As you grow older and older you will wonder why you suddenly feel so much different than the people around you. One of the most common things you will wonder is whether or not you have reached middle age, with most people starting to wonder this around age 40. So you must be wondering is 40 considered middle-aged?
No, it is not considered middle age, but you are only a few years away, with the defined age of middle-age being 45 to 65, the age in which you are no longer a young adult but also not old aged. Many people consider this to be the middle ages of your life because if you live a healthy life you can easily reach 80 years of age, in extreme cases you can even live well over 100.
There are many things you should know about reaching your middle ages and many people find themselves only speeding up their lives. The traditional, old-school way of looking at this age is that you are now going to be doing a lot less than you have ever done before, however, in practice, this will not be the truth. You will experience more things as you age, even as you age through your middle ages.
These are the things that you will need to know about turning 40 and the road to middle age that may bring more excitement than you could imagine.
What should I expect at 40 years old?
The first thing you should expect once you reach 40 years of age is acceptance, many people by this age are finally aware of all the gifts they may have, or not have regarding themselves. At this age, you are going to be looking at yourself and deciding to improve on what you have, and forgetting about the rest.
The second thing you should expect is no longer being able to recover so easily anymore, up to now if you had a healthy body you could recover from most things with a few pills, sometimes, and maybe a visit to the doctor. Once you enter your 40s this will no longer be true, too much alcohol can disable you for days, a fall can cause lifelong damage, which means you need to be a bit more careful.
The last important thing you should expect when you are 40 years or older is your long-term plans finally starting to bear fruit. When we are young we look at 40 year or older people and wonder how they got there, unaware that they too started with nothing, usually. At around the age of 40, you should be starting to feel your investments, in either work, family, or actual long-term investments start to pay off.
What age group is middle age?
Deciding what is middle-age can be a bit complicated as many people are not always aware that they are approaching this age. If you are inexperienced and unaware of the world around you it may seem that you are reaching middle age when you reach 37, however, in the modern world, this could not be further from the truth.
As healthcare technology increases and what we can do even when we are immobile improves, the age considered to be middle age has changed. In the modern world, middle-age is considered to be from 45 years of age, up to around 65 years of age. Which gives most people 20 years of middle age to enjoy their middle ages, which is why it is no longer such a negative term.
Entering your middle age, whether you think it is at 30 or 50, is now the age that you know it is time to start living your life in an entirely different way. You will no longer be held back by some of the insecurities or confusion of your 20s or early 30s. Whenever you do enter it you should be aware that only a new adventure will await you.
Why is a midlife crisis considered bad?
First, a midlife crisis is experienced by everyone on earth that reaches their middle ages, however, when it becomes a crisis something went slightly wrong. Everyone has heard the story of a divorced couple where the husband or the wife will claim their partner simply changed overnight. In some cases packing up their bags and leaving without notice.
When you reach your midlife age you will experience some hormonal changes, similar to when you began your teenage years, just not as adverse. This can cause many people to take stock of their lives and enter a deep depression. It is tempting to say that those who have not emotionally matured over the years are the most likely to enter a midlife crisis as they realize the impossible dreams they had as young adults are no longer possible.
A midlife crisis is considered bad because if it goes untreated, or left unspoken, it will lead to clinical depression. The media has a midlife crisis as suddenly buying or going somewhere unexpected, this is not true, a midlife crisis is usually defined by people that are unhappy with their current life, having never reached a place they thought they should have, or their plans never having come to fruition.
How to stop a midlife crisis?
There are a few things you should do to stop a midlife crisis from ruining your own life, or that of your partners. One of the most common dangers of a midlife crisis is the person that is going through it forgets or does not care about anyone or anything in their current lives. This causes regret later in life when they become more stable again, realizing what they have lost.
These are some of the things you can do to overcome your midlife crisis or help your partner to overcome theirs.
- It’s never too late: Thanks to popular media midlife has become very looked down upon, however, this is not the truth, and realizing that it is the start of a new journey is much healthier. Remembering that even at the age of 60 you can still complete lifelong goals will help to get you through this. It doesn’t always have to happen now, but that does not mean it won’t ever happen.
- Priority Re-evaluation: At 10 years old your biggest priority may have been sweets, at 20 it would be a job and college, at 30 it may have been finding a partner. When you reach midlife, it is important to remember that your priorities will and should always be changing. It is never healthy to fixate on a priority you had 10 years ago and realizing that your priorities have changed as you grew older will help you survive.
- Regrets: The thing about regrets is that everyone has them, even the richest men and women on earth have regrets about things. Dealing with these regrets is important, learning how to not fixate on them will allow you to overcome most obstacles in life. It may sound impossible but saying you cannot deal with regrets at 20 is fine, not having learned how to overcome and forget them at 45 may mean it is time to seek help.
- Being healthy: The biggest culprit in hormonally caused depression is not being healthy, being either too thin or grossly overweight. These things cause your body to release the wrong hormones and causes depression, which leads to a midlife crisis. There is a popular saying about being healthy, there are two great times to become fit, the first was yesterday, the second time is right now.
Why do they say life begins at 40?
Every year as you grow older will feel shorter and shorter, owing to a variety of things, but chief among them will be that each year now means a lot less to your overall life. A 10-year-old child means that every year is 10% of their entire life, however, at the age of 40, one whole year is only 2.5% of your life.
This is just simple math to show how your life will be affected by your age, people say your life begins at 40 because you will have the experience, knowledge, funding, and the time to plan and do a lot more. When you are under 40 you are still trying to learn as much as possible or become successful in your field.
Once you have reached 40, and you are in the middle class, you will now be able to do things easily and comfortably. Few people realize how much they can and want to do until they reach this milestone and their lives have settled down enough that plans made in January don’t fall through by March. Unless outside factors stop you, your plans to live an eventful, or calm life will be fully realized.
Is turning 40 a milestone?
There are two sides to this story, some people think that reaching 40 is a milestone in reaching full adulthood, while others think reaching 40 is a milestone in reaching old age. Both of these are almost true but are looked at from two different sides, those who have already passed 40 and those who are still a few years away.
Yes, turning 40 is a milestone, at this age you are no longer considered a young adult, you are simply an adult. Your piers no matter how old they are will treat you differently and those who are younger than you will be much more likely to listen when you talk to them. However, you are still a few years away from being an adult in their midlife years.
Turning 40 is the start of the last great climb in your aging process, you will still have enough energy to do things, while still being somewhat robust, given the right medication. It is only once you reach 65 that you will start your next journey in aging, usually being considered old. However, if you live a healthy life, and exercise routinely neither of these ages will mean you can do any less.
Those who are the most successful at these ages usually disregard the notion that age means you cannot do something.
Conclusion
Aging is a natural part of life and it is one of the few things we can all enjoy together, even if you and your friends are all a few years apart. Your midlife crisis might be a big turning point, or like most people, it will be nothing more than a slight realization that you don’t have the time to freak out about the small things.
Just be sure that whatever you do for your middle-aged years it always leaves someone staring at you with confused amusement!
