Monthly Archives: November 2021

Spotting A Midlife Crisis – And How To Help

We’ve all heard the term “midlife crisis” more than a few times, and it’s fair to say it’s rarely something that is spoken about either positively or sympathetically. The usual connotation of the term is of a person – usually, but not always male – who gets fed up with their life and starts behaving oddly. They might buy a new, flash car that’s inappropriate for their needs; they may have an extramarital affair, or try to; they might even quit their job and announce an entirely unrealistic plan to retrain as a pilot or a stunt person.

The truth of the matter is that a midlife crisis is something that happens to a lot of us, though we usually only get to hear about the ones that conform to cliche. It’s not simply a matter of someone trying desperately to regain their lost youth. There’s a lot more to the concept of a midlife crisis than a lot of people realize – and it’s only right that we explain this in a bit more detail so that you can spot it in someone you care about, and help to bring them out the other side.

 

What is a midlife crisis?

Although the concept of a midlife crisis is not something that has a medical consensus behind it, it is broadly agreed that there are certain aspects that define it. It is considered to strike between the ages of 45 and 65, and is driven by specific factors:

  • A focus, often obsessive, on the inevitability of death
  • A belief that one’s best days are in the past and that a decline is inevitable and inexorable
  • A feeling that one’s achievements in life amount to nothing

Different people will react differently to these stimuli; hence, those who feel that their best days are behind them may try to cling on to aspects of youth – trying too hard and in inappropriate ways to relate to people decades their junior, for example. They may also panic about leaving a legacy, which is why some people quit a well-paying job to follow a dream they may not have had even when they were younger.

 

How else may a midlife crisis affect someone?

 

The focus on death and the feeling of insignificance may bear itself out in the cliched examples set out above, it’s true. It might also have a more prosaic and darker path, leading to feelings of depression and stress that can become damaging to a person’s health. It’s been remarked upon that the timing of a midlife crisis tends to coincide with a time when hormone production begins to change in the human body, and men may experience positive results with testosterone replacement therapy. In any case, stripped of the Hollywood-style image we have of a midlife crisis, feelings of depression or stress are not to be taken lightly and should be approached in a sensible, sensitive way.

 

What signs might we see in a person experiencing a midlife crisis?

Many of the signs to look for are similar to someone experiencing depression and/or stress. They may be perpetually tired, but struggle to actually sleep. They may cease to find enjoyment in the things they used to love doing. Some people will become irritable and shout more often, and some may dramatically change in appearance; sometimes gaining weight; sometimes losing their hair; sometimes simply ceasing to care about how they look. Although they will often become more monosyllabic, on the occasions they do open up they may well express a sense of regret about the way they have lived and lament missed opportunities.

 

The Essentials Of Hearty Winter Cooking

For many, one of the main joys of the winter is that it is an opportunity to create and craft some beautiful hearty meals. There are plenty such meals that you might be keen on having in your repertoire, and it is a good idea to make sure you have a few of them clearly understood, so that you can much more effectively and evocatively know how to create them at a moment’s notice. In this post, we are going to make that a lot easier by looking through some of the essentials of hearty winter cooking. As long as you bear the following in mind, you should be able to create wonderful winter meals.

One of the things you will probably find yourself turning to quite often when you are cooking winter meals is cooking in a deep pot. There are so many amazing meals that are cooked this way, and it’s important that you are doing all you can to find a pot that you can use for such meals as well as possible. You might be keen to cook a chicken pot pie recipe with biscuits, for instance, in which case you’ll certainly need this – or a casserole, which will require a casserole dish or just any deep dish that you can use.

Hand Blending

Very often, you are going to find that there is a need to do some blending by hand. For example, you might be looking at creating some delicious soups – as these are always popular in the colder months – and in that case you will certainly need to have a blender that you can easily use. These days you can easily get hold of some powerful hand blenders for this job, so they are definitely worth looking into if you are keen to make a lot of soups this year – and even some stews will require this sort of help as well.

So much winter cooking relies upon using a lot of spice, for the obvious reason that it provides plenty of heat, so you might want to think about stocking up on your spice rack essentials too. Really there is no such thing as having too many spices in your kitchen, so this is something that you might as well go out and shop for right away. The more you have, the more taste you can put into all of your winter dishes, and in a way which is going to be so much easier than if you had no such spices lying around at all. Often the spices are what really makes the dish heart in the first place, so that is something you’ll want to bear in mind.

As you can see, there are a few essentials to consider when you are trying to create beautiful homemade winter meals. As long as you have thought about the above, you’ll find that making those kinds of meals is a lot easier than you might have thought.