Middle age can be experienced as a period of transition. As one moves out of their prime, through their 40s, to the point of seniority in their 50s and 60s, it is a time of adjustment, of coming to terms with departing youth and connecting with a new stage of life. It involves a process of shifting identity, of being true to one’s growing experience of themselves, while also discover what remains of their former self. Middle age thus offers a unique opportunity to integrate this contradictory dynamic and use it as a springboard for a different level of creative and problem-solving capacity. It is a moment of change, between the habitual past and navigable future, providing possibilities for discovery, affirmation and recreation unavailable before or since.

See also: right hemisphere, left hemisphere, brain damage, split brain