It occurred to me last night, in my sleep battles, that middle age is a sort of second adolescence. We speak of a “mid-life crisis”, but one could equally speak of a second crisis of emergence. Rather than emerging into a world of possibility, we are emerging into a world of reality, that of aging, of the awareness of finite possibilities. And just as adulthood must be accepted for mental health, so too must old age and time.
And do we really want it all? I think most of us just want a few things that are really good: a good partner, good friends, simple pleasures, and useful work. These can be had. They are quite possible.