Do any of you feel you went thru a midlife crisis where you didn’t know what you wanted to do, but you just wanted to do something different?
My work life has been slow which has given me some time to think about life. Unfortunately that thinking time has led me to the conclusion that I’m unhappy with my life, work and marriage.
I’ve already made one big change in my life in that I had weight loss surgery last fall. In the last 8 months, I’ve lost about 150 lbs. Seems like I should be happier, but I’m not sure that I really feel any different or that my life has become any better. The reduced calorie intake has probably added to my crankiness. I’m having some blood work done later this week to make sure there isn’t some kind of chemical/vitamin imbalance.
As for work, I went from loving my work and seeing all sorts of opportunities to feeling my current project’s poor financial performance has essentially plateaued my 25 year career with my current employer. I’m not worried about being fired, but I’m not getting the types of assignments I was previously getting. I’m reasonable confident that we have reached financial independence and therefore working is not a “requirement”. But I am a little concern that my judgment is suspect, so I’m not ready to pull the plug just yet at 49. I did include retirement in my 5 year plan with my short term plan going to telecommuting or reduced time. I just sent out a resume last week for an expat type contract position in Iraq. I’ve done this type of work before and it’s was extremely financially lucrative (3 to 4 times current pay). But if I’m FI, I’m not sure if I’ll be properly motivated to stick this type of assignment out for more than 1 year. I do feel better just taking action to provide work options. My thought is I can always turn down a job offer because I “chose” to keep the job I have.
I have talked to my wife being unhappy with work and our marriage/sex life. Our marriage/sex life gets better for a while, but tends to go back to the way they were after a couple of weeks until I bring it up again. My wife just doesn’t seem to have any interest in intimacy/sex life. I use to blame it on my weight which is not an excuse any more with my weight loss success.
I’m just trying to make sure I’m moving toward what I want to do vs. moving away from what I’m doing just to be doing something different. At this point, I just don’t trust myself to make any major life changing decisions.
My work life has been slow which has given me some time to think about life. Unfortunately that thinking time has led me to the conclusion that I’m unhappy with my life, work and marriage.
I’ve already made one big change in my life in that I had weight loss surgery last fall. In the last 8 months, I’ve lost about 150 lbs. Seems like I should be happier, but I’m not sure that I really feel any different or that my life has become any better. The reduced calorie intake has probably added to my crankiness. I’m having some blood work done later this week to make sure there isn’t some kind of chemical/vitamin imbalance.
As for work, I went from loving my work and seeing all sorts of opportunities to feeling my current project’s poor financial performance has essentially plateaued my 25 year career with my current employer. I’m not worried about being fired, but I’m not getting the types of assignments I was previously getting. I’m reasonable confident that we have reached financial independence and therefore working is not a “requirement”. But I am a little concern that my judgment is suspect, so I’m not ready to pull the plug just yet at 49. I did include retirement in my 5 year plan with my short term plan going to telecommuting or reduced time. I just sent out a resume last week for an expat type contract position in Iraq. I’ve done this type of work before and it’s was extremely financially lucrative (3 to 4 times current pay). But if I’m FI, I’m not sure if I’ll be properly motivated to stick this type of assignment out for more than 1 year. I do feel better just taking action to provide work options. My thought is I can always turn down a job offer because I “chose” to keep the job I have.
I have talked to my wife being unhappy with work and our marriage/sex life. Our marriage/sex life gets better for a while, but tends to go back to the way they were after a couple of weeks until I bring it up again. My wife just doesn’t seem to have any interest in intimacy/sex life. I use to blame it on my weight which is not an excuse any more with my weight loss success.
I’m just trying to make sure I’m moving toward what I want to do vs. moving away from what I’m doing just to be doing something different. At this point, I just don’t trust myself to make any major life changing decisions.