Rafael, a psychologist specializing in well-being: “The midlife crisis consists of thinking you wasted your time in jobs that do not fulfill you”

Work is a constant in most adults’ lives, and the so‑called “midlife crisis” often hits hardest in the professional arena. Rafael, a psychologist who specializes in well‑being, recently explained on social media how this crisis shows up — and why it affects so many people.

“The career crisis at 40 will hit you no matter how old you are,” he says in his video. He’s talking about that moment when you suddenly feel like you’ve wasted years in jobs that never fulfilled you, where you felt undervalued, or where you simply were never happy.

A career crisis that feels like lost time

Rafael explains that “there comes a point in your life when you feel like you’ve wasted roughly half your time, and you start questioning whether this is really what you want to do for the rest of your life.”

With 15 or 20 years of work experience behind you, he says, you become much clearer about what you don’t want. That’s why he’s seeing more and more people who are fed up with corporate life and want no commitments beyond their job description. They don’t want to lead teams, they don’t want promotions, or they want to switch industries entirely.

But Rafael also warns: “None of those choices guarantee you’ll be happier at work.”

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