's happening in your MLC?

[Pale Blue Dot]

8. My son is eight, and he's the best.

Right now I am living my life for him. That is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. However, as a liberal parent, I realize that in time his successes will be his and his alone; I have not yet done much that I can be proud of MYSELF for.

I've made a lot of compromises in my life, mostly out of laziness or fear. I'm in a job I hate, but that pays pretty well. To leave it now might mean a big cut in pay, which would effect my family and their future.

I can't afford the car, but that wouldn't be my thing. I want to run off and become a rock star or a movie director....

[catzies]

13. When my daughter was 8, I was 25. Simple math. Had no real peers!

I raised her mostly by myself and was always the youngest PTA mom, Girl Scout cookie mom, and always the only single one.

Her teens were rough but that's behind us now, she's amazing and I finally get to live by myself for the first time ever in my whole life. I worked hard to deserve whatever mid-life crisis I decide to have. Bring it on.

Is anyone here named Raul and wants to retire to Florida with a rich middle-aged woman? Ever see Bette Davis in "Now, Voyager?" Do you like gladiator movies?

[Pale Blue Dot]

15. Answers:

1) I'm not named Raul

2) Never seen "Now, Voyager"

3) Don't particularly like gladiator movies.

But happy hunting! You sound like a really cool Mom!

[Armstead]

4. I had one at 30

Realized the real nature of time and mortality one morning when I projected back ten years to age 20 and it didn't seem like ten years....Then realize that the same amount of time forward and I'd be (gasp) 40. Freaked out with the sudden realization that life really is short.

So I guess I got it out of the way early.

Now that I'm 50, age 40 seems like young. And only yesterday. But I don't feel too different at 50 than at 30, except a little more beat up and a little more cynical.

I guess it all depends on one's perspective.

[Maple]

6. Coming face to face with your mortality

happens long before 30.

It's called a 'turning 30 crisis' Not midlife.

And it only happens to boomers.

[Armstead]

10. Only happens to boomers?

What we invented the time span?

Or is Gen X too AWARE to be caught by the sudden gut level awareness of the fleetness of time?

[catzies]

17. I look at mine as the first time in my adult life I can be selfish.

I've been a parent since I was 17, and my daughter still lived at home this time last year. Sacrifice was a constant given many times too, as I had yet to make decent money and I rarely went out and never once hired a sitter ever. But now, sometimes being selfish when I want to be is a very new experience, but I'm not going overboard, I swear.

[Pale Blue Dot]

12. I had one at 30, too.

I guess I'm just really not happy with how I made my life turn out. 30 was worse, though. I did things to hurt my family then. Now it's just all internal.

[Kenneth ken]

5. How

does one know when they are having a mid-life crisis, as opposed to just another life crisis?

If you're 35, does that mean you know you'll live to 70?

[Maple]

7. Latest fad

Everythings a midlife crisis these days.

Before you know it, people will be having them at 12. LOL

[Pale Blue Dot]

11. Scary, isn't it?

Actually, the genes on my father's side indicate that I could live well into my nineties. But on my mother's side.... :scared:

[jus_the_facts]

9. Hey Man....don't get me started....don't EVEN get me started......

.....wassa matter you?! :pals:

[Pale Blue Dot]

14. Nothing that winning the Powerball tonight wouldn't solve

I know, I know, money never solves problems. But I'd be able to start over again. I could do exactly what I want.

It makes me feel bad to even complain, because things could be A LOT worse. But they could have been a lot better, too.

Thanks for the hug, though. Right back at you. :loveya:

[jus_the_facts]

16. Hey now.....hey now.......

:loveya:

Don't Dream It's Over......

There is freedom within
there is freedom without
Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup
There's a battle ahead
many battles are lost
But you'll never see the end of the road
While you're traveling with me


Hey now, hey now
Don't dream it's over
Hey now, hey now
When the world comes in
They come, they come
To build a wall between us
We know they won't win

Now I'm towing my car
there's a hole in the roof
my possessions are causing me suspicion but there's no proof
in the paper today
tales of war and of waste
but you turn right over to the T.V. page


Hey now, hey now
Don't dream it's over
Hey now, hey now
When the world comes in
They come, they come
To build a wall between us
We know they won't win

Now I'm walking again
to the beat of a drum
And I'm counting the steps to the door of your heart
Only shadows ahead
barely clearing the roof
Get to know the feeling of liberation and release

Hey now, Hey now
Don't dream it's over
Hey now, Hey now
When the world comes in
They come, they come
To build a wall between us
You know they won’t win

Don’t let them win
Hey now, Hey now

Hey now, Hey now

Hey now, Hey now
Don’t let them win

They come, They come
Don’t let them win

Hey now, Hey now (yeah)

Hey now, Hey now

:pals:

[populistmom]

18. Having one now at 31, but not a bad one...

I think every so often in our lives, we stop and have to reevaluate things. I really don't want to get too personal here about what's going on with my stuff on a public forum, but sometimes opening our eyes can be a good thing. It least it helps you to see some of the changes that need to be made in your life.

Sarah

[Pale Blue Dot]

19. I'm excellent at seeing what needs to change in my life

Always have been. I'm very poor at actually changing then. Hence, the crisis. :-(

[populistmom]

22. Think what you have to do

...and take it one small step at a time. I remind myself that I can do nothing and a year from now or 5 years from now, everything will be the same, or I can tackle one thing at a time slowly and eventually get what I want. Nothing's easy, you just have to take a first step and take it one day at a time.

Sarah :)

[GregW]

20. I had mine last year

Threw everything away ...
- House of 10 years
- Girlfriend of six years
- Kids (moved to another state)
- The area I lived for the past sixteen years

I moved to a new job in Oregon and started my life again. Now I am dating a beautiful mother of two boys and have not been this happy for years.

[Pale Blue Dot]

21. Congrats.

Unfortunatly, your choices don't apply to me, because my problems are mostly internal. As Paula Cole said, "It's me who is the enemy".

[mykpart]

23. If you think this is bad

just wait til menopause!

[On the Road]

24. All I Can Say Is:

I dreaded turning 40. Then when the day came, I felt reborn. The worled did not come to an end. I didn't keel over and die. I thought "Hey, this isn't so bad".

I wear my age proudly now as a badge of courage. I hit the big five-o in March.