Midlife Blues

I can't identify for certain when it started. I think the earliest indication was that I had difficulty in conversations. Sometimes I had plenty to say, but found it impossible to compose the thoughts into coherent discourse; othertimes I found it nigh impossible to string two words together. I'm quite sure people would have found me rather odd. At work and at home, I found it very difficult to choose my battles – every disagreement was a watershed issue, and "letting it go" was a luxury for people with fewer and lesser concerns than me. I was given a much heavier cross to bear. More recently, I found I was overly emotional about relationships and work: after coming across anything to do with parent/child emotional connections in my children's bedtime stories, I would have to stop and wait for composure to return before continuing; I'd break down on criticism from my wife that I worked too much; and officious emails from my boss that failed to show any understanding of my situation would upset me.