Many psychologists put too much emphasis on the nostalgic aspects of the so-called “midlife crisis”. I do not deny their importance, but I believe they are only the banal manifestation of a problem that may be much deeper. Midlife usually denotes facing failure, seeing what was once called a “dream” buried. In other cases, in cases of “success,” it characterizes the period when the uselessness of one’s achievements, the stupidity of daily life, and the lack of spirit to move forward are exposed. All of this is due to frustration with the present, not a desire to relive the past. At twenty, life is interesting because it is promising, because it is full of “perspectives” that time takes care to eclipse. The individual then finds himself immersed in a vacuum. Ultimately, middle-age does nothing but highlight the meaninglessness of existence. But it also makes him open his eyes and reason, and if there is something we can call “maturity,” it usually requires what clinical psychology calls “depression”. The depressed person testifies his mental sanity.
The Midlife Crisis
