Midlife crisis in Women – a Hot Topic

The so-called midlife crisis in women is certainly a hot topic these days. In her midlife crisis I wrote about eight major changes happening almost all at once that led to some significant transitions in my own wife’s life.

Just like men, women go through profound transitions in midlife. They may doubt their value in life, lose body confidence with the physical changes they’re undergoing, and question their career successes.

Whereas men are often troubled by work and career decisions, women are more likely to be disturbed by marriage, parenting, family relationships and health problems. Women’s introspective nature can easily lead to worry, anxiety, stress and depression. In her book, The Breaking Point, Sue Shellenbarger writes about midlife crisis in women and the turmoil that can be triggered by new insights into themselves.

Related to midlife crisis in women, there is the issue of the so-called male midlife crisis. Find out more ...


“Midlife crisis” in women can lead to midlife development

In 2005, Time Magazine did a feature article entitled, “Midlife Crisis: Bring it on.” Time reported a number of interesting findings on the topic of midlife crisis in women:
  • Forty three million American women and five million Canadian women are between 40-60 years of age.
  • In previous generations women didn’t talk about midlife crisis.
  • Since women are going to have lots of healthy years they think that midlife is going to be a period of making choices to live out one’s dreams that got sidetracked in younger years.
  • Women who have been unsatisfied with their professional life are willing to think of trying something completely new in a search for greater flexibility or challenge or satisfaction.
  • Women take a more hardheaded look than men at how their lives are unfolding and where they want to be 10 or 20 years down the road.
  • Women are more likely than men to talk about growth and making the best of it. For example, they’re joining gyms and returning to study in growing numbers.
  • The most profound difference in attitude between men and women at middle age is that women are twice as likely to be hopeful about the future.

I can certainly see my own wife, Jacqueline, as reflecting issues of midlife crisis in women. In my opinion, she demonstrates a "Rising Energy Model of Aging", which Dr. Fred and I talked about in a webinar we did on the topic.

Advice from a Juicy Tomato

In her 2006 book, The Juicy Tomatoes Guide to Ripe living after 50, Susan Swartz has lots of good “recipes” for dealing with midlife crisis in women including questions you can ask yourself on planning your next dream:
  • What do you always say you wish you had time for?
  • What do you only play at now but wish you could do all the time?
  • What did you love doing when you were younger before what you’re doing now?
  • What makes you smile when you’re doing it?
  • What would you do if you didn’t worry about people saying, “You’re kidding? At your age?”
  • In three or five years, when someone asks you what you do, what would you like to say?

What to do next

Read
The Breaking Point: How female midlife crisis is transforming today’s woman by Sue Sheelenbarger. She describes six archetypal drives – the Lover, the Leader, the Adventurer, the Artist, the Seeker and the Gardener that reflect women’s core capabilities to love, to create and to learn. My wife, Jacqueline, would fit well into the Artist category.

Listen to this

lively conversation between Dr. Fred and myself about midlife crisis in women.
To hear other interviews and to subscribe to our podcast
visit our midlife crisis coping podcast page.