I got to the top of that climb around 50 and found out it was a ridge, not a summit. The credential was real. The identity was a costume.
That's not a midlife crisis. It's a false summit, and almost every high performer hits one. Meanwhile AI is quietly rewriting what credentialed work is even worth.
Second Peak is where I'm building the second half in public. Body, mind, relationships, work. Systems that actually run, not frameworks nobody executes.