Nodus Tollens: the realization that the plot of your life doesn't make sense to you anymore-that although you thought you were following the arc of the story, you keep finding yourself immersed in passages you don't understand, that don't even seem to belong in the same genre-which requires you to go back and reread the chapters you had originally skimmed to get to the good parts, only to learn that all along you were supposed to choose your own adventure.

nice addition, thanks ref

Nodus tolens is a profound realization. I have phrased it this way on occasion: the realization that the road you are on is not related to your desired destination.

Some people call it a mid-life crisis - which perhaps can be summed up as the realization that your needs have changed. Everything that you thought you wanted and worked for all your life has not fulfilled you.

Somewhat different from the quarter-life crisis in which you realize that everything you learned in school may not have prepared you for what you need to know and when you take away the structure of school, you are adrift and have to author your life anew (certainly related to the nodus tollens).

Which gets us back to stories.