Thursday, January 28, 2010

Mid-Life Crisis?



Mid-life crisis, me? Not really; not quite. It's funny though... I suppose it's happening to a few people around my age I know. And, not only that, I recently read a post from a blogger I'm following which detailed the little known phenomenon of a "Quarter-life crisis". I had no idea. I think a Quarter-life crisis is when you're young and fancy free and don't know what to do with your life. There are so many options you can't decide. A Mid-life crisis is reaching a point in your life where you realize you made all the wrong choices, but find it's too late to rectify them. You've run out of options and you're screwed. I suppose that makes dealing with your Quarter-life crisis in the best way possible that much more important. Or you'll spend the rest of your life regretting your prior decisions.

I know a couple of people who are living lives they consider unfulfilled. It's mostly related to relationships, or lack thereof. One is 43, a year old than me. At this point in his life he wishes he were married, living in a home he owned with little ones running around. Not an uncommon dream at all. Though, if you look at the flip side of it, you could be like one of the many others who've gone through the married with children phase and are now bitterly divorced. So, who's fulfilled now and who's not?

Do I regret any decisions I've made in the past? I don't think so. Are there things about my life I'd like to change? Or things I'd still like to do/accomplish? Yes, I believe so. But, they're minor things. Things I think would just enhance my life, not turn it on it's head. I would like to travel to more places... adventurous places like the Inca Trail in Peru for example. I would like to learn to ride a motorcycle, possibly. Though you have to weigh the risks involved with riding against the pleasure it would bring. I guess that's the practical side of me speaking. Would I like to be in a relationship myself? Sure, if the right person came along. But, that's a big if. There are many aspects of being single that are great. Number one being the freedom that comes along with it. You only have one schedule to follow - your own. Granted, it would be nice to have the company of a woman now and then. But, I just don't find I have a emptiness in my life without it. At least not yet anyway. It seems as if my mother is much more desperate for me to hook up than I am. I think she just wants to fit in with the rest of her friends whose children are all married.

Mid-life crisis, me? No, I can't say so.

3 comments:

  1. thanks for sharing, jeff :) thanks for the honest insight. :) i think we all should live according to our own time.... not do this or that because of what was/is expected of us. lately, i've been thinking about my life as well...and found i do have some regrets...not many, but some... though those "some" were the ones that really made a big impact in my life and changed things quite abit along the way. would i have change anything? yes, if i could. but no, there's nothing i can do to turn back the time, so the next best thing is to just keep moving forward. :) sometimes it's hard to share with even friends. what they think is of importance or that make them happy differs from what i value more in life... it's so nice how you're sharing your thoughts here on your blog. :) thank you, dear friend *hug* and i wish you well and happy always!! xoxo!! :)

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  2. p.s. did you do that illustrations? hehe pretty cool :)

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  3. Hello Wooly. You're welcome. Blogging is a fun way to "think aloud" for me. It's also a on-line diary of sorts (that everyone can read) as well. Sometimes it's beneficial to get your thoughts down on paper is usually how one would do it, but I guess here it's up on screen.

    Yeah, I suppose you're right... sometimes it is hard to share our deepest thoughts even with people that are close to us. I think my cousin David is good for that for me. We e-mail each other about what we're thinking. About any concerns we have in our lives. I suppose we're both sort of in the same boat relationship-wise so we can understand what the other one is going through. We both got laid off around the same time as well (coincidentally). Though he's back at an old job. I'm still kind of looking around.

    Now that I think about it, the one thing I would change in life if I could go back in time would be not running down that slide in my public school playground while playing tag with my friends. I should have known better, but I was young and dumb (well, about 14 actually, but still dumb I suppose). I slipped and fell and fractured my right ankle. It healed up fairly well, but it's never ever really been 100%. For someone who really enjoys playing sports it's been a bit of a hinderance at times. That being said, I count myself so lucky to have led the life I have. Any of us in the western world should. Whether we realize it or not, most of us have so much compared to many others around us. I don't know if it's blind luck or divine intervention. But, it makes you wonder how come some of us are so lucky, when we just as easily could have been born into a fate far less certain.

    Yeah, if I didn't post photos on my blogs I put illustrations that I made with artwork I found on-line or things that I made in Photoshop.

    Have a great day, dear Wooly. You always bring a smile to my face =)

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