How ‘chrysalis thinking’ can help you get the most out of your midlife reinvention

Midlife gets a bad rap. “Chrysalis thinking” is the new buzzword for how we can all capture the opportunity that this extra bit of time gives us. The idea is that we should think of our middle life as “not a crisis but a chrysalis” because beyond the first flush of youth, once we have navigated Q2 – that bit of time between 25 and 50, jobs, kids, houses, worldly success – we hit midlife, and this is the time when we can truly flourish. David Blanchflower’s global research shows that unhappiness peaks at 47 – when many start to ask “is this it?” at the same time as dealing with the midlife cluster bomb of divorce, bereavement, redundancy, elderly parents, teenage dramas and health issues. Do the “painful” work of the messy middle and we have the chance to become the people we always wanted to be before life got in the way; it’s the last roll of the dice.