According to Wikipedia:

Midlife crisis is a term first coined by Elliott Jaques referring to a critical phase in human development during the forties to early sixties, based on the character of change points, or periods of transition. The period is said to vary among individuals and between men and women. Despite popular perception of this phenomenon, empirical research has failed to show that the midlife crisis is a universal experience, or even a real condition at all.

According to psychologist and writer Oliver Robinson, a life crisis is defined as a period characterized by unstable mental and emotional health, altering the course of their lives and affecting them for a year or longer. Life crises usually have similar characteristics for each age group. Those in the early midlife stage are more likely to experience the deaths of loved ones, while declines in physical strength and vitality and impending death or work stoppage are more likely to affect people in late midlife. Effects of crises vary from being beneficial to some and life altering in a negative way for others. About half the people studied found results of their crises to be positive.

Last week, I turned 46 and was/am in the middle of a full-blown, real midlife crisis—questioning most of the decisions I’ve made in my adult life and evaluating what, if anything, I want to change regarding marriage, job, where I live, church, etc. Focusing on my happiness sounds pretty self-centered, but I know that I am the only one responsible for my mental and emotional state and I have been neglecting myself.

A friend recently told me about The Four Agreements. I am going to make them part of my daily life. Perhaps I am daft, but I need constant, visual reminders.