Do You Believe in a Midlife Crisis?
by Audrey van Petegem
mid·life cri·sis
noun
1. an emotional crisis of identity and self-confidence that can occur in early middle age.
So, do you believe in Midlife Crisis? I do. It can sneak up on you when you least expect it. It can happen when there is a change in your life like a move, a divorce, becoming an empty nester or even retirement. You get the idea. It is a time in our life where we say, ‘Now what?’
It is not only the fear of not knowing where we are going but the fear of not knowing who we are anymore. As women we tend to identify ourselves as a mother, wife or quite possibly a career woman and when these things are no longer there we wonder who we really are. When we no longer need to worry about anyone or anything else we really have little choice but to bring the attention back to us. We may one day look in the mirror and for the first time really seeing what is being reflected back at us and not liking it.
Author, Mary Buchan, knows the feeling well. She has reinvented herself and as this baby boomer worked through her midlife crisis she shared her experience in her new book, Over iT.
As she so poignantly states, “I let the past define me and the future intimidate me.”
To work past her uncertainties and regain a sense of self she came to be the person (woman) she waited all her life to be.
It was not an easy path and she knew that by sharing her experience and how she worked (yes worked) through her crisis she could, potentially help other women.
Mary talks about our ‘power box‘. This is not unlike the electrical power box that every home has. It is the central nervous system that keeps the house running properly. If a breaker switch shuts down, so does the power in the house. As she states, “Your heart’s power box represents the big dream or personal mission statement that should govern your life.” The problem is that women don’t even realize that we have one. We let everyone else govern our power. And as Mary points out, “If we don’t define us someone else will”. At some point (midlife crisis) our circuit breakers shut down and we are, literally, lost.
The book teaches you to (re)discover who you are so you can stand on your own using your power box.
Each chapter has pointers/questions on how to overcome your fears, remove obstacles and connect with your true self. As women we always seem to strive for perfectionism but it is important to know that no one is perfect so why, at this stage in our life, do we tend to dwell on being one now?
Throughout the book Mary gives wonderful, powerful quotes that can be one’s new mantra. She also shares some excellent books as resources.
The hardest part of change is that first step and all the baby steps thereafter until you are at a place when you can start make big strides. Personally, the best first step to make would be to buy this book. You can buy is on Amazon or on Mary’s website. As a Registered Nurse Mary has helped people overcome crisis due to illness, depression and other health issues. As an Midlifestyle RNventor, Mary can help Midlife Women who feel stuck discover and align with their life’s purpose so they can thrive, inspire others, and make the rest of their life the best of their life!
Check out Mary’s book Over iT on Amazon or her website: marybuchan.com
About the author: Audrey van Petegem is an independent blogger whose work is published on a variety of online magazines and blogs, including the Huffington Post, Elephant Journal, BlogHer, Yahoo, GenerationFabulous and Midlife Blvd. She is proud to be a baby boomer and would be the first to tell you the good, the bad and the ugly about this stage in life. Follow her on Twitter: @audreyvp
