The Midlife Blues: How to Shake Yourself Back to Life
5 ideas for a personal wake-up call
“Wake me up,” my client said.
“I’m sleep walking through my life.”
He was 45, chained to his legal career by a walloping mortgage and an ex who lived nearby and shared custody of their three kids.
“We’re talking Groundhog Day,” he said. “I know lots of people have it worse but I’m bored. I’m running on automatic and I can’t see it changing.
“What I want to know is….Is this it?”
Is this all there is?
Is this all there is? is an increasingly common call from the benches of middle age.
The precise age varies, so do the stories, but it’s the point at which many of us become aware that life is finite. That the clock is ticking. That they have limitations. That their earlier choices have laid down the course for the rest of their life.
This is fine if things are going well. But, frequently, people have hit a flat patch professionally and their relationship — if it’s still intact — has lost its glow. Maybe they’re successful, but they’re bored.
This is a common time for people to book in for therapy but they’ll come to the first session a little bewildered —…
