MIDCAREER CRISIS

Dr A Prakash
Sr Professor, Health Management
National Academy of Indian Railways
Vadodara

Also known as
Mid Life Crisis

Mid life 40 to 60 years

Defined more in terms of years in profession
Mid career is a state of mind

MID LIFE CHANGES

Biological

Social

Occupational

Psychological

BIOLOGICAL CHANGES

Aging

Wrinkles

Hair loss

Loss of strength & flexibility

Diseases

High Blood Pressure

Heart Disease

Diabetes

SOCIAL CHANGES

Aged & dependent parents

Death of parents, friends, colleagues

Adoloscent/Adult children leaving home

Empty Nest Syndrome

Also Boomrang Children

Sandwitch Generation

Grandparenting

Financial Responsibilities

OCCUPATIONAL CHANGES

Stagnation

Locus of Control

Ambition / Competition

Financial

Lack of Motivation
SIT TIGHT OR TAKE FLIGHT

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES

Realization that a greater part of life is over

Realization of mortality

Desire to leave a legacy

Consequent unease / anxiety / depression

In Shakespear's plays
most of early plays are comedies
most of later plays are tragedies

STATISTICS

Occurance 10%

Average age 46 years

Range 40 to 60 years

Lasts 3 to 10 years in males

2 to 5 years in females

Improved living standards & change in societal

expectation has magnified.
Starts at 40 but till late 19th century average life
expectancy was 40.

The new generation reaches top fast

but burns out faster

A natural biological & psychological process of a

person maturing.
A time of life when person is looking for an
education to expand his life.
Midlife crisis is the attempt to restart life to better
fit a person's heart.
A point in the middle of someone's career when
they have to decide what to do in future

ERIK ERIKSON

Life stage of generativity vs stagnation

ERIKSON'S EIGHT STAGES

00-02 Trust vs Mistrust

02-04 Autonomy vs Shame/Doubt

04-05 Iniative vs Guilt

05-12 Industry vs Inferiority

13-19 Identity vs Role Confusion

20-40 Intimacy vs Isolation

40-64 Generativity vs Stagnation

65-D Ego integrity vs Dispair

GENERATIVITY - STAGNATION
Generativity pressure of being committed to
improving the lives of the generations to come.
Inevitability of mortality.
Stagnation is lack of psychological movement or
growth instead of helping community, barely
able to help family.
Those who experience stagnation do not invest in
growth of themselves or others

GENERATIVITY - STAGNATION

Simply put

Generativity is guiding & encouraging future

generations; leaving a lasting contribution through
creative output; looking beyond oneself to continue
life through others.
Stagnation is focusing on trivality of one's life;
feeling one has made a limited contribution

LEVINSON'S LIFE STRUCTURE

Theory of Life Structure the underlying pattern
of an individual's life at given time
i.The Socio-cultural World what is going on in your
world
ii.Participation in this World how are you
participating
iii.The Aspects of the Self how you feel about your
self

LEVINSON'S SEASONS

Relationships & work are central to the adult life

structure
The alternating patterns of stability and change
that lives pass through
Mid life crisis between 40 45

LEVINSON'S SIX SEASONS

Early Adulthood Transition (17-22) prelim choices

Entering the Adulthood (22-28) initial choices in love,
occupation, friendship, values, lifestyle
Age 30 Transition (28-33) chenges in life structure
Setteling Down (33-40) niche in society, progress on
timetable
Midlife Transition (40-45) life structure comes in
question, crisis in meaning, direction, value of life,
expression of neglected talents, desires, aspirations
Middle Adulthood (45-50) choices made, new
structure found

Transition Times the individual must deal with

the termination of the old life structure and the
task of building a new one.
It involves self-examination, exploration for
other directions, and movement toward decisions
that build a new life structure.

THE 7 FRUSTATIONS

Career Bottleneck

Work/Life tension

Lengthening horizon

Skill obsolescence

Disillusionment with employer

Career Disappointment

Burnout

FEELINGS

Search of an undefined dream or goal

Deep sense of remorse for goals not achieved

Fear of humiliation among more successful

colleagues

Desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness

Need to spend more time alone / certain peers

Feeling of life coming to a drastic decline

BEHAVIOUR

Abuse of alcohol / drugs

Purchase of unusual/expensive items

Paying special attention to physical appearance

Relationship with younger people

Placing overimportance on their children to

excel academics, sports, arts

Depression

Remorse

SYMPTOMS

Desiring to quit a good job

Unexplained bouts of depression (when doing
tasks that used to make him happy)
Changing/investigating new religion or
philosophy
Change of habits past pleasant activities now
boring; unable to complete/concentrate on
tasks which used to be easy
Feels good to get hurt

SYMPTOMS

Wanting to run away from everything

Desire to get into physical shape

Irritability or unexpected anger

Change in allergies

Desire for physical-free-flowing-movement

Shifting sleep pattern

Change in musical taste or sudden desire to

learn instrument/drawing/writing

SYMPTOMS

Thinking about death

Changes in food / dietary supplements

Excessive buying of new clothes etc

Taking more time to look good

Hair changes

Desire to surround him with different settings

Hanging out with different generation

Restarting things dropped long back

SYMPTOMS

Upset at where society is going; desire to

change the world for better
Leaving (mentally/physically) family or feeling
trapped in current family relationships

Desiring a simple life

Sudden desire to teach or heal

Excessive looking back to childhood

Keep re-asking "where am I going in life?"

The once challenging & exciting job suddenly

becomes monotonous & demotivating
"Nothing left to be done"
Frustated & clueless about next step

"Did you ever reach a point in your life where you

say to yourself 'This is the best I'm ever going to
look, the best I'm ever going to feel, the best I'm
ever going to do? And it aint that great?'"
Bill Crystal in ity Slickers on turning 39

LINUS PAULING

Born 1901

Very poor background

Noble prize in Chemistry 1954

i.e. At age 53

Rated one of the top scientific brains

Same level as Einstien & Newton

What is left to do?

PARTNER RESPONSE

Becoming more judgmental

Patiently waiting for things to resolve

Both reinforce the problem of crisis

Midlife crisis is often contagious to partners

REASONS

No change in priorities

Not open to change

Been there, done that little scope for improvement

complacency - stagnation
In comfort zone nonacceptance - insecurities

Irrational fears

REASONS

MASTERY X MONOTONY = MISERY

CRISIS applies more to how transitions are

handled than the fact that transitions are taking
place.

RESOLUTION

Truest resolution to crisis is learning to embrace

the facts of one's change and investigate
methods of transformation.
To do nothing is to let crisis decide how you
change

MID CAREER OPERTUNITY

It is time to look at questions like

Who am I?
What do I believe?
What do I really need?

CAREER ANCHOR APPROACH

A person's career anchor is the evolving selfconcept of
what one is good at, what one's needs and motives are,
and what values govern one's work related choices.
One does not have a career anchor until one has worked
for a number of years and has had relevant feedback
from those experiences.
But once a career anchor evolves, roughly five to ten
years after one has gone to work, it becomes a
stabilizing force in the total personality that guides and
constrains future career choices.
Edgar H Schein

CAREER ANCHORS - TYPES

1.Security / Stability
2.Autonomy / Independence
3.Technical / Functional Competence
4.General Management Competence
5.Entrepreneurial / Creativity
6.Service / Dedication to a Cause
7.Pure Challange
8.Life Style

COMPONENTS OF WELL BEING

IN MIDLIFE CAROL RYFF

Self acceptance positive view of self

Positive Relations warm, trusting, satisfying

Autonomy self determined, resistant to social

pressure
Environmental Mastery competence in
managing everyday life

Purpose in Life goals, aims, objectives

Personal Growth open to new experiences

4 QUESTIONS
1.Ideal vs Real Self how wide is the gap
2.Security vs Danger predictable/unexpected;
security causes confidence or enuui
3.Time Sense running out vs limitless horizon
4.Aliveness vs Stagnation do you look forward
to getting up in the morning

4 'F's OF TRANSITION
1.Loss of familiar past
2.Loss of predictable future
3.Loss of face
4.Loss of focus

Find help / guidance

That doesn't define you but guides around the
common mistakes.

PAUSE

Retreat to pause & reflect on life

Pausing means to stop the actions which were
fostering the crisis
Pause is an active process of examining
potentials and considering which options would
fit best in life
MEDITATION as a technique of pause

Hop off the roller coaster

Find spaces for privacy & silence
Find time for reflection & creative engagement
Read poetry
Go out in nature
Disengage the intellect

TIME OF CHOICE

Choice of crisis or transformation

To do nothing is to pick crisis
To do nothing is to continue living by past choices
that have led to this crisis

The right choice channels the crisis energy into

constructive processes
Thus resolution is a process of growth

SOME WAYS OUT

Rejuvenate & Recreate

Don't be a workaholic

Relocate & Rotate

Different position or work responsibility

Set new goals

Take a sabbatical

Realise your wish list

Don't let yourself be overcome

LINUS PAULING ?

LINUS PAULING

Peace activist
World peace leader
Noble Peace Prize - 1962

CHANGE OF CAREER

Why?

Affordability finances?

Job / boss / employment situation / profession

Debts & savings / family liabilities

Skill set?

Action Plan

Next week / month / year

The factors that make work satisfying undergo a

transformation in midlife.
Once understood mid life is the time of greatest
productivity, success & earning power.

FROM BURNOUT TO BREAKOUT

REBUILD THE FIRE
THERE ARE MANY GOALS THERE

Best of luck !