Mastering the midlife moment

GREED MAY HAVE BEEN GOOD ONCE: NOW THESE GENXERS OFFER TIPS ON WAYS TO AVOID A CRISIS

B etween COVID, kids and economic calamity, generation X might be forgive na little midlife crisis this year. But signs are strong the onetime‘ slacker generation’ is stepping up and stretching its middle-aged spineinstead.

As Talking Heads’ mid life crisis anthem says, you may ask yourself, ‘How did I get here ?’ but Melbourne University psychology professor Nicholas Has lam says the concept of mid life crisis is indeed“pop psychology” rather than something studied seriously by researchers.

“There’ s little consensus about when mid life even is, or evidence any particular stage in the adult years is especially prone to crisis, existential despair or sports car buying ,” Has lam says.

Nonetheless, he points to the 2012 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, which found the lowest life satisfaction was at age 45. In the same period, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported Australians aged 45 to 54 were‘ the least likely to be at least satisfied with their lives’.

Has lam acknowledges studies show most people believe‘ mid life crisis’ is real.

“Almost half of adults over 50 claim to have had one ,” he says. Social researcher Mark M cC rind le says that figure is unsurprising for “the sandwich generation ,” wedged exercising and enjoying the things I like best in life: swimming, surfing, cycling, safe in the knowledge that sooner or later the world’ s going to come back together again.” For re-partnered mother of two Deborah Rice ,54, watching her 96-year-old father live 30-plus years past retirement led to a career change four years ago. “I had to stop and say ,‘ this is not necessarily my career for life, even though it’ s been my career for 30 years. Now what’ s going to be the rest of my career ?’” she says .“I wanted something I could sustain and( to) work from home more, having a bit more of a work/ life balance than I had previously .”