Midlife Crisis - Characteristics

Characteristics

One of the main characteristics of a midlife crisis perspective is one assumes that their midlife is about to be eventful, usually in a negative way, and potentially stressful. Additionally, they often see their life coming to a drastic decline.

Individuals experiencing a midlife crisis have some of these feelings:

• search of an undefined dream or goal
• a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished
• a fear of humiliation among more successful colleagues
• desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness
• need to spend more time alone or with certain peers

They exhibit some of these behaviors:

• abuse of alcohol
• acquisition of unusual or expensive items such as motorbikes, boats, clothing, sports cars, jewelry, gadgets, tattoos, piercings, etc.
• depression
• Having remorse for one's wrongs.
• paying special attention to physical appearance such as covering baldness, wearing youthful designer clothes, etc.
• entering relationships with younger people (either/or sexual, professional, parental, etc.)
• placing overimportance (and possibly a psychologically damaging amount) on their children to excel in areas such as sports, arts, or academics