Being in your 40′s or 50′s isn’t usually associated with a lot of positive vibes in our culture. It’s the age where mental and physical powers are palpably declining, when lofty goals have long given way to harsh realities. It’s the time when men are supposedly falling into a midlife crisis and women mourn the end of their ability to have kids.

But middle age is more than the end of youth. An increasing number of researchers stress how, due to our increased longevity, middle age is turning more and more into the phase of life where hard work comes to fruition and the angst and insecurities of earlier stages fall away.

This perspective is aptly summed up in the new book “In Our Prime” by New York Times journalist Patricia Cohen, where she chronicles her own experiences with facing her 40ies, and how different they feel compared to those of her parents and grandparents. She quotes the American psychologist Stanley Hall who commented back in the 1920ies: “Modern man was not meant to do his best work before 40.”

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