How to Survive Your Midlife Blues

Midlife malaise is common, but happiness rebounds as we get older

That midlife feeling of pervasive disappointment or malaise is normal and promises brighter feelings ahead, find researchers. TheVisualsYouNeed/Shutterstock

I’m in my 50s—a bit past midlife, but not exactly into old age. My kids have grown, I have a good career, my marriage is solid, and I’m still reasonably healthy. So, life satisfaction should be mine for the plucking.

But it’s not. I’m no happier than most people I know, and in many cases less so. Why am I in a slump when everything seems to be going, well, right?