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piqer for: Global finds Health and Sanity Doing Good
Bangalore-based Rashmi Vasudeva's journalism has appeared in many Indian and international publications over the past decade. A features writer with over nine years of experience heading a health and fitness supplement in a mainstream Indian newspaper, her niche areas include health, wellness, fitness, food, nutrition and Indian classical Arts.
Her articles have appeared in various publications including Mint-Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, Deccan Herald (mainstream South Indian newspaper), Smart Life (Health magazine from the Malayala Manorama Group of publications), YourStory (India's media technology platform for entrepreneurs), Avantika (a noir arts and theatre magazine), ZDF (a German public broadcasting company) and others.
In 2006, she was awarded the British Print-Chevening scholarship to pursue a short-term course in new-age journalism at the University of Westminster, U.K. With a double Masters in Globalisation and Media Studies from Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), University of Amsterdam and Swansea University in Wales, U.K., she has also dabbled in academics, travel writing and socio-cultural studies. Mother to a frisky toddler, she hums 'wheels on the bus' while working and keeps a beady eye on the aforementioned toddler's antics.
Why Are The Middle-Aged Running So Much (And What Are They Chasing)
This charming personal narrative brings to mind Lewis Carroll's ‘Through the Looking Glass’ where the Red Queen and Alice are constantly running but going nowhere. The Red Queen admonishes Alice by saying: "It takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run twice as fast as that."
According to this author, a senior sports writer, this is precisely what many going through a mid-life crisis are doing. Taking himself as a prime example, he runs the reader (pardon the pun) through why people in their middle age are flocking to gyms for intense workouts, going on challenging races and running marathons like never before. Yes, mid-life crisis, as the author also admits, is a tired pop-psychology trope, often represented by balding men looking for flings. But statistical and anecdotal evidence suggest there is another side to this age of introspection.
In fact, there has been much scientific debate about whether a mid-life crisis actually exists; but it does make intuitive sense. Once you reach 40 or thereabouts, you tend to focus a lot more on mortality, the amount of time (and youth) that has already passed and what is left to do. This naturally creates anxiety propped up further by stress and ennui.
But if the author is to be believed, there is a sort of 'mid-life correction' that people are looking to do by taking on challenges normally reserved for youngsters and pushing their physical limits through endurance sports and extreme fitness. As the author puts it, it is hard to outrun depression and mid-life anxiety but you can make them your partners and keep moving.
A great read that forces you to question yourself and your motives in many ways, this article is part of a riveting series titled 'Great Escape', which is examining how human beings are wired for escape and how we are often running away (metaphorically and otherwise) from our everyday lives, our troubles, and sometimes, our minds.
