Of annual rituals and midlife crisis...

The worst thing about a mid life crisis ?
You are only half way through all the shit that life's gonna throw at you!
Anon.

So the big day approaches, and for the first time with trepidation it seems. I have always been relaxed about my birthday and actually loved the thought of getting older and wiser. This year, truth be told, I am more preoccupied with the older and have totally forgotten about the wiser part of things!

Of course everyone tells me that life begins at this age - but alas, alas that is only said by those who are a half a decade or more older than I am, never anyone younger. I wonder why.

Got me thinking about what mid-life crisis are usually associated with women - are they in fact different from those we have been socialized into believing that are normally experienced by men?

Wikipedia highlights some interesting characteristics: search of an undefined dream or goal, a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished, desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness, need to spend more time alone or with certain peers. The reality however is that I do have all those feelings from time to time, and no, not triggered by the panic of getting older. How then is this different this time around?

That aside, I could use the excuse of such a crisis to do a couple of things I have at sometime or the other 'flirted' with doing:

• Become a cougar - forget the old phrase of 'robbing the cradle' , the new sign of youth these days is having some one younger on your arm; can already imagine in my minds eye how scandalized the Ghanaian public would be - but that's the nice things about getting older, you don't give a damn!
  
• Take up a new sport - forget tennis, golf and all the other ' accepted' sports for this age bracket - will go explore something like rollerblading or skateboarding (there is a nice Fan Ice ramp in the Trade Fair!); granted the bones won't heal like they used to, but yes, will get one helluva workout anyway;
• Go to India in the quest of spiritual fulfillment : could find by self by losing myself amidst ashrams and yogis.
• Take a stance on not declaring my real age : after all, I could object to my personal classification on any form by refusing to state my gender or race - why not for age? at least it would avoid me ticking the box below what I now am entitled to tick - at least for the next 9 days!
  

Or on the other hand I could simply just relax, do all the things I like to do anyway: look at eye candy of all ages, exercise when I feel like and panic when my dress size goes up again, go do yoga at the YMCA and tick the damn box, after all I am fabulous at any age!