Midlife Brought Me Regret, Reflection, and Reinvention

I told my wife I'd live at least til I'm 88. I'm almost halfway there.

Photo by the author: Preparing for a morning run.

I watched some videos the other day and saw something that said, "You know you're going through a midlife crisis when you start training for a marathon."

I laughed because I ran a marathon last year — the first and only time. I didn't know it then, but I used marathon training to cope with the beginnings of a midlife crisis.

The decisions I made in life

They say that a midlife crisis could be triggered by life-changing events, such as the loss of a loved one, divorce, a medical diagnosis, or job loss.

For me, it's the realization that my career has not turned out how I wanted it to. I was about to turn 42, still working at an entry-level job, and my freelance career was failing.

As a registered medical technologist, I had several options. I could attend medical school or work in a laboratory or a hospital. I could look for jobs in other countries in the Middle East, Europe, or North America and experience different cultures.

So what did I choose?

After one year, I left the profession to look for a job in a field I enjoyed because I didn't…