Riding The Bend

By Marianne Schofield  | 11th Jan 2023

I was in my twenties when I first heard about ‘The U-Bend of Life’ as coined by a 2010 Economist article*. It says that life doesn’t get progressively worse as you age but instead follows a bend where the hardest years are your 40’s and early 50’s. Happiness levels are high during the fun and carefree 20’s and 30’s and in the later years after you retire you are generally more settled and content. At my life stage now I have parents who are in the so called ‘happy zone’ without the stress of mortgages, the 9-5 and young children. Of course ageing isn’t a picnic either with potential health issues but with age does often come a sense of contentment and happiness that their younger selves were always striving for.  The middle section of life delivers the hardest years when people tend to have demanding kids, tricky relationships and most of all challenging jobs.  At the time I heard this, age 27, life was still pretty fun, so it was hard to imagine what was to come.  But as I find myself and my peers heading into it now, I have a new perspective!  

My viewpoint of the U-Bend is enhanced by my field of work as a Coach as I hear peoples struggles and challenges frequently. And whilst this way of looking at a life-time certainly doesn’t apply to everyone as we are all on our own individual journeys it does ring true with a lot of people. I do a lot of career coaching and by your 40’s and 50’s you are generally well into your career path. We spend more time at work than we do with our loved ones so if you aren’t happy with the job that takes up so much of your time it can lead to anxiety and depression. Yet the job role you are in and the way of life you have created for yourself can make it incredibly difficult to change. Perhaps you want to switch to something new that you would love doing but can’t afford a potential pay cut or perhaps you still haven’t worked out what it is you love doing? Either way there is a decision to make… do you ride the bend and look forward to the next stage as you retire or do you make a change now? 

There are no wrong answers here but there are ways to make each one better. If you pick the former look at the options you have to make your ‘now’ more fulfilling. Is there a better work / life balance to be sought? Do you need some new goals to give your life a kick start? Do you need to look at the people you surround yourself with? Perhaps you just need to take a breath and reset before you can make a decision? Look at where you are now and start to ask yourself those difficult questions.

If you are up for the challenge of a change of career to something more personally rewarding what strategies do you need to put in place to make this happen? Who will you need support from? How do you make what might seem impossible possible? How do you create a change? Career coaching is a great way to navigate through this, helping you understand the situation you are in before building a plan towards a more rewarding and fulfilling job.

Looking back now at my 27 year old self I’m not sure why the original Economist article had such an effect on me to remember it all these years later. Perhaps it is because I was so interested in waiting to see where my journey would take me, what could break me and what would make me. Who knows what is next but for anyone like myself ‘riding the bend’ use today to stop and reflect. Are you going to continue the journey or are you going to make a change? Best wishes and happiness, whatever you decide.



References:

*https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2010/12/16/the-u-bend-of-life

*https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxzNKuWVerMWeHNpYVZjVFh3Z3M/edit?resourcekey=0-BbZAblK3lrc-tsux_pAcug