Baby Boomers Blow off the Cobwebs

Baby boomers blow off the cobwebs of midlife crisis
By Patricia Casey

IT HAPPENS to all of us who live long enough – we reach middle age and thereafter sink into disillusion and fear as we await death. While our exit from this life may be some 30 years away, for many the fact of retirement beckoning is enough to generate a personal crisis.

Existential in quality, it stimulates unwanted meanderings on the futility of our lives thus far and a focus on the loss of youth and the imminence of old age.

A midlife crisis is, in essence, an emotional reaction during and due to a transition phase in our lives.

But the term itself is a relatively new one, only in our lexicon since 1965, when a relatively unknown Canadian psychoanalyst, Elliott Jaques, coined the term. As if in defiance of the phenomenon he identified, he went on to even outperform his previous 48 years by writing 12 books, acting as consultant to the US army, the Church of England and various companies, as well as marrying and forming his own company dedicated to the dissemination of his ideas. He died 38 years later in 2003 at the age of 86.
Writers, psychoanalysts and industries focus on the negative aspects of midlife. The success of the cosmetic and the plastic-surgery industries are founded on our need to attempt to preserve our youthful appearance against the ravages of time.

For some, midlife is a time of great gloom and, among women, it is often dubbed ‘the empty-nest syndrome’, since the middle years of life coincide with the growing independence of children as they move into adulthood.

Loathing
Couple that with the menopause, a physiological repositioning that changes reproductive capacity, and some women's view of themselves tumbles into a volcano of self-loathing, helplessness and despondency.

It is not just the hormonal changes that bring this about (this is one of the many myths about the menopause) but the cultural and social expectations of women at this time in their lives.

Men are also likely to be affected by selfdoubt but instead of sinking into depression they may try to reinvent themselves as young lotharios, seeking sex instead of cocoa before bedtime, often with a woman young enough to be their daughter. Many a marriage has foundered on such unexpected behaviour.

According to Carlo Strenger, a psychoanalyst and psychologist writing in the Wall Street Journal recently, there is no longer any need for midlife crises and, at least in the babyboom generation born between 1940-1960, this seems to be coming to pass.

Following interviews with numerous businessmen and women he finds that this group is no longer riddled with self-doubt or self-criticism of their younger counterparts. He believes that while some transition changes are inevitable, “traumatic ruptures”, such as the 60-year-old growing dreadlocks and turning to “pot”, are becoming less common.

In his essay, The Existential Necessity of Midlife Change, Strenger argues that this change in perspective is healthy. It has been enabled by several changes in society. Firstly, longevity has increased and at retirement many people will still have 25 or 30 years of active life ahead of them, hence the raison d'etre for nihilism has diminished.

Changes in the nature and scope of work have contributed to more diverse job prospects and greater opportunities. This enables at least some to move into other areas with an ease that was impossible two decades ago.
However, the future for many may not always include work and it can be directed to developing talents, studying and so on. Individuals themselves, Strenger says, should not idealise youth so much since it in itself can be difficult and there are particular pressures on the young that older people have emerged from, in particular the financial and social need to succeed.

Successful
On the other hand, older people know they have been successful and bring confidence and deliberation to whatever paths they choose second time around.

So Strenger sees value in maturity and, while not knocking the very real concerns that retirement brings to many, he is debunking the myth that midlife is a watershed after which decline is the only route.

He points out, however, that these transition phases must be planned and considered carefully as they will not happen simply because we attend a retirement workshop.

If we come to accept and act on his thesis then the executive-turned-hell-raiser or the gregarious businesswoman-turned-trembling recluse will become outmoded images.
- Patricia Casey