I am willing to bet there's a lot of variation in "midlife crisis". I glanced at Wikipedia to see, and one of the possible sources seems to be when people refle

I am willing to bet there's a lot of variation in "midlife crisis". I glanced at Wikipedia to see, and one of the possible sources seems to be when people reflect and realize they have not accomplished much. For all the things I've done that normal society considers "accomplishments" (learning to play piano, winning in competitive chess and sports, etc) none, I think, have been as good (for the world and long-term me) as the direct effects of my charitable donations to cost-effective charities. I'm 36 now, so maybe I'll have a midlife crisis in the future (I'm still young); even if I didn't have those accomplishment, I don't think I'll be able to wallow in "I've not accomplished much" when I know I prevented many many people from getting malaria (and all the negatives that accompany it). So I'm pretty sure that "mitigate" can happen, even if not "prevent". And the phrase you use "necessarily follows" might mean you're being rather stringent, but that seems to me too-high a filter to accept good advice ;)