Do you dare to look in the mirror?
Almost imperceptibly it creeps into your life, somewhere between your 35 and 50: a feeling of restlessness, doubt, boredom, a seemingly inexplicable dissatisfaction. Rationally, you find it hard to grasp the growing sense of unease; after all, you have everything -or a lot- to be happy, don't you?
Back in time
To understand this key moment, we need to rewind time for a moment. From your birth, obeying, adapting yourself, meeting the expectations of others and getting recognition were central. You were completely focused on the outside world. Until one day you meet yourself in the mirror and ask yourself "Who am I?", "What am I doing? That's startling! And as is peculiar to our human nature, your reaction to this may be one of flight or fight.
How do you respond?
If you choose the flight reaction, then you want to leave your current life as soon as possible: your partner, your social relations or your job. As a man, for example, you trade your family car for an expensive sports car, your wife for a (much younger) girlfriend, or you leave on a trip around the world because you have had enough of your current job. In reality, you flee from yourself and simply take the unrest and dissatisfaction with you. You end up in a midlife crisis whose duration varies from person to person, but in men on average 3 to 10 years and women on average 1 to 5 years lasts.
However, if you are willing to confront yourself, then midlife can be a valuable turning point in your life. Midlife then becomes the start of a personal 'development process' in which, with the necessary reflection and introspection, you come closer to your individuality, layer by layer. Perhaps you then come to the realization that it is not necessary to throw everything overboard, but that the time has come to dare to choose for yourself, to be selective and to take yourself as the most important reference point.
Let yourself be surrounded
Should you not get there on your own, a coach as a sounding board and sparring partner can help you in this process. A good coach does not judge or tell you what to do next, but does have the courage to confront you lovingly and lets you formulate the answers yourself. In this way, midlife becomes a unique opportunity to crawl "out of your harness" and gain confidence in your own strength.
Request a free phone consultation with one of our Travvant career coaches today.