#midlife-crisis

#midlife-crisis

Following some of the arguments in Ernest Becker's 1973 study The Denial of Death, he proposes that such crises are at least partly the result of the western reluctance to face mortality. In Britain, we eschew open coffins, for instance. When our relatives die, as my mother did two years ago, they die in a hospital rather than at home. We can hardly even bring ourselves to say die, preferring euphemisms such as pass away.

The portrayal of midlife as a crisis flies in the face of decades of research showing its non-universality. Midlife can be a period of questioning, but these feelings are not unique to this stage of life.

"For many, the midlife crisis can usher in a period of clarity and renewed purpose, as individuals reflect on their desires and goals for the future."

The Trump administration's nostalgic desire to revive factory jobs reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of modern economic realities and the impossibility of returning to a golden past.