Midlife crises stereotypically result in a a sports car or a mistress. These days they might take a whole other form: Belatedly having kids! Talk about distraction from life going downhill from here. It still sucks, you just don't have to dwell on it.
Getting fit really helps, especially if you've never been athletic. I love cycling and have always done a lot of it, but COVID and WFH changed the nature of it. Instead of a "baseline" of bike commutes and extra sporty rides on top of that, it was all sporty rides. And while Strava reminds me that elite athletes can climb a hill over twice as fast as I can, and naturally athletic people in my age group are still 5-10% faster, it's still fun to try to beat my segment time up that hill and then it has knock-on benefits like better sleep, and even motivation to shed a few pounds because that too will help the hill climb time.
Getting fit really helps, especially if you've never been athletic. I love cycling and have always done a lot of it, but COVID and WFH changed the nature of it. Instead of a "baseline" of bike commutes and extra sporty rides on top of that, it was all sporty rides. And while Strava reminds me that elite athletes can climb a hill over twice as fast as I can, and naturally athletic people in my age group are still 5-10% faster, it's still fun to try to beat my segment time up that hill and then it has knock-on benefits like better sleep, and even motivation to shed a few pounds because that too will help the hill climb time.
Markus