Professor Mohawk: On Midlife Crises

I am almost 42 years old. And I am considering growing out a mohawk. Textbook midlife crisis yes?

I have a theory about midlife crisis. We spend 20 years learning what we are told are the rules for how to live life. We do this on the promise that we will be rewarded if we follow these rules. And After Twenty Years Learning the rules, and twenty years following the rules, people start to act out. We call this a midlife crisis.

We were told that if we follow the rules we would be rewarded. We were promised they will be worth our while to follow the rules.

And I think that by 40 comma once we hit mid-life crisis zone comma it has become blazingly clear that no such reward is forthcoming. And so, faced with the realization but there is no benefit in repressing our true selves, we let our true selves out. Have not had such an airing out since we were out 12 years old. Sport cars and mohawks, new boyfriends and girlfriends. 20 years at a job we hate with a boss we don’t respect? We quit. 20 years of self-denial and playing it safe? We splurge.

The midlife crisis is what you would expect of a society that does not meet the needs of its members. The midlife crisis is a failure on the part of the person with the Mohawk. It is a failure on the part of the society that makes it inevitable.