Most people will tell you that the issues you focus on when going through a midlife crisis or menopause are not real. I am suggesting that they ARE real and need attention. Before understanding how identity works, you may blame others and demand that they change without questioning your involvement in the pattern or the old painful self-concept that makes things look distorted and like 'the end of the world.' You may also go the other route and 'stuff' the issue without ever addressing it, hoping that the hormonal surge will blow over, and you can go on with 'business as usual' without having to confront anyone. However, if you want to be free and liberate your own energy (while helping your partners, children, and close people do the same), you may want to take these distress signals seriously.