Whereas the midlife crisis was considered a male phenomenon, both males and females share the midlife calm. Not everyone finds a soft place to fall in mid-age, however. It's very difficult to get a job when you're in your 50s. Maybe you don't get as good a job as you had before, but you don't starve. You suck it up and go on with life.
People face all sorts of setbacks.
One of the worst, notes Kessler, is finding out a spouse is having an affair. It's amazing what a typical person goes through but survives. The thing that strikes you is how enormously resilient men and women are. It gives you faith in the human spirit. Even those at very high risk underestimate their situation.