In Parade magazine, actor Richard Dreyfuss spoke candidly of his continuing search for purpose and meaning during his midlife years:

Some men react to turning 50 by putting on gold chains, open-collar shirts, and bad hair, and they begin chasing 21-year-old girls. I have no interest in that, though I can relate to the terror they're reacting to. It all comes from reaching a point in your life where the things you used to take for granted you're no longer certain about. That includes your ambitions, your relationships—even your sexuality. Men going through this are generally not talked about too much. But there's a lot going on here. It's all about revelations and about regrets about how you've led your life.

Speaking of his earlier career years, Dreyfuss comments, "I definitely believed I was a talented guy." He was just 30 when he won an Oscar for "Goodbye Girl." But privately, he couldn't accept his own achievements:

The problem was that it came too easily and too quickly. I was very comfortable in pursuit of success. It turned out that I wasn't happy in the attainment. I felt that success isolated me. I felt unsure of myself and out of place, which is why I got really bad into drugs. Drugs gave me the ability to enter a room without feeling so horrible. Of course, they also led me to behave terribly….

Those things I did are done, and it's up to me as to what I can still do. What I've learned is the need to pay attention.