Blog Dis
There goes your life...
2026-08-04
Every new decade is believed to usher in a newer and better representation of change in ourselves and our personalities. Some might agree that even preferences are affected, what we scale back and with what we push forward until kingdom come.
I like to contend that our level of sophistication, if it existed in the first place, has long been as refined as it will ever be by the time we reach our mid-point in life. If you take into consideration the average lifespan in this modern age, which hovers around 38, the habits you've engrained into your brain are here to stay, until you die. A quick note to state upfront that on average men live to the age of 76.5 years vs women who live a little longer, reaching 81.5 years. This is the reason why mid-life point is 38.25 for men. Note that I didn't make up this demarcation of mid-life age.
It might interest you to know that a British institute, specifically The Office for National Statistics (ONS), had conducted a health study years back, to compile global statistics from countries across the world, to define the point in a person's life when they're most likely to attempt suicide. Not a pretty subject-matter, though relevant nonetheless. The age that became overwhelmingly obvious in the study was 38 years. No coincidence then that this is also the mid-life point.
Up until this mid-life stage, the study concluded that life screams along at a wicked pace, from the time we are born to when we arrive at our mid-life, when we slam on the breaks, and our wheels falls off, well at least metaphorically speaking. We come to a full stop. We begin to re-evaluate what we've accomplished, as well as to analyze our past failures or plans that had failed to launch, with an extreme critical eye—a lens to examine the tiniest details of each bloody event in our lives that unwittingly contributed toward the decline of our future.
Humans are a morose lot, this I've never doubted. We gravitate toward negativity even when the beauty of life surrounds us.
But hope is a state of mind. So, if you're able to hang on tight, to ride that dragon on its downward spiral, headlong into the curve of despair, you'll begin to come out of the spiral, to pull yourself out, and ride the upward curve on wings of change. This is the point at which you'll enter your 40s. Once out of the bottom of mid-life curve, your life will become measurably better and this is essentially what the British study concluded, after all the data was analyzed.
Incidentally, you don't have to like or agree with the demarcation point of mid-life having been set at the age of 38 years. Know that these are the results of Harvard Health, determining our likely age when death occurs. I haven't even taken into consideration the various standards of living in developing nations, where the mortality rate is much higher.
If you're one of the lucky ones to be born in North America or another Western country, your standard of living and healthcare will help to ensure that there'll be less bumps along the way. I read often enough online about the likelihood of persons who'll attempt suicide. Apparently, women are four times more likely than men to attempt suicide, only men are three times more successful than women. Men will opt for more violent means to take their lives, with guns, whereas women will use less violent ways, such as swallowing a handful of pills. The reason too why women are more likely to attempt suicide over men has much, though not all, to do with our monthly hormonal swings, and that our brains are wired to experience greater frequency in periods of depression. Fair? Of course not! When is life fair?
Not so fast, however.
Men too experience dips in their hormones, and this is called the testosterone drop which fluctuates on a daily basis. But actual hormonal changes occur at a slower rate for men. Make no mistake, however, men too have a shelf life, a biological clock just like women. Once men reach the age of early to mid-30s, their hormones are on a steady downward trajectory. This is the reason why men are encouraged to father children in their 20s and 30s, rather than their 50s and 60s, owing to the detrimental qualify of their sperm, and how offspring will often have to carry the burden of developmental issues, whether it's disorders like ADHD, schizophrenia or to be on the autism spectrum. Apparently, men's sperm will accumulate genetic mutations over time, as they age. So while it seems like a good thing to be able to father children well into your 60s, and for some in their 70s, and even some in their 80s, there are obvious drawbacks; the number one issue being that you'll likely die well before your newborn reaches adulthood. But here, perhaps, I should take a moment to point out that the usage of the word 'disorder' needs to be changed, to upgrade this poorly chosen word which implies that something is wrong, rather to use a less negative connotation like condition.
I've measured the progress of my life based on having reached the mid-life point as well. You'll likely do the same if you've yet to reach 38, and this is a natural conclusion. Once past the age of 38 years, you may begin to look back fondly on your prior-to-38-life with a sense of nostalgia. What no adults can tell you or help to prepare you for is the speed with which your youth will evaporate, and by this I mean that state of mind when repercussion isn't a concept in your thought process, risk assessment, or your vocabulary. You're young and this means you'll throw all caution to the wind, and engage in devil-may-care activities. When I played on a competitive softball team for close to one decade, I was as dumb as a post. Some of my teammates and me would party after each game, and if we were given a ride home, we'd happily hang out the car window, tearing down the main highway at high speeds, killing ourselves laughing, while traffic speeded alongside us. All it would have taken is for one bump in the road and we'd have fallen out. Only an idiot behaves this way.
Dorothy Fuldheim, an American journalist and broadcaster, is known for coining the expression, "Youth is a disease from which we all recover." This is an accurate expression to define the wanton period of 'lollygagging', as my paternal Nana would say, a precious period of time in our lives, when we placed top priority on visiting with our best buds, to discuss all of life's peculiarities, and to philosophize on the meaning of death and other weighty subjects. We regarded ourselves as especially clever, too, because we have the power of youth propelling us forward.
Most know that if you're slightly under the influence of other substances, then your conversations will take on a halo of wisdom, at least this is what you'll tell yourself. But come the mid-point in life, you'll have evolved beyond these suppositions of foggy thought, hopefully in favor of having spent time reading some of the greats in literature and science, to come away with a greater and a more realistic meaning about life.
For now, you still have to time to enjoy your life. Know that you're immortal, if you're in your 20s and 30s. Your body can recover mishaps pretty quick, though I can't make this attestation regarding your brain. So, while you're in this glorious stage, there are concerts to enjoy, and travel to new countries. Sure, you'll have to endure the odd injury or two as well as family and relationship drama. Perhaps you might want to start a family or get a family of four-legged friends. There will be milestones and disappointments. There will be accomplishments and bumps along the way, to hamper your progress, that might add to your time to achieve all you want. Bear in mind, too, if you're an author, the popular inside joke is to know that an author will typically take decades to become an over-night success.
The climb up the ladder of success is achieved inches at a time, how we measure our progress, rather than to look behind ourselves, to take due note of the tracks.
I like to contend that our level of sophistication, if it existed in the first place, has long been as refined as it will ever be by the time we reach our mid-point in life. If you take into consideration the average lifespan in this modern age, which hovers around 38, the habits you've engrained into your brain are here to stay, until you die. A quick note to state upfront that on average men live to the age of 76.5 years vs women who live a little longer, reaching 81.5 years. This is the reason why mid-life point is 38.25 for men. Note that I didn't make up this demarcation of mid-life age.
It might interest you to know that a British institute, specifically The Office for National Statistics (ONS), had conducted a health study years back, to compile global statistics from countries across the world, to define the point in a person's life when they're most likely to attempt suicide. Not a pretty subject-matter, though relevant nonetheless. The age that became overwhelmingly obvious in the study was 38 years. No coincidence then that this is also the mid-life point.
Up until this mid-life stage, the study concluded that life screams along at a wicked pace, from the time we are born to when we arrive at our mid-life, when we slam on the breaks, and our wheels falls off, well at least metaphorically speaking. We come to a full stop. We begin to re-evaluate what we've accomplished, as well as to analyze our past failures or plans that had failed to launch, with an extreme critical eye—a lens to examine the tiniest details of each bloody event in our lives that unwittingly contributed toward the decline of our future.
Humans are a morose lot, this I've never doubted. We gravitate toward negativity even when the beauty of life surrounds us.
But hope is a state of mind. So, if you're able to hang on tight, to ride that dragon on its downward spiral, headlong into the curve of despair, you'll begin to come out of the spiral, to pull yourself out, and ride the upward curve on wings of change. This is the point at which you'll enter your 40s. Once out of the bottom of mid-life curve, your life will become measurably better and this is essentially what the British study concluded, after all the data was analyzed.
Incidentally, you don't have to like or agree with the demarcation point of mid-life having been set at the age of 38 years. Know that these are the results of Harvard Health, determining our likely age when death occurs. I haven't even taken into consideration the various standards of living in developing nations, where the mortality rate is much higher.
If you're one of the lucky ones to be born in North America or another Western country, your standard of living and healthcare will help to ensure that there'll be less bumps along the way. I read often enough online about the likelihood of persons who'll attempt suicide. Apparently, women are four times more likely than men to attempt suicide, only men are three times more successful than women. Men will opt for more violent means to take their lives, with guns, whereas women will use less violent ways, such as swallowing a handful of pills. The reason too why women are more likely to attempt suicide over men has much, though not all, to do with our monthly hormonal swings, and that our brains are wired to experience greater frequency in periods of depression. Fair? Of course not! When is life fair?
Not so fast, however.
Men too experience dips in their hormones, and this is called the testosterone drop which fluctuates on a daily basis. But actual hormonal changes occur at a slower rate for men. Make no mistake, however, men too have a shelf life, a biological clock just like women. Once men reach the age of early to mid-30s, their hormones are on a steady downward trajectory. This is the reason why men are encouraged to father children in their 20s and 30s, rather than their 50s and 60s, owing to the detrimental qualify of their sperm, and how offspring will often have to carry the burden of developmental issues, whether it's disorders like ADHD, schizophrenia or to be on the autism spectrum. Apparently, men's sperm will accumulate genetic mutations over time, as they age. So while it seems like a good thing to be able to father children well into your 60s, and for some in their 70s, and even some in their 80s, there are obvious drawbacks; the number one issue being that you'll likely die well before your newborn reaches adulthood. But here, perhaps, I should take a moment to point out that the usage of the word 'disorder' needs to be changed, to upgrade this poorly chosen word which implies that something is wrong, rather to use a less negative connotation like condition.
I've measured the progress of my life based on having reached the mid-life point as well. You'll likely do the same if you've yet to reach 38, and this is a natural conclusion. Once past the age of 38 years, you may begin to look back fondly on your prior-to-38-life with a sense of nostalgia. What no adults can tell you or help to prepare you for is the speed with which your youth will evaporate, and by this I mean that state of mind when repercussion isn't a concept in your thought process, risk assessment, or your vocabulary. You're young and this means you'll throw all caution to the wind, and engage in devil-may-care activities. When I played on a competitive softball team for close to one decade, I was as dumb as a post. Some of my teammates and me would party after each game, and if we were given a ride home, we'd happily hang out the car window, tearing down the main highway at high speeds, killing ourselves laughing, while traffic speeded alongside us. All it would have taken is for one bump in the road and we'd have fallen out. Only an idiot behaves this way.
Dorothy Fuldheim, an American journalist and broadcaster, is known for coining the expression, "Youth is a disease from which we all recover." This is an accurate expression to define the wanton period of 'lollygagging', as my paternal Nana would say, a precious period of time in our lives, when we placed top priority on visiting with our best buds, to discuss all of life's peculiarities, and to philosophize on the meaning of death and other weighty subjects. We regarded ourselves as especially clever, too, because we have the power of youth propelling us forward.
Most know that if you're slightly under the influence of other substances, then your conversations will take on a halo of wisdom, at least this is what you'll tell yourself. But come the mid-point in life, you'll have evolved beyond these suppositions of foggy thought, hopefully in favor of having spent time reading some of the greats in literature and science, to come away with a greater and a more realistic meaning about life.
For now, you still have to time to enjoy your life. Know that you're immortal, if you're in your 20s and 30s. Your body can recover mishaps pretty quick, though I can't make this attestation regarding your brain. So, while you're in this glorious stage, there are concerts to enjoy, and travel to new countries. Sure, you'll have to endure the odd injury or two as well as family and relationship drama. Perhaps you might want to start a family or get a family of four-legged friends. There will be milestones and disappointments. There will be accomplishments and bumps along the way, to hamper your progress, that might add to your time to achieve all you want. Bear in mind, too, if you're an author, the popular inside joke is to know that an author will typically take decades to become an over-night success.
The climb up the ladder of success is achieved inches at a time, how we measure our progress, rather than to look behind ourselves, to take due note of the tracks.
