The Midlife Crisis: What Is It And How To Deal With It?
When we enter our thirties, some people are not able to deal with the changes that this entry into the third decade of life entails. More responsibilities, longer and more complicated hours, more demanding jobs…
Of course, finishing your twenties is a substantial change While during the second decade of life we are required to do little more than study and begin to enter the labor market, when we turn 30 we are asked to settle down in a stable job, and even the arrival of babies and mortgages to our lives. routine.
Being a very widespread problem, the truth is that Many people find themselves confused and with excess responsibility and stress when they turn thirty What tips and strategies can we recommend from Psychology so that they can get ahead quickly?
In today’s article we are going to explain what the mid-life crisis is and several tips with which to alleviate this emotional burden.
1. Demystifies the pressure to have a birthday
The midlife crisis has a deep-rooted cultural component Certainly, age is just a number, but society insists on making us carry certain backpacks (responsibilities, chores, demands) and, in the case of women, even the dreaded biological clock. This implies that culturally they feel increasing pressure to have offspring.
The effects of this way of conceiving age as a way of accumulating social pressures of all kinds is highly dysfunctional. We must relativize the fact of having a birthday and take into account that what society mostly understands as positive or “in accordance” with a certain age range does not have to be positive or beneficial for our lives.
2. Assume responsibilities
The older we get,the more tendency we have to want to own more assets, to have a better job, a bigger and better furnished house …Be careful with all this. Getting older has to mean taking on certain responsibilities, but we should not fall into the trap of becoming anxious and stressed.
We live in a society that values material goods and each person’s social position above all else. The fact that you are 30 years old or older and have not yet been able to find your place in the world implies absolutely nothing. In fact, many people who have succeeded in life have had disappointments and moments of anguish, until they have finally managed to find what made them happy (which is not always linked to material things…). Thus, we have to assume responsibilities, but being aware that the clock is in our favor; It never has to be a source of stress or frustration.
3. Living alone is not a drama
In the crisis of the 30s, a cultural cliché comes into play: it is the one that says that women should have children (before they “run out of rice”). This myth can disturb many women who find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Maybe they don’t want to have children, but society is constantly reminding them that they are already at an age where they can’t delay much longer.
In this case it is also necessary to promote our understanding that there are alternative ways of life that can fit perfectly with the personality of some individuals. Or is it that we cannot be happy if we do not live as a couple or if we do not have children?
4. Be grateful for everything that life has given you so far
We return to a social and cultural factor that tries to harm us once we enter our thirties. This mercantilist society makes us feel strong self-esteem only if we have achieved above-average economic well-being. And in reality, Most people who live happily spend their (little) money traveling, having unique experiences, visiting new places, enjoying the little things of every day etc.
We must, every day, congratulate ourselves and be grateful for who we are, for our past achievements and for everything we have been able to experience to date. The material benefits will come, we have our whole lives ahead of us and we should not feel bad if we have not achieved great milestones in this regard.
5. Assume the grieving processes
Thirty is an age when, generally, We will have some important loss within our circle of family or friends Our parents are already close to old age, and it is likely that we have already left the bubble of adolescent and post-adolescent well-being to immerse ourselves in a life with really hard moments.
This process of adapting to a routine with ups and downs can lead to some psychological problems. It is important here to highlight the valuable quality of resilience, which is that force that makes us recover even when things do not go as we wanted. Taking on grief when we lose a loved one or have a romantic breakup is another of those aspects that will make us emerge stronger during the mid-30s crisis.
