The Second Adulthood: Why Midlife Is an Awakening, Not a Crisis

That's really interesting.

So the first adulthood is all about optimization.

That's what I noticed.

Even down to your physicality, it's like metrics and KPIs and wearable data and biometrics and let's optimize my health.

I've encountered a lot of that.

I've done it myself.

Because you gain meaning from all of that.

Like, okay, small achievements, I ticked a KPI.

And now you have to discover your own kind of meaning.

Like if it's not about... hitting goals and targets, where does the meaning come from? And what do you think from your experience working with people? Is it rediscovering a sense of purpose? How can people navigate this without having a midlife crisis? We should have a midlife celebration instead of a crisis.

And maybe we should reconnect with what really matters to us.

It's such an opportunity at that age.

I think you're hitting the nail on the head.

It's not a crisis to start with.

We call it midlife crisis.

I can't remember who coined the term midlife crisis, but it's ridiculous.

It's a transformation.

It's a period of intense growth and recalibration.

For me, it's an awakening.

What a lot of the executives that we work with who are in their 40s are actually awakening to a new way of looking at their lives.

And they don't have the tools to make sense of that.

They don't have the tools to create meaning, as you say, right? Because suddenly it's not about having all the answers.

Having all the answers is a first adulthood mindset, right? Again, as I said, it's raw IQ, it's problem solving, it's fixing technical challenges.

It's all about fluid intelligence.

It's about striving.