If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Have you ever wondered why achieving your long-term goals often leaves you feeling more empty than satisfied?
- What if the secret to overcoming a midlife crisis isn't about changing your external circumstances, but shifting how you value your time?
- Are you curious about how centuries-old philosophical wisdom can provide a practical roadmap for dealing with the regrets of middle age?
Listen to Midlife — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from Midlife
- Discover how 2,500 years of philosophical wisdom can help you brave the realities of aging and navigate midlife without a crisis.
- Understand the scientifically backed 'U-shaped' curve of lifetime happiness so you can recognize midlife dissatisfaction as a natural, temporary phase.
- Learn why aiming directly at your own happiness often leads to misery, and see how focusing on outside passions naturally generates joy as a byproduct.
- Recognize the danger of the 'ameliorative' trap, and learn to make time for hobbies and simple pleasures that have nothing to do with fixing problems.
- Overcome the angst of missed opportunities by accepting that life's choices involve 'incommensurable' values, making the feeling of missing out completely inevitable.
Midlife — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Seeing midlife as a period of crisis is fairly recent, yet there are compelling reasons to think the view is right.
Chapter 3: Aim straight for happiness, and you will inevitably miss it.
Chapter 4: The sense of missing out is unavoidable in a world crowded with conflicting values.
Chapter 5: There are strong reasons not to regret supposedly mistaken decisions.
Chapter 6: Philosophy can help us face death well.
Chapter 7: Learn to cherish the process, not the goal.
Midlife Summary & Overview
Midlife (2017) is a philosophical guide to navigating the troubles that middle age can present. Drawing on thinkers from ancient Rome to nineteenth-century England, it offers gentle solace in the face of midlife’s woes.
Who Should Listen to Midlife?
- Middle-aged people on the cusp of a midlife crisis
- Those with relatives or friends past their mid-thirties
- Anyone interested in applying philosophy to life
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