Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of the savvy psychologist.

I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson and every week I will help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a

sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

So this week I'll channel my best talking heads and on behalf of every middle-aged adult ask how did I get here?

Plus why time seems to fly as we get older.

So the midlife crisis, while not an actual diagnosis, is enough of a cultural phenomenon

to instantly conjure up images of balding guys and impulsively purchased red sports cars,

or women of a certain age getting nipped and tucked.

But while not everyone has a wine-soaked midlife crisis accessorized within Ashley Madison

account, there is certainly developmental evidence that middle adulthood

defined as approximately ages 40 to 65 can be a difficult stage.

So what is it about midlife that is so challenging?

Well, last week in our episode about the quarter life crisis, we talked about Eric Ericsson's

psychosocial stages of development. And guess what? There is a challenge for middle

adulthood as well. It's the seventh of the eight life stages and it's called Generativity

versus stagnation. And as the name implies, the challenge is to be productive,

to give back through a career, to be active in our community, raise good kids to send forth into the world, or otherwise care for those

around us. Anything that benefits others falls into the generativity bucket.

Stagnation, on the other hand, is being self-absorbed, taking more than you give, or choosing

not to contribute.

So therefore, health problems that keep you from giving don't count against you here. But stagnation,

predictably, leads to feeling disconnected or alienated, which in turn can set the stage

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