We all know the cliché. You reach a certain age and suddenly you’re questioning all your life choices and making rash decisions about red sportscars. Traditionally, a midlife crisis hits in your 40s, but new research shows a changing emotional landscape.
Of the 5000 people surveyed for the Australian Senior’s 100 Year Lifespan Report, a third say they have personally experienced a life crisis in their 50s or 60s. More than half (54%) believe the midlife crisis has shifted to a later stage and is increasingly being replaced with the ‘three-quarter life crisis’.
In fact, 40% of older Australians admit to experiencing a three-quarter life crisis and more than two in five (46%) say they have seen others go through one.
Vanessa, 58, from NSW, watched her friend Sam, now 62, face down his demons not long after his 60th birthday. “Sam always seemed a happy person but suddenly we were having long chats about the meaning of life and he was full of regrets,” she says. “He knew he had been a workaholic most of his life and, while he was financially comfortable, he felt he had lost his way somehow and that his relationships had suffered. It took him a while to get back on his feet emotionally.”
