Preventing a Mid-Life Crisis

the trigger

Random Observation/Comment #272: This may be the most profound observation yet. I think too much.

The quarter life crisis, as described as the previous entry, is the moment of realization that the path towards growing up and getting a job was not all it was made out to be 10 years ago. Life looks more or less like the same stuff since our moments of change and advancement have faded. Now it’s just patience and riding out the wave to leave a legacy, right? Well if you’re scared shitless that you’ve stepped into the wrong relationship, career path, living arrangements or group of friends that will make you miserable when you have your mid-life crisis, there’s an app for that. I mean, I can share some of my tips and tricks on the matter.

Here are 5 things that I think will prevent a quarter-life and mid-life crisis. Plus, this will probably make life, overall, much better.

1)  Proclaim your happiness. When you’re happy – Say it! Instead of complaining that your apartment doesn’t get enough sunlight and you don’t like rolling out of bed to work, talk about all the little things that make you happy. Tell people this awesome thing happened this morning where you took a local train and an express train was waiting for you at the stop.  It lined up perfectly and it made you happy.  Tell people you’re happy because you completed a project, not that you have so much people you needed to follow up with this morning.  I like to read 1000awesomethings.com for ideas. It keeps life cognizant of the little things.

2) Never stop learning.  Even through the grind, there are things to be learned. You just need to pay attention to it. There are new things coming into our mind every day. There are so many lessons learned from every action.  You could have just found out that Sophie’s across the street has a special deal on breaded chicken on Thursdays.  Well, it’s just an example. There are many lessons learned that are forgotten and not shared.

3) Stay connected. Stay connected with friends, family, and networks in order to share your little thoughts. This is why status updates, tweeting, and all those social media ploys are so useful. You feel the joy of sharing some type of knowledge to your fellow community.

4) Enjoy the moment. Sometimes it’s the process of getting somewhere that determines the quality of being there, but really it’s “here and now” that matters. Think about what you’ve accomplished so far and don’t forget to bask in your accomplishments. In fact, evaluate your life every now and again and list those accomplishments that you’ve had. Everyone has their own, although they may not be obvious.  It’s okay to feed off of envy and many envious people live from every perspective.

5) Try something new every week. To keep up with the never stop learning methodology, I advise everyone to try something new every day. Whether it’s a new food or a new activity, it’s good to do something different to mix it up a bit.  Go rock climbing or go skydiving. It’s fun!

The whole idea I’m trying to summarize is to create spontaneous triggers for your memory that are more tightly knit than normal. For example, when you take a picture, you remember all of the details of where you were and how you felt when you took the picture.

Look at your phone. All of the pictures that you’ve taken in your gallery, I am sure that you can remember when and why you took that particular picture.  Even text messages that you sent to your friends on certain days, you’re probably able to remember the way you felt when you wrote them.  It’s just ingrained in your mind along with the act of taking a picture or the act of writing in your diary.  Th text and pictures are sure to induce an emotion with a smile.  Imagine if you took a picture every day or wrote a diary or wrote in a dream diary, the life you live could actually slow down.

What I’m really trying to say is that you should slow down time. The best way to slow everything down is to pay attention more to life. If you don’t record it or look at it from the little things, it’ll all just pass you by in a summary of “from 25 to 45, I just worked and raised my family.”  When someone asks you what you do in life, you should have a better answer than the daily 9 to 5. There is a certain level of pride that should go into your side projects and life.

Take this 30 day challenge. Take a picture every day for the next 30 days. It could be of clouds or trees or your apartment, but you’ll remember it in so much more detail. I guarantee that it will make your life better.

~See Lemons Avert a Crisis