Article March 2, 1998 Issue

The myth of midlife crisis

A new view of midlife can prevent it from being a crisis.

By Norman Gary Bleichman

The Bible Tells us that Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. Do you suppose he had a midlife crisis when he turned 500?

Society seems to have a label and an accompanying scenario for every stage of life, a chronology of stereotypes to which all human beings are expected to conform. During the past century, the Sentinel has alerted readers to the false assumptions and limitations associated with, among other ages, the terrible twos, troubled teens, generation Xers, and senior citizens.

But there's another span of life that's also the subject of caricature—midlife. Men and women entering their forties or fifties are supposed to be vulnerable to a midlife crisis. It's often characterized by a restlessness that takes the form of a wild or unconventional pursuit or a desire to return to one's youth. It may even surface in the indulgence of an immoral whim "before it's too late"—though one wonders if it is ever too early to adopt a moral lifestyle.

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