Mid-life...

In the past, the major shift in identity that women faced was the transition from mother to freedom.  Now it is shifting aspirations with the turn of each decade of their lives.

Women enter the workplace with high expectations of career advancement. 

As they enter their 30's and their career focus narrows, they seek meaningful and challenging work.  As they cope with the ongoing inequality in the workplace, their disappointments of dreams unmet, and continually feeling misunderstood and mismanaged, they begin to drop off the corporate ladder. Their personal values and corporate values may become irreconcilable.2

By the time they enter their 40's, many lose their taste for proving themselves.  These women have not faced a crisis, but they are facing a mid-life quest for identity.

 Self-sufficient women fall down a deeper rabbit hole. Mirroring Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, these women feel the muscle of meeting their needs of safety, sustainability and status on their own. And since the 1960's, 

For smart, goal-driven women, a mid-life crisis isn't about recovering lost youth. It's about discovering the application of their greatness. The problem is that no one has defined what "greatness" looks like so the quest has no specific destination.

Having the goal of "being great" is as hard to define as it is to achieve. There is always "the next great thing" to master, which may leave them feeling incomplete.  That is the "Burden of Greatness."