Midlife and chaotic families

Emotional, financial and spiritual circumstances usually strain people in their middle age in ways that tend to antagonize the lives of people around them, especially family members. It’s during the age group of 35 to 55 where individuals begin to reflect on the choices they made in life. They begin to doubt if they are on the right career path or if they have the right choice of partner. Middle aged couples do face problems if they have children who are turning into teenagers. With everyone going through life changes; a lot is at stake if parents are dealing with midlife crisis while their children are going through puberty. Elizabeth Rugina, 53 years, the Asset Register Officer at King Faisal Hospital says that midlife crisis greatly affects women going through menopauses. “Mood swings are regular among middle- aged women and indeed if not controlled, they drown marriages or families. If one doesn’t visit a counselor, they could end up divorcing a life partner yet the issues are cancellable,” Rugina explains. During mid life crisis, people tend to embrace a new lifestyle. For example; they want a new hairstyles or clothing every other day. They heavily focus on the past or future, instead of the present. Rugina says that during midlife crisis men and women get renewed interest in appearances and physical health. “The desire to radically change your lifestyle often brings challenges if a spouse doesn’t agree. When you are married everything you do impacts the people around you,” she said. She advised middle-aged people to always talk about the issues that are affecting them than keeping everything within. “The formation of clubs with people of the same age group helps in cases of a crisis. At times the best way to solve what one is going through is talking to someone who understands the problem,” Rugina explains. Psychological counseling and medication may be helpful for some but spending time with an adult friend who has survived a mid-life crisis is the best therapy. Having a positive attitude about major life changes such as aging is the best way to go through a midlife crisis. Families dealing with life changing circumstances such as middle aged couples can go for outings or picnics since the environment also plays a big role in the situation. During the outing, the family can talk about several things and how to deal with conditions. Dorau20@yahoo.co.uk