Midlife has traditionally been described as the passage of play between the forties and fifties but given that we live longer, and that our lives are getting more complex and non-linear, some of the phenomena that are typically attributed to midlife could possibly be felt by people in their thirties and sixties. It is that phase where we are at least about five to ten years into our working life and have five to ten years of working life ahead of us. One could call it the high seas of our working life where no lighthouse is to be seen for comfort.

It is also that phase of life when people’s mental and physical bandwidths are often choked because of a triple whammy. This is often the time when: a) work life is the most intense; b) kids are at the phase where they demand a lot of time; and c) parents start ageing and require greater attention to their health issues.

As a student of leadership, journeys and transitions, I have observed that all of us encounter these turbulent passages of play in our lives where multiple things come together across our professional and personal fronts and cause a knot that seems...