Who owns the Midlife Crisis?

Who owns the Midlife Crisis?
The myth is that the midlife crisis is the exclusive preserve of men. Women have much more justification in claiming their midlife crisis because of the combination of the menopause and the diminishing role of motherhood.
You may think the term Midlife Crisis is a recent invention. Wikipedia says it goes right back to Sigmund Freud.

Courtesy of Huffington Post
Maybe it is only with increasing affluence and easier divorce that it has become such a widely observed phenomenon.
The other myth is that the midlife crisis is the exclusive preserve of men.
Women have much more justification in claiming their midlife crisis because of the combination of the menopause and the diminishing role of motherhood.
What can certainly be said is that the strain on a relationship of a male midlife crisis has significant impact on his partner.
In the past, all that women were permitted was a ‘Change of Life’. This was the traditional name for the Menopause. It has much wider implications. Quite apart from the physical change, this time is an opportunity for women to drastically change and to re-invent themselves for a new life.
There are many prescriptions on the web for getting through the midlife crisis. What is certain is that the people who emerge on the other side will have changed.
One of the most important is changing the view one has of one’s partner. In earlier life one’s partner gave us a feeling of completeness and security. The demands of family, home building and earning the money to pay for both requires that supportive partnership to get the job done, even though many single parents manage to struggle through this period.
By the time we reach midlife, we feel more of a complete person.

Kindle Cover
We find we can survive and flourish on our own if necessary. We now have the choice to re-invent our current partner or chose a new one. We are no longer swept by overwhelming emotions and can select and negotiate an intimate partnership that suits us.
There is much more about the changes women and men go through in midlife in my recently published book – Love Sex and the Midlife Woman.
You can use this link to check out the Contents page in the Look Inside facility on Amazon.
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