I have mixed reactions to pieces like this. It's very salient to me because I fit the stereotype being discussed. At 43, I did my first triathlon and am, I suppose, training to do more (the season for them is basically over where I live, so I can't really do more this year).
The problem with the idea of the midlife "crisis" is that it's more a period of change and not all crisis. And it's somewhat, but not all, about mortality. At that age, in your 40s, you've often had enough time to establish a career, and for many, realize it's not what you thought it would be. It has nothing to do with mortality; if you started your career earlier or later, you'd be reaching that point earlier or later. Also, you've reached a point of wisdom to realize, yes, exercise is good, maintaining your health is good, all these articles you've been reading about it for years are right, and so forth and so on. You might have a new family, which changes things at any age. And finally, speaking of kids, I do think there's something about the 40s being the new 20s, the 60s being the new 40s, and so forth. I could go on and on about many things that cause change, but don't have anything to do with death or even old age.
If you knew me, for example it would be clear that I am in fact in crisis in many ways, and have been in recent years, in the ways that the author suggests. But that's not what motivated me to do a triathlon. It has nothing to do with some need to prove myself or anything like that. It was all about being prodded by friends to join them, and it was something I had always been interested in. I've always been a little athletic. It could have happened in my 20s or 30s but didn't. Why my 40s? I'm not sure. I guess I've just reached a point where there are many things like triathlon I've been wanting to do for years, and am now getting around to it. When you reach that age there are things that accumulate like that.
I think midlife change is very real, and often comes as a crisis, but I think that focusing on the mortality issues that do arise is really missing many, if not most, of the other factors involved.
In the case of athleticism, it stigmatizes exercising and wellness. So you're doing a triathlon or a marathon in your 40s? Now this is a bad thing? Can those of us in our 40s get a break? It's another form of ageism in many regards.
...extreme fitness is less about being young again and more
about building yourself up for the years ahead. In other
words, getting better at getting older.
That suggests to me a positive angle, not a stereotype. Being 48 myself, and having gone thru a less-intense version of what you’ve done, I think the quote nails it for me and the others that I know.
I actually think Baby Boomer generation deserves a lot of credit for pushing the boundaries, and our generation is following up in our own way. I can’t wait to see what the millennials do with this time in their lives.
In the case of athleticism, it stigmatizes exercising and wellness. So you're doing a triathlon or a marathon in your 40s? Now this is a bad thing? Can those of us in our 40s get a break? It's another form of ageism in many regards.
It doesn't stigmatise anything nor point to individual people. It merely refers to a data point where absolute masses in their mid-life have started running or training heavily which did not happen before.
I can validate for my own part with dozens and dozens of my middle-aged peers posting about how next month they're doing their 5K, 10K, 20K, marathon, or whatnot. That sort of flocking most certainly didn't happen ten years ago.
I think that in another 10-15 years the craze has faded and replaced by something else. There will always be people who really do enjoy what they do and it's these people who'd run or train regardless of the passing fashions. But it's often the general mass of people who do things because others do those things.
Entering mid-life provokes a lot of thoughts and emotions to be processed and become acquainted with, and people need to face these in order to lead a balanced life into older age. It has seemed for years that the masses are now doing it by starting with heavy physical training. Which itself is fine but it means that it's not about the running craze itself. It's a fashionable way to live your mid-life and as such I can tell you it does not last forever.
Maybe the next generation's way-of-mid-life is finally giving yourself some rest after all the hard work and doing absolutely nothing.
I think the focal point of the criticism about middle-aged 40K runners is the way that heavy training is praised as if it was somehow a unique discovery or near-enlightening experience that everyone should try. No, people have been training before. No, people have entered mid-life before. Those just happened to meet, for a passing moment, this decade.
Around 40, if you are not exercising, you will become noticeably weaker. After a while you start loosing muscle. Your back hurts. It is not possible to ignore it anymore, be it walking up stairs, during holiday or when outside with kids or just when walking to work. Exercising works. And it feels more pleasant then I remember it from younger age. Moreover things like running are not boring anymore (because you did not done those really fun things for years, so you cant compare.)
When your back or whatever hurts and when you have high blood pressure and what not, doctor tells you to do move more. Many people started those runs after healths problems started and sport really helps. The competitions and trying limits is really treating it the way the same people approached school, work, hobbies and pretty much everything in their life before.
Those 10k, 20k and marathons are achievements available to middle aged people. (5k easily reachable) We can run, we cant lift as much we cant effectively start sports that require flexibility or agility. In a lot of senses, these people are not doing anything different then their done whole their life wherever it was possible, except that they adjusted choice of activity to aging bodies needs.
> In the case of athleticism, it stigmatizes exercising and wellness. So you're doing a triathlon or a marathon in your 40s? Now this is a bad thing? Can those of us in our 40s get a break? It's another form of ageism in many regards.
HEAR! HEAR!
I'm almost 43. I've just starting playing beach volleyball in a social league - after hardly ever playing any team sport ever. Will I ever be able to mix it with those in their 20's or early 30's? Hell no. Am I having a lot of fun and keeping fit? Absolutely.
The problem with the idea of the midlife "crisis" is that it's more a period of change and not all crisis. And it's somewhat, but not all, about mortality. At that age, in your 40s, you've often had enough time to establish a career, and for many, realize it's not what you thought it would be. It has nothing to do with mortality; if you started your career earlier or later, you'd be reaching that point earlier or later. Also, you've reached a point of wisdom to realize, yes, exercise is good, maintaining your health is good, all these articles you've been reading about it for years are right, and so forth and so on. You might have a new family, which changes things at any age. And finally, speaking of kids, I do think there's something about the 40s being the new 20s, the 60s being the new 40s, and so forth. I could go on and on about many things that cause change, but don't have anything to do with death or even old age.
If you knew me, for example it would be clear that I am in fact in crisis in many ways, and have been in recent years, in the ways that the author suggests. But that's not what motivated me to do a triathlon. It has nothing to do with some need to prove myself or anything like that. It was all about being prodded by friends to join them, and it was something I had always been interested in. I've always been a little athletic. It could have happened in my 20s or 30s but didn't. Why my 40s? I'm not sure. I guess I've just reached a point where there are many things like triathlon I've been wanting to do for years, and am now getting around to it. When you reach that age there are things that accumulate like that.
I think midlife change is very real, and often comes as a crisis, but I think that focusing on the mortality issues that do arise is really missing many, if not most, of the other factors involved.
In the case of athleticism, it stigmatizes exercising and wellness. So you're doing a triathlon or a marathon in your 40s? Now this is a bad thing? Can those of us in our 40s get a break? It's another form of ageism in many regards.