What is the 7-Year Itch?

What is the 7-year itch? Most of us have heard of the term when referring to couples having relationship problems. There are many stories of couples experiencing issues or even breaking up around the 7th year of their relationship.

Of course, this situation between couples also happens in the 4th or 5th years or even beyond 7 years. So 7 is not an exact number in these situations. Is there a reason why 7 is an important number in these major life points? Apparently, there is.

The Magic of Number 7

In astrology and numerology, all numbers have a specific kind of effect in our lives. The use of the number 7 is also prevalent in nature and culture, religion and art.

• Astrologists believe there are major shifts in the cosmos every 7 years.
• Biology states that human cells replace themselves every 7 to 10 years.
• The Bible tells us that the world was built in 7 days, there are 7 deadly sins, and 7 seals of God.
• Mystics and sages in ancients texts identify 7 main chakras in the body and talk about the 7 laws of life.
• There are 7 colors in a rainbow, 7 visible planets in the heavens, and the 4 distinct phases of the moon are approximately 7 days apart.
• Art has 7 elements and Shakespeare wrote about the 7 stages of man.
• There are 7 continents and 7 seas, 7 days of the week, 7 unique notes on the common musical scale, and 7 directions.

The 7-Year Cycle

The number 7 is also represents different cycles in our life. The 7-year life cycle is divided every 7 years from the day you were born. Most of us have heard of the mid-life crisis which usually happens around 21-41 years. Think about your life as cycles instead of a linear journey. Notice that there are major transition points in your life that happens around every 7 years. These are the times that we tend to transform our identities and/or add on to the roles we play for the people around us.

Think of how we usually go through life. We usually start school at around 7 years old. We transition to highschool around 14 years old and graduate college around 21 years old. Somewhere in between these 7-year cycles, we go into employment and develop relationships. Finally, we retire from employment around 55 years old, which is the 6th stage or cycle.

We usually think of the 7-year itch as just referring to romantic relationships. We can actually use it to refer to our own life’s 7-year cycles. This means, that whether you are in a relationship or not; you will experience the 7-year itch.

The 7-Year Itch

The 7-year itch is that urge to undergo a change in your life. Ideally, this is a natural part of life, just as how we expect the seasons to change each year. However, most of us are pursuing our goals without this 7-year cycle in mind.

This is why we hear a lot of people often suddenly quitting their successful careers. They choose to do something new and very different from their expertise. Some people even downgrade their luxurious lifestyles. They suddenly switch to living a less hectic life in the province, near nature instead.

These people have experienced the 7-year itch and answered that calling, whether they are aware of it are not. Meanwhile, the rest of us are surprised at what prompted them to make such a major life decision. Each 7-year cycle is basically when you experience a crossroad in life. This applies to relationships too. This does not mean an ending to the relationship. Instead, each person in the relationship should grow and evolve for the relationship to also evolve further.

This 7-year itch is an itch that you need to scratch; a calling that you need to answer to. Otherwise, you will feel stuck and frustrated if you remain in the same situation even after the 7-year cycle. Some may even fall into depression. For example, people who stay in their jobs for more than 7 years usually feel this kind of frustration. People who hang on to their relationships even if they are already unhappy, and end up ruining their relationship and/or themselves.

The only remedy to this is to have a major change in your own life. Think of it as having a clean slate to reset your life. You need to have something else that excites you, in the other dimensions of your life. This reduces the impact of the feeling of being stuck and unsatisfied in one area of your life.

The 7-year cycles in your life is a guide on how you should flow in your life journey. Each time you are nearing the end of a cycle; take the time to review your journey so far and be grateful for where it has taken you. Then, prepare yourself to welcome something new, whichever dimension of life it is coming from.

Feature Image: Original Photo by Todd Diemer on Unsplash.