Midlife crisis? Don’t worry... the best is yet to come
Feeling glum, middle aged and over the hill? You’re not alone. But the good news, according to JONATHAN RAUCH, is that this is the start of the happiest time of your life
THE MIDLIFE crisis is the butt of countless jokes but author Jonathan Rauch is on a mission to change our perceptions. “The cliché is a balding man in a red convertible speeding along a motorway,” he says. “This has become the standard symbol of the materialism and selfindulgence that supposedly characterise middle-age discontent.”
Jonathan, 58, believes this is not only unhelpful but inaccurate. Rather than a crisis, middle age brings with it a “slump” – what he describes as: “A malaise or a sense of ennui, which is a vital part of accessing the joy of old age.
“Ageing is actually a good news story,” he says of the uplifting process known as the “U-shaped happiness curve”. After our brains are rewired in healthy middle age, we are in fact ready for the riches of contentment that lie beyond.
Researchers have found that while satisfaction with life drops in the late 30s and bottoms out in the late 40s it then rises steadily before reaching a peak around 70 and then levelling out.
Jonathan was 38 when he began to feel what he calls, “A nagging yet constant discontent”. He was a successful writer in a happy relationship but couldn’t work out why he didn’t feel happier.
He realised something was very wrong when he won one of the highest accolades in American journalism but was only fleetingly happy. “I wasn’t depressed but I knew this was irrational. It wasn’t a mood disorder but a contentment disorder.”
It was then he discovered new research on the happiness curve, which is the focus of his latest book. The curve refers to the U-shape on a graph that represents the relationship between life satisfaction and age.
ONE study of more than 300,000 Britons shows the bottom of the U, the point where most were dissatisfied, was 49. Anxiety and stress peaked at the same age.
But the bottom of the U, the author says, is a necessary period of realignment before we can move on to happiness in later years.
“The emotional reboot of midlife – and the changes in our brains that lead to a change in values, together with an increase in positivity and optimism in older generations – is a very widespread pattern,” says Jonathan, whose own ennui lifted when he was 50.
“I’ve definitely written a good news book.”
To order a copy of The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After Midlife by Jonathan Rauch (Green Tree, £18.99) call the Express Bookshop on 01872 562 310 or visit expressbookshop.co.uk