Now Is the Best Time to Be a Midlife Contrarian

What’s considered “normal” in midlife nowadays is highly problematic and being a Midlife Contrarian may be the most beneficial way forward.

What Most People Consider “Normal” in Midlife Today

We all have the need to fit in. It’s an instinct that helps us survive as individuals and species.

We need to belong to a tribe, a group of people where, as Seth Godin says, “People like us do things like this!” Today, people belong to many different tribes and each of these tribes has their rules, behaviors and habits.

These rules, behaviours, and habits are what we consider to be the norm.

Here are some of the things that what we have come to consider normal in midlife:

• Gaining weight
• Lacking energy and drive
• Not being mindful of our eating habits
• Not moving and not exercising enough
• Being unhealthy, with an early or advanced stage of a disease
• Accepting that we enter the last chapter of our working life
• Inability to start a new career or endeavour
• Not being able to learn something new
• Having to get ready for retirement
• Losing our sex appeal
• Lowered or non existent libido

How normal is this “normal” to you?

Could Today’s “Normal” Be A Source of “Midlife Crisis” Myth?

Is our modern lifestyle and our current “normal”, with the established habits and beliefs, supporting us to thrive in midlife?

Could it be that those physiological (health issues) and social (limiting beliefs) limitations are unnatural?

Thankfully, recent research in many areas, either proves or strongly indicates that these limitations either do not exist or we can overcome them with the right approach.

On top of the scientific evidence, some of us instinctively feel that there is much more ahead of us and that we can still achieve great things and reach higher levels of satisfaction and happiness.

We find ourselves with two seemingly contradictory options:

• Don’t rock the boat, and follow the tribe’s norms
• Break free from the tribe and follow your path

Neither option is easy and without cost.

In the first case, you suppress your needs and wants (with the negative impact on your wellbeing and general life satisfaction that comes with it). In the latter, you might be labelled as going through a midlife crisis.

Quite often, we initially go with the first option, until we have enough. Then we abruptly switch to the second, possibly in a rebellious manner. In this scenario, we will most certainly be perceived as going through a major midlife crisis.

But, does it have to be one or the other?

Why not both?

Be a Midlife Contrarian and Debunk the “Midlife Crisis” Myth

As per Wikipedia, “a contrarian is a person that takes up a contrary position, especially a position that is opposed to that of the majority.”

A Midlife Contrarian does not have to be a rebel and saying no to every popular belief or practice.

However, the Midlife Contrarian is someone who constructively challenges some popular beliefs, especially the ones that have been proven unhealthy or non-beneficial. He is the one that discusses today’s challenges in midlife openly and puts forward creative ways to move ahead.

The Midlife Contrarian does not dismiss the past and the positive things that brought us “here” (today’s midlife). He inspires us to find the ways that will bring us “there” (“there” being the place where we deeply understand today’s stage of life we call midlife, free of labels like “Midlife Crisis”).

Dare to be a Midlife Contrarian, for you and for all of us.

Soon we will be enough to create a new “normal” for midlife and move away from myths like the “Midlife Crisis.”