Don't worry, Millennials. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung said life really begins at the age of 40.

Many Millennials feel they got a raw deal in life. Their younger years were marked by the 9/11 attacks, the War on Terror, and the Great Recession. When they got older, if they pursued higher education, they faced skyrocketing student debt, and as adults, the cost of living has made buying a home nearly impossible for many. Add that to a chaotic, polarized political world, COVID-19, and One Direction breaking up in 2014—Millennials have a decent reason to say they’ve been given a raw deal.

Once seen as the younger generation, Millennials are now aged 29 to 44, and if all the turmoil they’ve experienced has left them with a sour taste in their mouths or a list of unfulfilled dreams, there is reason for hope. Carl Jung, one of the most important psychologists who ever lived, believed that life begins at 40. In fact, a quote commonly attributed to him is: "Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research."

Carl Jung believed that life begins at 40

The interesting thing about Jung’s idea is that the satisfaction that comes in middle age comes from a place where younger people currently aren’t looking. The significant change occurs when people shift their focus from the outside world to the inside. Jung’s views on life after 40 were outlined by philosophy content creator Nick Kasmik in a recent Instagram post.

“Around the middle of your life, [Jung] observed a natural psychological shift. The outward tasks of life give way to more of an inward movement. This movement initiates the process he calls individuation through which a person seeks integration rather than an expansion,” Kasmik says. “The psyche begins to turn into the inner world, drawing attention to the parts of the self that had been ignored or repressed, undervalued during those times in your 20s.”

To put it simply: As people reach middle age, they are no longer as concerned with pursuits in the outside world, such as school, career, building an identity, and chasing new experiences. Instead, Jung says that when this shift occurs, we go through a process of individuation, in which we integrate the shadow parts of ourselves that we don’t show the world—with our public face or persona.

What is individuation?

“Individuation involves acknowledging the shadow, the hidden or unaccepted elements of your character. These elements are not to be condemned or eliminated from yourself, but recognized as belonging to the whole,” Kasmik continues. “Yung believed that the acceptance of the shadow brought psychological balance and moral strength. During this stage, many people begin to reorder their own values. Their attention moves towards meaning, authenticity, and more of an inner life.”

So, instead of trying to expand your life, you become whole by embracing your entire self, not just the part you want to show the world. It’s like letting out a deep sigh and becoming a whole person for the first time.

This has to be good news for some Millennials out there who have found the first four decades of their lives challenging. Mainly because most of the problems have come from trying to make your way in the outside world. Being able to turn inward, away from the pressures of the world, to reach a feeling of wholeness and authenticity has to bring an incredible sense of peace.

Unfortunately, this phase of life, individualation, doesn’t just come in a flash, like a moment of enlightenment. Instead, it’s a process of introspection that requires brutal honesty and patience. But in the end, you get to find your true self. Not the persona you’ve built or the shadow you’ve hidden, but a comprehensive person that shows up in the world in a totally authentic way. However, according to Dr. Jolande Jacobi, a Swiss psychologist who worked with Jung, the process isn’t easy, but totally worth it.

"This way to the broadening of the personality consists, as we have seen, in a gradual exploration of the contents and functions of the total psyche and of their effect on the ego,” Jolande explains. “It leads the individual to know himself for what he naturally is, as distinguished from what he would like to be--and probably nothing is more difficult for a human being."