Right now, you're here. But you want to be there. You can see it so clearly; in fact, if it were any closer, you could just reach out and grab it. So, why don't you just grab it? Just go for it? That was your plan in the days leading up to this year: You were going to do it right. Big. 2013 was going to be your Best. Year. Ever.

Tim Allen is not having a midlife crisis. He's been too busy to deal with such a thing. He seems free and clear of doing anything irrational to make himself feel young and invincible.

On Thursday, a Chinese restaurateur swerved his new Cadillac Escalade to the side of I-15 outside Barstow, Ca. to pick this hitchhiker up on the way to Flagstaff, Az., a six-hour ride drive.

I've just turned 54, and I'm hitchhiking from metro San Francisco to the East Coast. I don't know exactly where I'm going, but I'll be looking for carnival work along the way.

When your middle-aged spouse begins questioning past decisions and starts making dramatic changes in his life, you can bet he's experiencing a midlife...

Boomer suicide and substance abuse rates are on the rise. Could it be that we did not face the kind of adversity growing up that creates successful coping skills? Were we raised to be too optimistic, and now find we cannot deal with how it all turned out?

What is normal and to be expected as we move into our 40s and 50s? What do most boomers have in common psychologically, simply because of their place in American history? Myths and misinformation abound, but what do we know for sure?

A midlife crisis -- if you fully embrace the stereotype -- can be expensive. Fancy car... trophy spouse... new body... new career. But -- as with so many things -- your buck buys you more when you take your midlife crisis to a tropical paradise and teach it to dance the salsa. Consider these alternatives...

Sadly, I find far too many men and women who are damaged or destroyed while trying to negotiate this sometimes difficult life transition. Too often this time is spent feeling alone, confused, misunderstood, and marginalized, when it should be celebrated as a time to come into your own power.

The conundrum: how best to squeeze time in for you? Meaningful time, that is. Coffee with a friend, a movie, dare we engage in the idea of a girl's night out? Will this constant cacophony ever quiet to a mild roar? Is it me, or is it all just moving too fast?

Rising job/career loss concerns, too much information and major cultural shifts since WWII have affected us all, unless of course you live in a media-free bubble, in which case you probably aren't reading this anyway.

In retrospect, I think I was somehow lucky the day I lost my job and my career back in the spring of 2004. No one could have convinced me at the time, but I now see that apparent misfortune as the opportunity of a lifetime. I finally had the time to contemplate my past choices.

We all fear changes in our lives, and most of us associate change with negative results. That's why I like to re-frame the idea of change by pointing out that without change, nothing in this world would ever get better.

We entered our forties together and, after a few years, I fell apart. But he did not and it didn't seem fair. I thought we were in this together.

I know a great deal about fitness. I also know a great deal about vices. More specifically, I know a great deal about fitness and drinking. It's a love story. The two go together like ebony and ivory.

I went through the most devastating time in my life starting around age 39. First, I married the wrong man, got divorced seven years later, and soon after, lost my job and 25-year career at age 49.

The following is an excerpt from the new book "Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment" by Katrina Kenison. I tried to sneak past my fift...

Whatever has spurred my momentary malaise, it is time for action, to prove I am not invisible, that I am not as predictable as I appear. But how to make mine a more 'interesting' story? Several possible scenarios come to mind.

When I ran into my own life crisis around age 49 -- a divorce and losing my job for the first time ever -- I took the time to sit and consider what I wanted more of in life. I decided I wanted more fun and meaning, but I did not realize at the time how much courage these goals would require.

Aging has got to be OK; we have no choice. We hope for the day when women and men are not devalued for not being young, when they don't feel impelled to "fix" their faces as a hedge against invisibility.

Normally, when it comes to movies, I'm a Bond kind of gal. Last week, between the cruddy news in the world and the looming changes in my own nest, I found myself in a bathrobe-wearing, chocolate-grazing sort of mood, for which the only cure is to watch a movie about women, starring women, and for women.

Midlife crisis. We hardly even question the term any more. A staple of our pop culture, the midlife crisis appears in movies, TV sitcoms, news stories, commentaries and magazine ads for red sports cars. But is the idea of a midlife crisis really a myth?