Mid life crisis?

[Aiming_4_55]

I'm hitting a career mid-life crisis now, I think .... switching from megacr*p job to a contract position this month. Job satisfaction diminished with extra hours, so if I work the hours, I'll get paid. Risk is adjusted with higher hourly rate. We'll see how I feel in a few months.

 

[TheWizard]

Midlife crisis, yes, over a decade ago from age 43 to 48. It was a protracted period in which the ex-wife wanted out but I didn't. Stressful time with what seemed like a reconciliation, followed by a more definitive breakup/divorce.
Convertible was a '94 Lebaron bought new, but a shared vehicle through 1997, not just mine.
Replaced the broken down POS Lebaron with a 2008 Mustang convertible a few years ago which shares space with my Ranger pickup used for utility purposes.
Through it all, same employer for 40 years, soon to be terminated...

 

[Chuckanut]

I think for many of us a "mid-life crisis" was forced on us not by age but by events. The loss of a job, divorce, death of a spouse, death of a child, etc. all force us to rethink things.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

IMHO a mid-life crisis is a luxury of people with no job worries.

 

[TheWizard]

IMHO a mid-life crisis is a luxury of people with no job worries.

No, I think it can go either way.
I had job security, but marital dissolution.
Other folks lose a job and get the house foreclosed on. That can't be much fun either...

 

[flipstress]

True Confession: I Was A Yarn Addict

In November 2007, I learned to knit, started buying a LOT of yarn and shoes—(OK they’re not related, but they’re what I've been buying in the past couple of years) , began sending more money to my relatives abroad and sending my nephew there to college. I basically gave up on my early-retirement (pipe?) dream, with the meltdown of the markets around that time and the realization that I don't make enough to save enough to retire early.

This past spring, I went on a trip to Italy with a girlfriend, my first time ever outside the US except for trips to visit my mom and my brother in the Philippines. It was my 50th-birthday gift to myself. It was a lovely time!

Now I’ve got to buckle down and get a grip on financial recording and planning and setting retirement goals again. I'm glad I did not stop trying to max my deferred comp contributions and the ROTH IRA contributions, but I did not really save beyond those in the last few years. I’d be happy now with just being able to retire at traditional retirement age; it's too late for me to ever ER. At least, the trip to Italy has shaken me free from yarn-buying. I have enough yarn to last a lifetime.

As I turn 50 this year, I find myself thinking more of death, how short life is. I have an urge to de-clutter, not that I have many "big" (valuable) possessions, but just to have a simpler life that’s more free from maintaining stuff.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Not me, per se but I've tagged along on DHs. We got married when he was 30, quit our jobs to go sailing for a bit when he was 40 and he plans to quit working next year at 50 and take some time, as Ziggy mentioned, to think about what he might like to do next.

I think having the mental "space" to contemplate your past, present, and future is critical to your emotional well-being. An examined life and all that. It is important to me to give DH that space and time to do some navel-gazing.