Nostalgia can sneak up on you and suddenly you’re missing a version of life you can’t actually return to. After a weekend back in Colorado with old friends, I find myself asking why the “olden days” can feel so magnetic in midlife, and why trying to recreate them would only feel hollow. That tension opens the door to a better question: what am I really longing for?
We lean on Jungian analyst James Hollis and his powerful reframing of the midlife crisis as the summons of the soul. The restlessness isn’t proof you failed. It may be a sign you’re right on schedule. We unpack how the first half of life often builds a functional self: responsibility, career, family, stability, survival. Then something shifts. The second half of life asks for the true self, the parts of you that got set aside because you had to be practical and reliable.
From there, we get concrete about what helps and what hurts. Going backward doesn’t work: chasing old identities, chasing old relationships, chasing the feelings you had at 18. What does work is retrieval, moving forward while bringing back what you left behind. Creativity, play, courage, adventure, freedom, a sense of possibility. We also touch the spiritual language that echoes this inner change: letting go of false selves, becoming new, and learning to listen to what your soul is asking for rather than numbing it away.
If you’ve felt anxious, restless, or quietly unfinished, press play and sit with the question: what part of you did you leave behind that’s asking to come home? Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s feeling the midlife pull, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.
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