50 plus years of age who are rocking it!

[sheepdreams]

Hi all

I am increasingly finding myself feeling old. I am truly grateful and privileged to have reached over 50yrs but seem to be ruminating about how old I suddenly feel and where the time has gone!

I still work part time and I am about to embark on a PhD in the autumn. I have also just started running so it’s not as if I am stagnating as a contributory factor to feeling old!

I would love to hear other mumsnetters experiences of how they have

rocked life post 50 to hep cheer me up

HRT.

There's good and bad.

I've always felt pretty good about myself.

finding this thread inspirational.

I’m only just starting to rock it a little bit. Left abusive marriage 2.5 years ago. Was covert narc so it’s taken since then to recover from the mind control.

now have own home with 2 fab teen DCs. One is travelling on a school trip and the other is with me now, as we holiday in Europe. I go to the gym (still a stone to lose), see friends, work hard.

mortgaged til I’m 67 but worth it for the freedom.

don’t feel I ‘fit in’ locally as a single parent but so much better than the alternative.

give me a year and I’ll really be rocking it.

59 and have been retired since 55. Definitely found my vibe with walking and history. Fully indulging in all kinds of walks with DH, DS, retired Dsis, groups and on my own. Off exploring the history of Britain on a regular basis. Absolutely doing my thing..

I fit it all around running, swimming, weights, being a carer for DS, extended family and being a loving partner. Soon to have my first grandchild in the mix, too. Life is good.

I am 53, moved to another country once the kids left home. Work for a cannabis seedbank, and grow my own plants to use in medicinal balms, learnt Dutch, getting married later this month. On the other side I am menopausal and overweight, however much exercise and calorie restriction I do, but I am happy.

I go to rock gigs and festivals so hopefully that counts as rocking it, with the obligatory dyed and shaved hair and piercings. In the run-up to 50 I lost weight to get to a BMI of 23, having previously been obese.
Got through peri and meno by barely touching alcohol and cutting back on sugar, I found sugar really ramped up hot flushes. Peri was horrendous at times, but I was so busy with work and caring responsibilities that I kept putting off seeing the GP so never started HRT.
I was fairly assertive prior to menopause but I definitely came out of it much more confident in myself, no fucks given here now.

I paddle board, it was meant to be a one-off holiday lesson but, surprisingly for me, as an non-sporty (was) overweight middle-aged woman, I found that I was actually pretty good at it. It's the most relaxing yet energetic, fun thing I've ever done.
I set the alarm for 5am if necessary to catch the tide, but am then super-chilled all day. It's such a friendly sociable hobby, and pretty much free once you've bought the gear.
We book holidays and weekends away around it now, there's always a lake or a canal somewhere, if not the coast.

I am 62 but there is a teenager sulking inside me!

I don't think I look my age until I move! Due to various aches and pains, when I heave myself on a bus I most definitely look 'old lady'.

My hair is dyed a sensible brown colour but that is so I can wear what I like and not clash! Plus when I used to dye it red (scarlet) it was very high maintenance (roots).

No tattoos cos I could never make up my mind what I would want though I am thinking I would like Little My from the Moomins who is my spirit 'animal'.

I never got hot flushes. Trying to lose weight once and for all.

Love going to cinema alone and with friends. Eating out ditto. Love the theatre.

Trying to walk more. Used to walk lots before Covid hit me (December) but now I am rather sluggish.

Love all kinds of music and obsessed with stuff on You tube such as Paranormal, laughing at Cockatoos and silly cats, real crime etc etc.

DD1 is just about to leave so feeling on the precipice of change at 51. I get a lot of my style advice from her and have found trainers help me make any outfit look less old . I do Pilates or yoga five times a week and intermittent fast which helps so much with everything. I work for myself but just about to take more work on so feel excited about that . The only time I feel old is when I hear others of the same age saying they feel old the rest of the time I don't even think about it .. my grandma is 101 so I'm feeling half way through not there yet !

I am less rocking it and more rocking quietly in a corner.

In debt, renting and on the bones of my arse financially, but I know I can do something about two of those and the other is something I have made my peace with. September feels like a good time for new beginnings

I'm 60, semi retired and busier than ever. Go to more gigs than in any previous decade of life. Ride my motorbikes better than I used to. Hair greying and thinning gradually. Reasonably comfortable in my shell. Have a partner of three years who is funny and excited to do things which probably keeps me from feeling old. Dunno if I'm rocking it, but I occasionally give it a rattle

I am 58 and post menopause years feel a lot easier to manage than the perimenopausal years. I have not long replaced the Buddhist chanting group with hiking post pandemic which is very exhilarating.

Lovely post 🌹

I'd be rocking it if I wasn't so tired from my damn job!
I do yoga and paddle boarding and recently bought a bolt hole ( caravan) by the sea.
Still loving going to gigs may do a festival when I finally retire in 2024.
Am still fairly fit and HRT is seeing me through the worst of menopause.

For me, I’m rocking it, in that I get to be more about myself than earlier in my life.

Like many have had a difficult few years because of Covid - resulting in ongoing family problems.

But my partner and I have faced them together more than ever before, and some relatives have unexpectedly turned out to be gems.

I’m doing more exercise, and have a better idea about what suits me fashion wise. I have hobbies, I’m also trying to slow down and enjoy cooking/ gardening (rather than it being something I have to do).

I haven’t worked in many years, but it’s only now that I have time without kids that I realise how little time I had to be me.

Put value on to small things, because I’m aware physical health etc won’t last.

We have constant stress from the Covid generated ongoing situation, so if I don’t essentially practice mindfulness I will get depressed again.

I’m sorry for those who are not so settled and secure in life at this stage. I hope things improve for you.

My gran also lived to be 101, her advice was do your stretches, eat fruit, and keep breathing.

I also agree HRT is brilliant! I do wonder if I would be doing so well (physically) without it

This thread is so great

I'll be 50 in December, oldest child off to uni soon with the other one following next autumn. So this thread is great for me.

I've recently taken up singing - weekly lesson and joined a local rock choir which is naff as heck but great fun. And I'm one of the youngest there...!

Want to enter my 50s a bit slimmer and fitter - I do quite a lot of yoga and walk a lot but I've just bought a treadmill and want to use that to run several times a week.

I have brilliant friends who are real rocks.

Marriage is good, and both of us have plans to scale down working in 5-6 years time. Not retire but go much more part time etc.

And skincare! I've come to the conclusion that it's worth investing time and some money on my skin.

I’m with@MyBottomDecides - late 50’s with a 7 year old. I have recently got a lot younger since leaving an abusive marriage. So yes I’m knackered and will be working till I’m 100, but most days I have a big smile and I’ve not been this happy in years, hair all sorts of colours (seems to be a bit of a badge 😎), new helix piercing, old hobbies revived…I feel like I’ve lived life upside down but it’s all getting fitted in somehow 💜

51 here and loving it.

Younger FWBs really help put a spring in my step. Going through a phase and having the best fun ever!

Teenage DCs give me space to do my own thing: open water swimming, hiking, singing group.

Stopping dealing with people who don’t add anything positive to my life - liberating.

Better sleep thanks to HRT.

Being able to say no at work when before I would have seethed silently. Enjoying a more senior role.

Life is good. Long may it last.

52 here and absolutely embracing it!

As a family the past 20+ years have been tough for many different reasons, but I’m still standing. I had weight loss surgery at the back end of last year and am now the lightest, fittest and healthiest I’ve been since Before I had my kids. I still have 1 at home but we’re now 3 adults in the house and it’s all good. We bought what will become a dream/forever house last year (the dream will be when the renovations are done), but it’s in the 100% perfect location.

I work part time but have changed my working hours as I wasn’t coping with working nights due to menopause, between that and HRT-LIFE CHANGING!
I’ve definitely got more assertive these last couple of years and don’t get myself into situations where I agree to do something then hate myself for not saying no. I’m not saying it’ll never happen again but definitely less often.

My mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 57, that certainly makes you concentrate on living life for NOW

Great thread! I’m 52, and rediscovered my love for swimming a couple of years ago. Had a couple of video analysis sessions, started open water swimming, covering longer distances in the sea, and qualified as an open water swimming coach, which is the first new thing I’ve ‘achieved’ since having children. Kids are all likely to leave home in the next couple of years, DH and I are looking forward to having more time together and hopefully discovering europe by campervan.

I’m perimenopausal, slightly anaemic, often feel tired and achy, but try to appreciate every day.

Love this 💗

l' m 53 and happy just to be me. l still look and feel good for my age, l am way more confident now than l have ever been, maybe since being widowed 9 years ago l have navigated a new way of life that has led to a new way of thinking. l live a quiet and simple way of life, it suits me. No time for drama or negativity or people bringing me down. Peace is my priority now.
l have a very good relationship with my two sons 17 and 21, proud of what l have achieved, gone through, and survived. Don 't feel lacking, have no need to come across as interesting, no desire for external validation.
Self love is better than any medicine. This is a good time in my life.

Mid 50s and never been happier. I have got used to my empty nest (just me and DH) Still in touch regularly with my adult 'kids' and see them often, except one who lives abroad but is visiting later this month with his fiancée.

I no longer worry about them as they are settled and gainfully employed, and most importantly, happy ♥️
I work part time in a job I love, which leaves me time to see friends and family. I've just increased exercise levels and have begun horse riding again after a long break, and what i term 'sweaty walks' thanks to MN inspiration.
Also learning a new language so i can keep up when I visit my son.
Very happily married. I feel I'm rocking life through possibly don't look like it as I've embraced the grey. One think I'm enjoying is giving less fucks about things that aren't important.
Thinking of looking into HRT, not due to a difficult menopause but just for the health benefits being discussed now.
I only remember I'm not 30 when I look in the mirror!
I don't take any of it for granted and feel gratitude on a daily basis!

In the office today, and someone I've not seen since before covid said, well done for losing so much weight (which is about 3st since we last met.)

I'm 52 and try to rock it when I have the energy. I qualified as a nurse last year. I've dyed my very short hair bright red and lost 4 stone in the last year.
HRT has been amazing and I'm making a conscious effort to take a bit more care in my appearance...I use sunbeds (I know, I know) for a bit of glow and have semi permanent lashes which make me feel human.

There are days I just want to sleep on my days off. But I allow myself to do that.