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Explaining Change

Nice article on mid-life crisis that feels very relate-able

 Midlife essentially becomes a time of double misery, made up of disappointments and evaporating aspirations. Paradoxically, those who objectively have the least reason to complain (e.g. if they have a desirable job) often suffer most. They feel ungrateful and disappointed with themselves particularly because their discontent seems so unjustified – which creates a potentially vicious circle.

 In the last three years, two of my good friends decided to dump their "desirable" jobs and plunge into the uncertainty of self-discovery, starting their own business and taking large chunks of time to do nothing. When we spoke, I heard them struggle to explain their choice. The fact that they even felt the need to do so is explained by the author "feel ungrateful and disappointed with themselves particularly because their discontent seems so unjustified". They are both following their desire for change and no matter how this experiment turns out, it is unlikely they will return to the careers they had before.

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