In a 2019 article, Arthur C. Brooks delivered some bad news: “If your profession requires mental processing speed or significant analytic capabilities—the kind of profession most college graduates occupy—noticeable decline is probably going to set in earlier than you imagine.”

How does a person manage professional decline when it comes for them—and, for that matter, the many other changes that midlife may bring? One idea that Brooks landed on in his research: a reverse bucket list. “My goal for each year of the rest of my life should be to throw out things, obligations, and relationships until I can clearly see my refined self in its best form,” he writes. Today’s newsletter explores the challenges and the opportunities of midlife.

On Midlife

Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think

By Arthur C. Brooks

Here’s how to make the most of it. (From 2019)

Read the article.

The Real Roots of Midlife Crisis

By Jonathan Rauch

What a growing body of research reveals about the biology of human happiness—and how to navigate the (temporary) slump in middle age (From 2014)

Read the article.

The Two Choices That Keep a Midlife Crisis at Bay

By Arthur C. Brooks

Middle age is an opportunity to find transcendence.

Read the article.

Still Curious?

Other Diversions

P.S.

I asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. “I recently returned to Badlands National Park with my now adult daughter,” Erick Wiger, 67, from Minneapolis, writes. “It is a place of stark, and sometimes magical beauty.”

I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks. If you’d like to share, reply to this email with a photo and a short description so we can share your wonder with fellow readers in a future edition of this newsletter or on our website. Please include your name (initials are okay), age, and location. By doing so, you agree that The Atlantic has permission to publish your photo and publicly attribute the response to you, including your first name and last initial, age, and/or location that you share with your submission.

— Isabel