Part one. What a fool I was to believe that my life would begin at 40. Don‘t believe the hype. Women in their forties are in the thick of it…but salvation is just around the corner…
I’m 62. My thirties were awful. My forties were better. My fifties better still ( mind you had my children at 23 and 28, had a tubal ligation when I was 29 which was the best thing I have ever done for myself, thank you). My sixties have been pretty great, other than fucking Trump getting elected.
Yep… the Felon is a fly in the ointment of my fantastic fifties, but given that I am now in my fifties and have survived my forties, I’ve got enough fight in me not to let even him spoil it!
I love this. I turned 45 in February, and I had my annual physical last Friday with scripts for my first colonoscopy and a cardiac scan. My oldest has two short years of school left, and my second has five long years left. It never occurred to me that we are still trying to live our forties in a way that isn't consistent with the same time of life as those we learned we would love them from. Then adding insult to injury, I'm going into my second half of life in an America I never thought I'd see. But we will fight, and maybe my fifties and be all I hope.
Thanks for your comments Sarah. My forties were very similar to yours… getting children through school, realising my body wasn’t getting any younger. Of course I didn’t have the vile added extra of living under the tyranny and lunacy of the Felon and his abysmal acolytes. But like your forties, that will end and it won’t take 5 more years, I am utterly convinced of that. Stay strong, drink tea and prosper my love! ☕️ a 💪🏻
I’ll be fifty this year, but my lockdown baby just turned five. I’m going to graduate this year with degree number two, soon after my birthday. My forties were pretty crazy, trying to get pregnant as a single mum by choice, IVF finally worked and then finding my career didn’t fit with my lifelong goal to be a mother, so enrolling in more study. So I’m really thinking my life is going to begin at fifty. My joints began aching at thirty! It was weird. I was fine and then one day after I turned thirty I woke up with pain. I think this is our year. I finish school, my son starts school, I will begin a new career, and our lucky numbers are 2 & 5 so it was meant to be 2025.
Oh it sounds like this is the year for you and your son Jody, or at least it marks the end of one period and the beginning of another.
The aching joints are a pain aren’t they? However the wisdom that comes with age and experience is so kind of comfort. Wishing you lots of luck on your new decade!
I am 78 but not a woman. I ache in the places where I used to play but can get about without too much trouble. I would not want to be young these days but don’t live in the past. Not much is expected of me and I have stopped worrying about what other people think of me. I enjoy being invisible and unheard. I have no debts or responsibilities. I am quite content being old apart from the knowledge that the end is near. I have been going to a lot of funerals lately.
I feel alive in my 50’s more so than in any decade. Alive to so much possibility and understanding. I feel like I want to keep learning, but now have some wisdom in my back pocket to be discerning.
…I’m also grateful for getting here, when others don’t make it.
I guess we should care less about socially imposed stigmas about age. Life can be unpredictable and we should make the best out of it no matter when. I completely changed career at 38, starting a junior role, whereby my peers had 10+ years of experience in the same field. So what?! And honestly I am 25 (that is my soul age even when my body crossed forth decade of existence).
This is so true Ana - whatever works for you at whatever age you are is all that matters. My soul age is 51 - think I have been waiting for this age all my life!
Exactly this Wendy. I can remember being at a friend’s 50th birthday party when I was 44 thinking ‘what the hell have you got to celebrate?, I’m on my knees!’… little did I know the next part of her life was just beginning….
Thanks so much Wendy. I really want to support women through this period of their lives… I mean if it’s going well for you then brilliant but myself and so many of my friends struggled through this decade, I think it needs to be spoken about more.
(laughing) I will say this. I don't EVER romanticize being in my twenties. Not that any age group is perfect. (There are going to be challenges, but you're not bound by the old rules. ;-)
Oh Mandy there are so many better days ahead. What a disappointment my early forties were but oh how the tide changes as you break that 45 mark. Hang in there!
Oh 44, hang on in there soldier. It gets so much better (although ok it can get a bit worse sometimes)… there is light at the end of a particularly trying tunnel!
You couldn’t pay me to be in my twenties again Dana (although at the time I thought life was passing me by too quickly)… 50 plus is where it is at for me!
I was 42 when our youngest was born, now at almost 57 he's finishing 10th grade. Glad to still have someone living at home and also sometimes not 😂
My body requires so much more attention, I feel so much older in my joints and bones than just a few years ago. But also we have one child married, and a grandbaby we delight in. So, plenty to keep exercising and living for.
Oh so much to keep exercising and living for Malka…. This is the kind of life I aspire to. My body requires more work too but thankfully I have more time and energy to devote to it. Thanks for your comment… keep living your best life! 💃🏻
Late 60s was best and 70s now are awesome. Keep hope alive!
That’s great to hear Michelle… we need to be shouting about this more, youth is wasted on the young and ageing is a gift 💝
I hear you Rebecca… it gets better and better, I am definitely keeping hope alive!
As the Sun sets on my 50s decade I can say unequivocally that so far, it has been the best decade of my life!
I’m 62. My thirties were awful. My forties were better. My fifties better still ( mind you had my children at 23 and 28, had a tubal ligation when I was 29 which was the best thing I have ever done for myself, thank you). My sixties have been pretty great, other than fucking Trump getting elected.
Yep… the Felon is a fly in the ointment of my fantastic fifties, but given that I am now in my fifties and have survived my forties, I’ve got enough fight in me not to let even him spoil it!
reading at nearly 43. thank you SO much.
You’re welcome Chloe.. I see you.
I love this. I turned 45 in February, and I had my annual physical last Friday with scripts for my first colonoscopy and a cardiac scan. My oldest has two short years of school left, and my second has five long years left. It never occurred to me that we are still trying to live our forties in a way that isn't consistent with the same time of life as those we learned we would love them from. Then adding insult to injury, I'm going into my second half of life in an America I never thought I'd see. But we will fight, and maybe my fifties and be all I hope.
Thanks for your comments Sarah. My forties were very similar to yours… getting children through school, realising my body wasn’t getting any younger. Of course I didn’t have the vile added extra of living under the tyranny and lunacy of the Felon and his abysmal acolytes. But like your forties, that will end and it won’t take 5 more years, I am utterly convinced of that. Stay strong, drink tea and prosper my love! ☕️ a 💪🏻
I’ll be fifty this year, but my lockdown baby just turned five. I’m going to graduate this year with degree number two, soon after my birthday. My forties were pretty crazy, trying to get pregnant as a single mum by choice, IVF finally worked and then finding my career didn’t fit with my lifelong goal to be a mother, so enrolling in more study. So I’m really thinking my life is going to begin at fifty. My joints began aching at thirty! It was weird. I was fine and then one day after I turned thirty I woke up with pain. I think this is our year. I finish school, my son starts school, I will begin a new career, and our lucky numbers are 2 & 5 so it was meant to be 2025.
Oh it sounds like this is the year for you and your son Jody, or at least it marks the end of one period and the beginning of another.
The aching joints are a pain aren’t they? However the wisdom that comes with age and experience is so kind of comfort. Wishing you lots of luck on your new decade!
I am 78 but not a woman. I ache in the places where I used to play but can get about without too much trouble. I would not want to be young these days but don’t live in the past. Not much is expected of me and I have stopped worrying about what other people think of me. I enjoy being invisible and unheard. I have no debts or responsibilities. I am quite content being old apart from the knowledge that the end is near. I have been going to a lot of funerals lately.
Sounds like you have reached a place of acceptance and contentment Michael… long may it last.
I needed to read this today, Rebecca! I’m about to turn 43 and am IN THE THICK OF IT 🫣🤪
Hang on in there Sara… the tide will turn soon enough! You can read all about it in my next post ☺️
I feel alive in my 50’s more so than in any decade. Alive to so much possibility and understanding. I feel like I want to keep learning, but now have some wisdom in my back pocket to be discerning.
…I’m also grateful for getting here, when others don’t make it.
I’m so grateful for you being here too Catherine, and for your wisdom and discernment. Here’s to another 50 years!
I guess we should care less about socially imposed stigmas about age. Life can be unpredictable and we should make the best out of it no matter when. I completely changed career at 38, starting a junior role, whereby my peers had 10+ years of experience in the same field. So what?! And honestly I am 25 (that is my soul age even when my body crossed forth decade of existence).
This is so true Ana - whatever works for you at whatever age you are is all that matters. My soul age is 51 - think I have been waiting for this age all my life!
What has happened to my knees?
Going the same way as my back Amy!
So powerfully put, Rebecca.
Exactly this Wendy. I can remember being at a friend’s 50th birthday party when I was 44 thinking ‘what the hell have you got to celebrate?, I’m on my knees!’… little did I know the next part of her life was just beginning….
Thanks so much Wendy. I really want to support women through this period of their lives… I mean if it’s going well for you then brilliant but myself and so many of my friends struggled through this decade, I think it needs to be spoken about more.
I’m now 64, and enjoying more time to myself now children have all flown the nest and my parents are gone. 40s were a blur!
(laughing) I will say this. I don't EVER romanticize being in my twenties. Not that any age group is perfect. (There are going to be challenges, but you're not bound by the old rules. ;-)
Almost 44 and relating all of this in a very big way! Very glad to hear that there are better days ahead. Looking forward to part two 🙂
Oh Mandy there are so many better days ahead. What a disappointment my early forties were but oh how the tide changes as you break that 45 mark. Hang in there!
Oh gosh I needed this today! 44 and having what can only described as a dark night of the soul, it just happens to be lasting 2 years so far.
Yes but I’m wise enough now to see it coming and dodge out of harms way… that’s the gift of wisdom that age has brought me.
Oh 44, hang on in there soldier. It gets so much better (although ok it can get a bit worse sometimes)… there is light at the end of a particularly trying tunnel!
Beware. The light at the end of the tunnel could be a train on the other track.
You couldn’t pay me to be in my twenties again Dana (although at the time I thought life was passing me by too quickly)… 50 plus is where it is at for me!
I hear this loud and clear.
I was 42 when our youngest was born, now at almost 57 he's finishing 10th grade. Glad to still have someone living at home and also sometimes not 😂
My body requires so much more attention, I feel so much older in my joints and bones than just a few years ago. But also we have one child married, and a grandbaby we delight in. So, plenty to keep exercising and living for.
Oh so much to keep exercising and living for Malka…. This is the kind of life I aspire to. My body requires more work too but thankfully I have more time and energy to devote to it. Thanks for your comment… keep living your best life! 💃🏻