Stuck in a rut? Bored with your job? Feel like you haven’t achieved your goals and you’re running out of time? We’re right there with you!
Middle age is hard to come to terms with. The realisation that your youth is behind you and you’re edging closer to retirement can be quite a psychological struggle.
Hitting your 40s or 50s can be a big deal, but we are here to help you make it a positive one. After all, we should be approaching the best times of our lives.
Here are some top tips that will help you change your mid-life crisis to a mid-life reboot:
- Stop pretending to enjoy things you secretly hate. You only regret being a people pleaser and resent wasting time. Be yourself while you still can.
- Sort out your finances. Work out how to clear any debts and look to the future and your retirement. Will you have enough money to support the retirement you hoped for? Maybe now is the time to think about downsizing, reducing your outgoings and upping your savings.
- Don’t be ashamed of the things you do like. Have a flake in your ice-cream. Listen to dodgy music from your teens. Nobody will judge you for going to a Rick Astley concert.
- Change your job if it makes you unhappy. There are a good few years left before you retire so don’t spend them in a role you hate or a toxic environment.
- Have a clear out at home. Declutter a shelf, a drawer, a cupboard or a room, but clear out the tat that is making you miserable. Sell it, donate it or recycle it but get rid.
- Take a day off for you. Annual leave does not need to be used for a week in the sun. Book off a Wednesday and meet a friend for lunch, indulge in a neglected hobby or take the dog to the beach. You are entitled to some days off, so use them to do things that make your heart sing.
- Cut back on the booze. We’ve certainly noticed we can’t drink like we used to. Drink more water and only drink alcohol as a treat, not to get wasted. We buy better wine these days and enjoy it with food rather than merrily working through cheap bottles of plonk.
- Get up early and make your bed. This gives you a sense of accomplishment and sets you up for the day. Use the free time to get chores out the way or do some exercise. Aim for 7 to 8 hours sleep each night and cut back on the late nights.
- Improve your diet. Eat less junk and cook more tasty and nutritious food at home. Try and double up and you’ll also have healthy left-overs for lunches. Don’t make big changes, forcing yourself to eat salads you hate. Just eat more of the healthy things that you do like and less of the bad stuff.
- Look after your skin. Youth is no longer on your side and age will take its toll on neglected skin. Always wear SPF, take your makeup off at night and be careful in the sun.
- Stop comparing yourself to others, especially to the lives on social media. Be comfortable and confident in your own skin. There is nothing wrong with dreaming of a better life, but similarly there is nothing bad about being happy with what you have achieved.
- Call a friend for a chat. We don’t talk to each other any more, instead relying on quick texts and WhatsApp messages to check in and share snippets of life with each other. It can be all to easy to hide away and burden ourselves with worry, posting only positive social media to paper over the cracks. We need to talk to each other more and share our fears as we get older. Give a friend a call and just talk.
- Let go of the past, of grudges and mistakes. Stop beating yourself up over something that happened a long time ago. Your mental health and heart rate will thank you for it.
- Also let go of the negative and toxic aspects of your life. Now is the time to live the life that makes you happy. Who would you rather spend time with … those that bring you joy or those that make you miserable? You do have a choice.
- Friends are important but so are you. Find a happy balance of spending time with friends and also time alone. We all need down time to reflect, relax and recharge.
- We all need to reduce our screen time and get into the great outdoors. Log off. Put your phone on silent. Go for a walk. And do it again tomorrow. It’s important to ensure we don’t slow down and become too sedentary as we get older, so look at how and when you use devices. Make some positive changes. Sometimes it’s nice just to go somewhere, sit down and ‘so just be’.
We hope these tips will help you out of a mid-life rut. What else have you tried to improve your life middle age? Tell us in the comments…we’d love to hear from you.
SJB
So Just Be 