You know you're middle aged when...

[PollyCreo]

You go out in the morning at the same time you used to come home at 😲

The sun rises very early where I live (not UK) so after the clocks changed I decided to embrace this and go for a brisk 4 mile walk every morning before work 🌞 It is truly lovely, it's warm and I enjoy seeing the sun come up. However it was only 12 years ago I used to be stumbling out of a nightclub at 5.45am and looking for a taxi to get me home 🧐 What has happened to me?

Two generic ways:

-when you stop ‘falling over’ and start to ‘have a fall.’
-when you stop ‘counting upwards’ with your age/birthdays… and start counting down.

One deeply personal way: when you realise certain looks just don’t work for you any more (high heels and teeny floaty summer dresses, I’m looking at you…)

Consultants are about 13. You peer at them (through glasses, OBVS) to see if they shave yet..

I still wonder what I want to do when I grow up - then remember it's a bit late..

Reminds me of Fascinating Aida 😂

When you have scroll down a looooot to find the year of your birth from a drop down menu 🥺

Hahaha, I spent a good five minutes doing that yesterday. Signing up for a shop Club thingy. Then I turned my phone over to see better 😆 and had to do it all over again cause the page went poof!
got a good discount though!

Also, bloody love a good teatowel and luxurious bedding.

When you look in the mirror, and a stranger looks back at you.
Or worse - your mother.

Yep

I love sound of the 60s and radio 2 but like most music 😀

Have definitely morphed into mum

When you enjoy some food shopping and plan what to cook for Saturday night then watch strictly

You look forward to going to bed

^ this 😔 happened for the first time with the current PM

Drying the bathroom and kitchen after every use.

Starting to like bright floral colours… what the actual…?!!

Saying “Isn’t it a beautiful day?” to people you barely know.

Smiling at strangers.

Telling badly behaved people off on public transport.

Wearing blazers to take a simple walk.

A large knowledge of cleaning products.

Wearing white regularly.

Wanting to buy starch for the ironing.

Scenting bedsheets with lavender.

Younger people seeking me out for advice and being respected and appreciated for this. Not sure when that happened. Very surprised.

Admiring babies and young families and taking great pleasure in appreci their youth and happiness.

Thinking more of death and wills.

Being more attentive and helpful to neighbours (I hope curtain twitching never comes into this!!)

Seeing the world more holistically and developing compassion.

Scrolling down and scrolling down to find your year of birth when filling out online forms.

You go from tripping up to "having a fall"....

I used to laugh when my (a few years older than me) husband would hold whatever he was trying to read further & further from his face, squinting in an attempt to read it. Now I'm finding myself doing the very same. 😞

Getting excited about buying a heated clothes rail

Obsession with Zoflora and joy when I find a new fragrance

Reliance on reading glasses which I consider getting a handy lanyard for as I keep losing them (they are on top of my head)

Telling teenage DC and nieces and nephews about clubbing in the 80s and realising it might as well be the 1920s I'm talking about

Generally being a kinder person but only to people I like and genuinely not giving a crap about what people think of me (anymore)

Referring to my cats as ' my girls'

A regularly used full tea set.

Wanting to take a flask on a walk.

Sleeping with socks.

An electric blanket.

@SavouryPancake
I think you are my soul mate

And teachers! In fact anyone in authority who now looks so young leaves me feeling weird 🤣

Oh, how fabulous! Maybe we could go out for afternoon tea instead of cocktails. 😂

Are you only 43 as well? I’m quite shocked at some of these developments, but I have to admit a few I’ve had from virtually day one. I LOVED hanging out with elder people as a child.

Love an afternoon tea. We could have a big discussion about types of jam, best scone recipes (Delia) and whether it's cream or jam on first....

A recent meme:

The older you get the more you appreciate cancelled plans, early nights, thunderstorms and alcohol that is on sale.

You don’t know what to do with your career but you don’t care.

😂

Browsing the RSPB catalogue while drinking a cup of tea is bliss.

We've had to move our digital clock radio closer to the bed so we can see the time....

When you fall/trip over and no one laughs but instead everyone is concerned.

I recently had a visit at school from a police sergeant. I was imagining a gnarly middle aged bloke (I already knew he was a man before anyone tells me police officers can be female too!) Sergeant Cryer from The Bill was in my head. Instead, a young man with spiky hair who looked about the age of our sixth formers arrived! I felt utterly ancient (I’m early 50s) He was very helpful btw but I couldn’t get beyond realising I was probably old enough to be his mother!

National trust visit with picnic and thermos and the highlight is visiting the shop there

Nope, me too. I used to love clubbing. In recent years, I’m always glad I’m snuggled at home on a cold evening 😳