Busting the Midlife Crisis Myth

What the research actually says about this stage of life, and why “it’s too late for me” doesn’t hold up.

Somewhere along the way, most of us picked up a story about this stage of life. The best years are behind you. It’s a slow slide from here. If you were going to do something different, you’d have done it by now.

It sounds like common sense. It turns out it isn’t.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty spent years as an NPR correspondent, and when she reached midlife she did what reporters do: she went looking for the evidence. In Life Reimagined, she digs into neuroscience, genetics, and one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever conducted. What she found looks a lot less like a crisis and a lot more like a turning point.

In this session, we’ll look at a few of those findings and hold them up against the beliefs about age we’ve been quietly carrying. Not to talk anyone into optimism. Just to check the facts.

This isn’t a book club. You don’t need to have read anything. Whether you’ve been with us all season or this is your first time in the room, you’re exactly on time.

What to expect:

• In person, small group, real conversation
• No prep, no homework, no pressure to share more than you’re comfortable with
• You’ll name one belief about age you’ve been carrying and leave with evidence against it