The Midlife Crisis

“I am not impressed with what people own. But I’m impressed with what they achieve … ”
Thomas J. Stanley, The Millionaire Next Door

Simply put, a midlife crisis is when someone realizes their life may be more than halfway over.   I suppose by this definition, I’m having a midlife crisis as my mind has been pondering this for a couple of years now.

Maybe a midlife crisis car awaits …

This month I will celebrate my 40th birthday.  Near as I can tell, I’m not ready to get a sports car (though some may argue that I already did) and I’m definitely not prepared to hit the bars or clubs to try to find a girlfriend half my age.  But as I approach this milestone, I think about the stories of famous personalities and look at what they had accomplished by the age forty:

• Steve Jobs: Co-founded Apple computer at age 20; founded NeXT at the age of 30; and by 40 his other company, Pixar, had released the ever popular Toy Story.

• Jonas Salk: developed first polio vaccine by age 38

• Albert Einstein: Published the General Theory of Relativity at age 37

• Walt Disney: Founded The Walt Disney Company at 22; Created Mickey Mouse by age 27; and earned 10 Academy Awards (8 won and 2 honorary) by age 40

• Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep: each earned 2 Best Actor Academy Awards before the age of 40.

• Pink Floyd: These guys created three legendary records before the age of 40:  The Dark Side of  the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall.

That list could go on.  But there are also the stories that hit much closer to home.  My parents and many of my aunts and uncles were educated by the time they had immigrated to the United States in their 20s, started families in their 30s, and started professional careers (doctors, dentists, and the like) before hitting 40.  Standing on the shoulders of the previous generation, their children had gone on to start their families and build successful careers pretty much on the same timeline.  Then there are friends, who seem just have natural abilities to find the right job or start the right business at just the right time.  With a narrow (potentially non existent) list of accomplishments that seem to pale in comparison; the exception seems to be me.  As age 40 approaches I cannot help but reflect upon past years somewhat regretfully wishing I could do it all over again.

Obviously, the past cannot be changed.  This milestone birthday will come and it will go.  And I wonder if each day will be treated with as chance to accomplish or will the next 40 years (if that) be a poor sequel to the previous ones.  I look forward to the future with hope. Yet, approach it with the heaviness of the past.

This must be a midlife crisis.