You're not imagining it, and it's not just you. Ada Calhoun: I think when we were growing up, our baby boomer parents were distracted. Forty percent of us were children of divorce. We were used to being on our own. And I think that's continued. AN: In your interviews with women, what were some of the financial concerns that kept coming up? AC: Women felt like they'd grown up with these really high expectations for what they'd be able to achieve.
And then, even if they'd done a lot in their lives, they felt like it wasn't enough. One woman after another told me things like, "I only have a family. What did I do wrong? AC: The way we grew up. We were told over and over again, "You can be anything. It can feel like too much. They were doing all the childcare, and in many cases the bread-winning, all the while caring for their aging parents and grocery shopping.
They were so tired, but with how we grew up, they felt they had no right to be tired because they had so much opportunity. AN: Are middle-aged women today really worse off financially than say, millennials? AC: I don't think it's all in our heads. A lot of us graduated into recession. Learn how to make the best of this stage of life. Learn more about vaccine availability. Advertising Policy. You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Related Articles. Need Help Navigating Through Life?
Try Therapy. Anxiety vs. Trending Topics. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. One day, everyone is singing and dancing. The colors are vibrant — emerald cities, ruby slippers, yellow bricks — and the next thing you know, everything is black and white, withered as a Kansas wheat field.
Are you having a midlife crisis? For some time, mental health professionals have debated whether midlife crises are real. And though most people can tell you what a midlife crisis is, one long-term study found that just 26 present of Americans report having had one. No matter what we call it, a prolonged period of malaise and questioning between 40 and 60 is nearly universal in both genders.
Researchers have known for decades that happiness reaches a low point in midlife before rebounding as we age. In fact, numerous U-shaped graphs map the peaks and valleys of personal satisfaction, with recent studies pointing out the differences between men and women. It looks like crying all the way home from dropping off your college-bound kid. Like waking up in the middle of the night, wracked with financial worry.
Like divorce. And exhausted caregiving. Midlife crises were once defined according to gender norms: Women were disoriented and disappointed by relational changes and men by career changes. As more women pursue careers and become breadwinners, their midlife anxieties have expanded.
During perimenopause and menopause, changing hormones can cause or contribute to the problem. According to Mayo Clinic doctors, declining estrogen and progesterone levels can interfere with your sleep, make your moods vacillate, and reduce your energy levels. Menopause can also cause memory loss, anxiety, weight gain, and decreased interest in things you used to enjoy. The death of a family member, a significant change in your identity, divorce, physical or emotional abuse, episodes of discrimination, loss of fertility, empty nest syndrome, and other experiences may have left you with a persistent sense of grief.
You may find yourself questioning your deepest beliefs and your most confident choices. Our youth-obsessed society is not always kind to aging women. Like many women, you may feel invisible once you reach middle age. You may feel pressure to mask the signs of advancing age. You may be struggling to care for your children and your aging parents at the same time.
You may have had to make difficult choices about family and career that men your age did not have to make. And divorce or the wage gap may mean you have chronic financial anxieties.
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