When I started to be brutally honest with myself about what was going on in my own life, one of the biggest things that hit me was that not only did I not have much fun anymore, but I didn’t even know how to have fun. I didn’t even know what fun was. And as it turns out, I was far from alone among midlife men.
I’ve found a new podcast.
I say ‘new’, it was launched in 2024 so in terms of podcasts, it’s probably about middle age. Which is appropriate because it’s about middle age! I heard a couple of intros from it and every sentence I was thinking “yep… that’s me” or “that was exactly how I felt”.
It’s called MiddleMan and is by a guy called Paul Sutton who describes his own little revelation like this:
I had lost interest in my work and I felt completely trapped. I had no sense of purpose other than continuously driving my kids to and from school and sports clubs. I felt unappreciated and isolated. And I had no sense of who I was or what my place in the world was. I had become a mediocre husband, a mediocre father and a mediocre consultant.
It means any thought I have over the next period of time I’ve not yet settled on will probably be a bit middle man focussed. Hopefully with some direction coming out of it.
Though I’m not sure direction is what I need, I think I might have that. It might be the first step I need. Who knows. Anyway. This is a bit vague, much like my mind rind now. I’ll form some proper words at some point soon. I just wanted to get this written down and linked to.
For now though, you could find more people who seem to have a better way of expressing how I feel on the middlemanpodcast.
I’m very aware I have made a couple of posts this year about plans and hopes and things and then done pretty much nothing on those things. Hat tip to Chloe offof work for pointing out March is a much better time to begin again.