Where are you in your midlife journey? Are you content, peaceful, and grateful? Or are you plagued with a restlessness you can't quite put your finger on?
Midlife can be a period of significant change and introspection for many women. There are umpteen reasons why midlife women might feel restless or experience bouts of boredom during this life stage.
It's important to note that these feelings can vary greatly from person to person, and not all women will experience them in the same way. Some common reasons for restlessness or boredom in midlife women include these:
Empty Nest Syndrome: When children leave home or become more independent, mothers may experience a sense of loss and emptiness.
Career Stagnation: Some women may feel unfulfilled in their
careers, especially if they've been doing the same job for a long time. This
can lead to a desire for new challenges and opportunities.
Relationship Changes: Midlife often brings changes in relationships creating a sense of uncertainty and restlessness.
Physical Changes: The physical changes that come with menopause such as hormonal fluctuations and changes in appearance can impact a woman's self-esteem and contribute to restlessness or boredom.
Reevaluation of Life Goals: Midlife often prompts women to reevaluate their life path. Evaluation tends to take place. But too much introspection can lead to unecessary restlessness. Accepting the idea you are on God's path and that He thinks you've done a good job may be more helpful.
Loss of Purpose: Some women who have devoted a significant part of their lives to caregiving might struggle to find a new sense of purpose.
Health Concerns: Midlife can bring about health challenges, and dealing with issues like chronic illnesses or other health concerns including needed surgeries can be taxing.
Social Isolation: As children grow and a woman's social circles changes, women might experience a sense of social isolation, contributing to restlessness.
Lack of New Challenges: Some women may feel that life has become too routine lacking new and stimulating challenges.
Existential Reflection: Midlife often prompts deep existential questions about the meaning of life and one's place in the world.
Societal Pressures: Society often places expectations on women to maintain youthful appearances and continuously achieve in various life areas. These pressures can lead to a woman making comparisons to others which leads to restlessness and dissatisfaction.
On top of the above-noted in-depth causes of restlessness, a good summary is this:
A common pursuit of many midlife
women is to find life's "Holy Grail".
This 'Holy Grail' might be typified by the words happiness, success, and fulfillment. The search for this Holy Grail becomes more desperate to the midlife woman because she realizes she's been feeling less happiness, success, joy, and fulfillment lately. Life is moving quickly, and time is running out. She knows she's sacrificed a lot for others and wonders: what is there for me?
She may ask, shouldn't she have found my most excellent path by now?
Jesus did come to bring us abundant life, and he takes great joy in giving us good gifts. Make no mistake about that. But his utmost desire is for us to love him and others, seek his wisdom, and to be available for his purposes. He encourages us to stir up our gifts, to abide with him, to be in fellowship with other believers, and to keep learning, growing, and maturing.
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All through life our roles change by sheer virtue of aging. Our careers change. Relationships change. Our children’s lives change. There is no stopping the process.
There is no graduation ceremony for moms, so to speak. There are no textbooks for a woman to study to spell out what is next. So often the restlessness moms feel is fear of the unknown. Wondering what lies ahead; sensing a need to reinvent themselves but at a loss to know how to do so.
The search for re-invention and reinvigoration is an ongoing process. So let it be a 'process' without a predictable end in sight. To do this well, you'll need to learn to live in the moment, not the past, and not in fear of the future. You'll need to resist being hasty or judgmental. That is, walk through new circumstances without evaluating them harshly. Just let what is be what it is.
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| Quote by Tammy J. Hernandez |
