My first mid-life crisis was at 39 years of age. Most uncharacteristic of my typical 'late-bloomer' pattern, this is the only event in my life that had arrived earlier than is usually anticipated.
The way I think about mid-life crisis, is we've outgrown the outfit we've been wearing for a considerable length of time, and we begin to feel like we need a new one that's more comfortable and suits us better, at this time in our existence.
Our problem is, we have NO idea where to shop for that new outfit, or would look and feel like! Trust me, this can be incredibly painful. I lost over 1/3 of my hair, during this tormenting, stressful time!
Here's the deal: It helps to start trusting that you'll find your passion again~ perhaps under a new rock. It can be comforting to realize that zillions of people have had to navigate this terrain before you. It's ESSENTIAL to shorten your horizon goal. In short, no matter what your age, QUIT thinking, "what can I be happy DOING the rest of my life?!" It's way too big a bite to chew right now.
This is THE major mistake folks make, when changing career directions, or augmenting the one they currently have. Every passing decade brings radical changes in us. Hell, every year that goes by, we're growing and changing~ so long-range thinking never works here!
I had no idea in my 30's, I was gonna end up being a healer. I loved what I was doing for a living, but had already been aware for 3 - 4 years prior, that it wasn't gonna gratify me long-term (like into my 80's). I sensed I needed MORE, but didn't know what that was, and felt stagnant and stuck.
It's easy to forget about our fantasies and dreams of childhood or even adolescence when we're focused on survival issues~ and yet, those early daydreams of ours often hold the key to who we ultimately become. OR, you discover quite by accident, that you're doing the thing you do, long before you even think to legitimize it!
A book that helped me get unstuck and pointed in a more fruitful direction, was "FEAL THE FEAR, AND DO IT ANYWAY," by Dr. Susan Jeffers. It was for me, a life changer, because it helped me delineate what made me feel excited about the potential of what might lie ahead.
While it wasn't part of my immediate fantasy based on Jeffers' book, I two years later enrolled myself in a college psych program and began matriculating toward my BA in Human Behavior Psychology, only because I (finally) realized I was born to do this work.
If you're at the point of "where do I go from here?" ask yourself: What would I like to TRY for the next month or two? If I don't fall in love with THAT, what would I like to try NEXT, for a few months? In other words, keep your timeline brief, and experiment with how different vocations or jobs FEEL to ya. You might discover you have a special aptitude for something you'd never before even dreamed existed!