People celebrated the New Year 2014 with much fanfare. However, I am in this situation where there are no special moments or scheduled occasions to celebrate. A human life can have simple categorization: birth, midlife, and death. Birth is a beginning of life, an existence, or into a being, an entry to this suffering world. Most people will ignore your mistakes in early phases of your life. They say, “(s) he is just a child,” “leave the child behind,” “stop bullying, scolding …a child” etc. Slowly when we grow up we enter into adulthood and then become mature adults. The period when we realize that we are halfway through our lives is the period when we are into a midlife (crisis).
However, academically, note that there is no such thing called a midlife crisis. Many do not support the claim that people can have the midlife crisis. Academically, supportive or not, this phase of my life is called: painfully struggling. Dad died. Mom cried. Friends betrayed. Got unemployed. “What are you left with?” a friend asked. Actually nothing much, except these stupid English words to play and morrow my sorrows. I have started to abhor this word ‘midlife’ as wrinkles in my face are starting to be unbearable (albeit this might be more frequent in women than men).Every life passes one way or another. But, a friend of mine does not agree with this philosophical statement. He states that life never passes, but moments in life do. Accordingly, life is a collection of moments, a little cherishing and somewhat condemning. Analogous to a collection of pictures in your smartphone camera rolls are those moments; life moves on whatever circumstances or situations we are into.
Additionally, there are three hard lessons that I have ascertained: 1) The world does not owe me anything whether I have a midlife crisis or not. 2) I see symptoms of health hazards, relationship breakdown and more hard questions unanswered, and 3) a midlife is a collection of those stressful, devastating, confusing, and depressing moments. These periods in life need a spiritual uplift from an inner self by rejuvenations and recreational activities. Should this time be spent more on remembrance and reminiscence? I remember my old wild days, when I used to shout aloud on a cricket field or when I used to whiz my motorbike in an open street. The collections of midlife crisis moments will also someday pass like the passage of seasons. Winter and dark period in our lives come along just to remind us that there is a bright, sunny, and warmer summer ahead. Let us stay positive, with the beginning of the New Year 2014 and hope that it will bring new hopes and aspirations to all of us.
Published: The Himalayan Times
