In The Science of Discworld, the authors talk a lot about “lies to children” ie how popular understanding of science is layers upon layers of wilfully crafted misunderstandings to give people a false sense of comprehension. Our culture is equally full of “lies to the middle aged”

US culture is particularly full of this shit. It annoys me. It gets in the way of actually having a generative, alive Act 2. It fetishes the affordances of youth. It blinds you to the affordances of maturity. It accumulates a debt of reality shock that hits you eventually.

Yeah, this is far more true than anyone will let you admit. It’s one of the deepest taboos in modernity to admit that aging is NOT a bed of roses or a graceful ascent to the peaks of wisdom and insight.

The first step to solving your problem, past 40, is to gracefully accept becoming part of the problem 😀