My Mid-life Crisis

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

As I turn the corner on 39 I’ve developed a slightly disturbing new obsession. Allow my to preface this by saying I have never been one that people would refer to as “outdoorsy” or “sporty” or, to be honest, into “physical exertion”. This is why I am unsure how to take this new feeling.

Out of no where, I find myself wanting to go backpacking and kayaking.

It boggles my mind. Only one year ago I would have looked at you like you had a second head had you suggested I would be having these thoughts. Why, in the name of all that is good, would I want to walk around all day carrying all that I need, cook crappy dehydrated food, filter my water that has who knows what in it, SHIT IN THE WOODS!

I haven’t been in a boat since I was 7 years old. Why would I want to sit in a little tippy thing that might spill me into the ocean if I make the slightest wrong move?

I’ve been lucky in that I have fed the monkey on my back with short 3 hour hikes in the park with my 5 year old daughter but as I sit and checkout Mountain Equipment Co-op and drool at the 2 man tents and 70 L backpacks can madness be far behind?

At least it is cheaper than a sports car.

So, tell me about your mid-life craziness.

2

I don’t have any yet - I guess I’m going to live longer than 86. :slight_smile: My husband is planning to buy a sports car next year for his midlife crisis - the frontrunner so far is a new Mustang. He’s hoping Toyota will bring back a Celica-like sportscar soon, though.

3

If I’m in the kayak and a whale jumps on me and kills me would it still be a mid-life crisis or would it morph to an end of life crisis?

4

I’m glad you started this thread because I need a lot of help deciding on my midlife crisis. I just turned 40 this past week.

See, I fly sporty little airplanes for a living. I have the job that many people tell me they wished they had. So what the heck do I do now? Run off and become an accountant?

5

I’m selling my house, quitting my job, moving cross-country and going back to school. Eek.

6

You know, you don’t have to have ALL the crises. :smiley:

7

Hell, I’ve even taken up with a Younger Man[sup]TM[/sup].

My forties are going to rock.

8

Are you sure you can’t fit a sports car in there somewhere?

9

We-ellll, there’s a Mustang convertible in the garage. :smiley:

(Actually, it’s my late husband’s and I’m selling it, but for the purposes of this conversation, I’ve got that base covered, too!)

10

I hear ya Cyros.

I turned 40 March of this year.

I’ve done alot of camping in the past with friends. But for some reason this year I want to do a solo trip. I’m going canoe camping, solo this August in Frontenac park.

Alot of people solo camp, but most people look at me like I’m nuts when I say I plan to spend a week in the remote wilderness by myself.

I love camping anyways but I think it has alot do with the need for me to challenge myself and bask in the emotional rewards during and after the trip.

If this is my mid-life crisis I’ll take it. I’m actually looking forward to it.

11

I’m (hopefully) too young for a mid-life crisis, but I did take up motorcycling when I turned 30 (having never even sat on a bike before then), and I’m now obsessed with playing tennis.

Could be worse, eh?

12

I was always kind of bohemian, and never had a job at one place for longer than 2 years. Now at 40 I am lookng at 5 years in one job, 4 years in the same house (and I own it!) and 3 years with the same man. (My marriage wasn’t really that long!, but I was with the ex for 2 years before we married, so if I make it to 4 years with this guy that will break all kinds of records!)

At 40 (for the next 6 weeks) I am applying for management jobs, reading business sucess type books and throwing out my tie-dye.

Someone help me. A few friends are planning an intervention, but since it involves alcohol and lately that triggers migranes, I suspect I can’t be helped. Im pretty happy though.

13

Turned 42 last year. In the last 18 months I divorced my wife of 18 years. Then I went to online dating sites, definitely not looking for love, just a mental diversion. But I met a woman who is in the Army (age 33), stationed in Germany, who I was sure I’d never meet–on paper we are entirely incompatible. But fate had different plans. After a few months of almost continuous talking, we fell in love. We knew it before we even met in person. After a few brief visits, we knew we were going to get married eventually. Then she got orders to go to Iraq, so we did a quickie wedding. She’s back in Germany now for another month and then will be stationed in DC. So I’ve unwound my enjoyable and lucrative law practice and will now be following her, moving to DC with no job prospects yet (I don’t even know what I want to do).

I never wanted to have a child, but now I do and we are trying.

(oh and to complicate things slightly, I live in a small town in the Deep South, and it’s an interracial marriage)

It’s the most change I’ve ever experienced in such a short time. But it kind of feels good to entirely start over with a radically different life.

14

Oh, and I have always been a cat person and always had multiple cats. But the ex took the cats, and I now have my first dog. And believe it or not there’s a lot more I’m not even going to get into–selling the house that’s been in the family 25 years, etc, the list goes on an on.

15

I think my mid-life craziness can be witnessed in other threads, and it usually involves younger women, but in your case I think maybe you ought to just make sure the thrills you seek are safe, for the sake of your daughter, if nothing else.

16

I will definitely make them safe. I just want to hike and someday kayak the Fundy coast.

17

Well, my father in law is a linesman for a power company and he started flying planes. Maybe you could start working with high voltage electricity?