MID LIFE - Is no Crisis !!!

It’s astonishing sometimes that the clearest things in life elude you for so long. I mean I have heard the famed sayings, such as “the only thing to fear is fear itself”, spoken by Franklin Roosevelt…But what did that really mean and what have I had to fear ? Seems plenty, as do us all. But that’s changing.

That thing that sends the hair on the back of your neck standing upright.

The cause for the butterflies in your stomach, anticipation and anxiety both cousins of fear.

Fear , the cause of adrenalin which makes us do remarkable feats we otherwise  could never achieve and which boosts us into almost super human potential.

But what if we had no fear.

Well I think I just solved a life long question for many.

I think fear is what life is suppose to be all about, to keep us all in line.

It’s what keeps us going.

Fear of tomorrow, fear of being left behind, fear of conformity, fear of non-conformity, fear of acceptance, fear of not living up to our potential. Fear of debt, of banks,  death, fear of not providing enough or our families, and fear , well, you name it, fear of almost everything.

I’m heading at supersonic speed to a little thing called mid life crisis, but on the cusp of my arrival I believe I may have cracked this nut wide open.

There’s no crisis at all.

And there is nothing to fear.

In fact I believe that’s been the crisis for so many for so long.…

Mid life is when everything starts to spiral, seemingly out of control and we start to question things. Question our purpose, question our role in life, question our choices?

But what if we turned all this on it’s head and looked at it in reverse.

Instead of fearing mid-life, what if mid-life is simply the time of absolute freedom.

A center point in life where you can see the winning post and see the starting line and make your life choice to either go forward and run the normal race, or take another route and get off the rat race.

What if it’s not us, the mid lifers, who question all around us, but that all around us becomes clearer and that others begin to see us differently, question us because we have suddenly differed from the norm. What if what they see is just pure envy and jealousy!

You see it came to me over something quite simple, a car’s travel log that I was supposed to fill out on a daily basis.

You see I’m a stickler for the rules. I’m also pragmatic about doing the right thing.

To cut a long story short, someone else drove my car, moved the log book and both they and I forgot to fill it out.

I saw the log book today after a week. And I looked at it thinking , whateva!!

And that’s when it struck me, this feeling of being unsettled lately.

I agree it is borderline mid-life crisis. But not for the reasons one might imagine.

You see I think mid-life crisis is the period of time when you realize that you fear nothing.

It makes you see the world differently, so differently that you start to act and be different to the norm and thus others call you egotistical, arrogant, strange, weird, rude even or eccentric. But I am really none of these.

I simply have a lack of fear.

What if this is our freedom,

What if this is a higher power setting us free.

You see I’ve seen much, I’ve travelled often, I’ve worked hard and yes along with it there have been financial gains and rewards , as well as pain, loss and tragedy.

I’ve done so much. I’ve written books, been published in dozens of countries, I’ve starred on TV, I’ve done radio, I’ve made incredible sums of money and I’ve spent like there’s no tomorrow, I’ve also felt the phenomenon called love, and known  callous stinging pain caused by loss.

I’ve rewarded for my skills and awarded for my contributions and have been questioned by specialists on my sanity.

And today, looking at that log book, I realized, this unsettled feeling I have is the freedom which comes from having lived a full life and coming out the others side intact.

There is nothing left for me to fear.

I have enough money now, why do I want to fight for more.

On the other hand if I lost everything tomorrow I know that I enough knowledge , skills and common sense to get it again.

I don’t fear aging, for I have lead an amazing youth and look forward to the lessons of age.

I don’t fear love or lack of it. I have loved and been loved and I know there are those who love me too.

Death the ultimate fear is nothing but a portal to the future. So many have died, so many will and at this age one has finally conquered the ultimate fear by realizing that inevitability is exactly that, inevitable!

There is literally nothing left to fear but to accept and embrace.

Mid life crisis, lay not with the person going through it, but with the others looking on in envy and who have not yet conquered all that they must .

People looking on are disgusted at those with mid-life crisis because we are the anarchists. We just don’t care what others think of our actions because we don’t fear being judged, we don’t fear your callous tongues and we don’t fear gossip any longer.

Do what you want, do what you will and say what ever, the fact is I don’t care if you fire me, incarcerate me, kick me out of a country, take my money, take my home, I don’t mind.

I am comfortable with who and where I am and I have no fear. ‘Whateva’ happens will always happen and I have 189 other countries in which to live, choices of thousands of types of jobs, and a brain which makes me both sexy and smart enough to continue on life’s path uninhibited.

In the words of Jim Morrison,” Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free”.

Mid life is not a crisis, it is a freedom from the norm.

I’ve reached the point in my life where life can truly begin. I don’t have to listen to petty threats for I have enough to fall back on, personally, professionally and emotionally to go through just about anything without fear of the results.

Of course this cant be the norm for all of us, or the world would turn to anarchy. Mid life crisis will come and go.

Eventually you hit and older age I guess and fear the future once more, the longevity of it all and the solo existence as others depart before you.

Right here , right now. I’m just happy to be center stage on the act of life.

Throw at me what you will.

Today starts a new and so does the way in which I live it.