Google defines a Midlife Crisis as “an emotional crisis of identity and self-confidence that can occur in early middle age.“ I don’t lack so much in the self-confidence department, but the identity thing is a biggie for me. I’m certainly not suggesting that everyone will go through this or have an actual “Crisis”, but what I am saying is many men feel a strong urge to evaluate their lives at about the half-way point to reflect and question. Am I where I want to be in life? Am I happy? Have I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish? Am I craving something more? What do I do with the time I have left? Do I have a legacy to leave, or even want one?
Count me in as someone who questioned everything including lifestyle, geographic location, marriage, family & career.
Over the course of this blog, I’ve written about a number of subjects including wardrobe, lifestyle products, women and tech, and I absolutely love doing that and I will continue doing so. I love discovering new products or wardrobe items and offering you guys a voice and an unbiased opinion. But what I’ve always stayed away from is getting too personal. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s better to keep things vanilla around here and stay in the middle lane so I don’t ruffle any feathers. Maybe it’s best not to share too much of my own personal life and keep the vibe around here positive and rosy.
Maybe not.
I don’t have all the answers right now.
The other big unanswered question is, what the hell seems to be wrong with men in this age bracket (me included) that somehow feels it’s our God-given right to completely screw up our lives and the lives of others for no good reason!? Some of you have your shit together, some of you don’t. It’s not very pretty when you feel like your life is falling apart.
Here’s reassurance to my long-time readers that have been here since the beginning (2014, wow), and the new readers that continue to show up every day. First of all, Thank You! And secondly don’t worry. I haven’t gone off the deep end. I just feel like it’s finally time to get real on certain occasions and talk about the more difficult topics facing a lot of middle-aged men. If I’m navigating rough waters, the chances are that some of you might be in the same ocean. It’s a shitty place to be and I don’t know how to get off the boat just yet.
As for 40 Over Fashion, I’m not going anywhere and I actually have some big, hairy audacious plans for this site. One of which is including a lot more video content coming very soon, so please feel free to jump on my mailing list and stick around.
I realize this post isn’t for everyone, but if it strikes a chord with you, please feel free to drop a comment or send me an email.
Thank you so much for being here.
I will eventually tell my story, just not today.
Tell us more. Your real. I am ready to hear it all.
Proud of you.
Thank you Victoria. I will eventually.
John, your courageousness to get real is refreshing. The world needs more honest written pieces and I’m looking forward to reading more from you! Know that whatever you’re going through, your friends and creative family are here for the ride.
Thank you, Alex.
Thank you for sharing your story. I hope you find your way through the rough waters some day. It’s a difficult place to be.