A mid-life crisis can be challenging to combat alone. The experience is different for everyone, and getting out of your funk could take some effort. If you’re hoping to find positivity and inspiration to keep you moving forward, consider this advice from The Essential Creative guest blogger Kristin Louis on blazing your path beyond mid-life crisis.
Seek Professional Advice
A mid-life crisis can feel conflicting. There might not be anything “wrong,” but you still don’t feel “right.” Not every person who experiences a mid-life slump will need therapy, though it’s worth considering depending on how you feel.
Signs that it’s time to seek professional help can include symptoms like feeling overwhelmed, fatigued, intense and angry emotions, and apathy. Therapy might help you feel better and develop coping strategies for other obstacles in your life.
Set Personal Development Goals
Because a mid-life crisis is generally caused by thoughts and not physical situations, you may find it helpful to set your mind towards making changes. Setting personal development goals gives you a path to progress. Of course, getting motivated could be the most difficult part.
Practicing the steps to achieve your goals will keep you on track, but setting the right goals is important, too. Make your goals measurable and reasonable, like journaling for ten minutes a day or working out three times a week. Over time, making progress will inspire you to keep going.
Indulge in Relaxing Hobbies
Most everyone has a hobby they enjoy during their free time. Yet a mid-life crisis might take the fun out of things you typically enjoy. Try a relaxing hobby to decompress and de-stress so you can dedicate time to recovering your energy and passion.
VerWell Mind recommends stress-relieving, low-cost hobbies like photography, puzzles, drawing, knitting, writing, and even gardening. Gardening, especially, can alleviate stress while you burn calories and grow food at home. Learn more about gardening and what supplies you need before getting your hands dirty.
Go After Your Career Dreams
Oftentimes people find themselves in a mid-life crisis because they feel like they’ve hit a dead end in their career. Becoming stagnant in your work can lead to feelings of inadequacy and boredom because professional growth is both rewarding and challenging.
Fast Company recommends examining your feelings about work to figure out where you are on the growth curve. When growth stops, you might become bored, burnt out, or uninspired. It might be time for a new challenge in your job or even another career path.
One way to build your career and achieve growth is by pursuing an online degree in your field. Check for accreditation and reasonable tuition, and explore possible programs like business, communications, accounting, and more. Another is to reflect on the skills you have and the things about which you are passionate. Then, see if there’s a career that can combine them both. For example, if you’ve worked in customer service and are good with people, and you also love designing and rearranging your rooms at home, perhaps you should look into how to become an interior designer. That career would allow you to work with people, stay organized, and be creative!
Become a Business Owner
Entrepreneurship combines challenge, risk, and reward in a tempting package, particularly when you’re facing a mid-life crisis. Now might be the perfect time to start a business and become your own boss.
You won’t be alone either. Zippia confirms that most entrepreneurs found their businesses after forty. Women tend to start a little younger, but midlife is a very common time for people to decide to become their own bosses.
Launching a business does require time, effort, and paperwork. An LLC has many tax and liability benefits, but lawyers can be expensive. Using a formation service can be a great compromise. They provide guidance and submit all of the paperwork for you for a much smaller fee, which frees up your time and money to invest back into your business.
Push Through Your Mid-Life Crisis
Moving past a mid-life crisis might take time, and it will take effort. But whether you start a business or work on other means of self-improvement, you will need to take some sort of action. Getting out of a mid-life slump means rediscovering passion and joy in everyday life, and these tips can help you find both.
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Read Other Posts from Kris Louis
Kris Louis is a mom to two rambunctious boys. Her oldest is 11 and her youngest is 8. A former advertising copywriter, she recently created ParentingWithKris.com, where she puts her skills to work writing about the trials and tribulations of parenting. Kris, her husband, and her two boys live in Durham, NC.
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