It turns out there’s science behind why sometime in middle age, we run out of fucks to give.
Let’s start with the science, because this isn’t about you becoming a worse person. It’s about your brain finally doing some overdue maintenance.
For decades, your prefrontal cortex—the part of your brain responsible for executive function, social behavior, and impulse control—has been working overtime. It’s been monitoring social cues, calculating risks, suppressing authentic responses, and managing everyone else’s emotional experience.
This is exhausting work. And it turns out, it’s unsustainable.
Research in neuroscience shows that as we age, the brain undergoes a process called synaptic pruning. Neural pathways that aren’t essential get trimmed away. Your brain is essentially Marie Kondo-ing itself, keeping what serves you and discarding what doesn’t.