We need a new word for between middle aged and old

[PersonalBest]

I'm 60, obviously not middle aged. I don't feel old though. My mother is old, she's 91. Geriatrics has come up with the term "old old" (I think!) because people are living so long. But I think there's a gap now, for those of us who are in-between old and middle aged. Am I young old? Pre old? Post middle aged? Any ideas? A lot of people will say I'm just old, get on with it. Well, I'm not accepting it sorry!

When I was 20 I thought 30 was ancient.

Third age is nice.

I'm 49 and like the Japanese idea that menopause is "Second Spring".

I’m 60 too, and I’m told I have a “ young mindset” middle age would be 120. Old can be described as twilight years so maybe Dusk years?!

Second spring is lovely. I can relate to the Japanese way of life( DS3 is on holiday in Tokyo so perhaps that’s why!)

How about in the ‘golden years’?
I’m 56, husband 60 and we’re definitely in the best years of our lives. I look better, feel better and having way more fun.
I feel golden 🙂

Middle aged = the middle part of your adult life, not the middle of your entire life.

When I look at how I dresses, did my hair etc in my 30s I look older than I do now - I was so frumpy. My mother was more fashionably dressed in her 80s than her 30s.
When I think back at my teachers, they were all under 60 yet are comparable to 80s now - uniform tweed skirts, blouses and cardigans with permed hair.

I feel better than I've ever done and it's nice to have the time and money to do what I want.

46, feel like I m just entering middle age, I have teenagers and I m menopausal, I must be middle aged.

You can be a plucky, sprightly pensioner. I hope I will be 🙂

This is such a good question. I’m 50 and think of myself as middle aged, as given my genetics, I will probably see 100. But I look and act late 30s, and my kids are still young (one still in mid primary). I’d say 60-65 is late middle aged. But honestly since about 45 I also think of myself as a battle axe, I’ve bloody well earned it!

I was going to say stale but yours is brilliant. Mold aged, love it!

Yesterday I was reading about something that had happened to a 68 year-old woman and thought, oh poor old girl - what a thing to happen at her age .

I mean when you see it written down 68 is old - it's past pension age after all so no getting away from it.

I then remembered that I'm 70!

A woman of 60 is middle-aged if you must have a label - doesn't mean she can expect to live to 120, it's just a form of social description. She not young and not old, sort of in the middle.

I'm now older, but not elderly

I actually think 60 is still middle aged which imo runs from 40-65.

Then mature 65-70

Older 70-77

77-85 = old

85 plus elderly

I agree with why do we have to call that period of life in between "middle aged" and "old" anything at all - but we do.
I go along with the suggestion that we just say that we are in our 60's, 70's or whatever.
But if we have to have a word - I too don't mind "senior", but the word "vintage" refers to something over 20 yrs old but under 100 years old, so that's what I call myself 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don’t see middle aged as being exactly half or close to exactly half the age of when we might live to, for example 40 being half of 80 or 60 being half of 120. I think of it as being the middle section of my life if I live to a ripe old age.

The National Library of Medicine divides adulthood into 4 sections:

The stages of adulthood examined here include: Early Adulthood (ages 2234). Early Middle Age (ages 3544), Late Middle Age (ages 45--64), and Late Adulthood (ages 65 and older).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7203662/

I don’t know why there is a line through some of the text. It appeared after I hit post. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'm sorry, that must be very difficult. I do appreciate how lucky I am to have good health.

I am younger than OP and don't mind being called 'old'.

If other people think 'old' = decrepit, worn out, something else bad... that's their problem. It's in their head and not me.

My husband is 64 and I still think of him as middle aged tbh. I think it partly depends on health and lifestyle. Most of his/our friends are younger than him, mainly because I am younger. He is just as fit as most of them and has young taste in music etc. He is not considering retirement any time soon. On the other hand, I see other people of the same age who seem old.

I acknowledge he is "late middle age" though. I've also heard the term " young old".

In practice, I don't really feel the need to actually use a term like that all

Close to retirement age seems to be the term used locally to us.

@Nsky62I’m sorry, it’s tough when life throws a curveball and change is enforced.
slightly different but some parallels but I have CP and was medically retired at 27 after a major operation left me with a broken femur which refused to unite for 4 years
At 60, I’m lucky to be mobile, although I use a walker now.

Exhausted would be my word. Working full time in a demanding job and no prospect of retirement for at least ten years. Supporting aging parents and late teens DC (who are fabulous and need minimal support but watching out for exam stress etc ).

No. But I don't define "mid-life" starting from age 0.
I think it as starting from early 20s when I graduate and became a fully fledged independent adult. In which case, early 50s becomes a much more plausible mid-point. And event early 60s is somewhere in the middle region.

I've found it quite helpful to think of myself recently as about half way. A lot happened in the last 30 years. Which means that (fingers crossed) a lot more can still happen!

You don't need another label, just accept that all labels are pretty meaningless. Another label or category will be just as wrong for many.

No it’s not. You can be old if you want to. But I’m not old.

Why would I be working full time and running half marathons if I was old? Volunteering at festivals and going to rock gigs?

OldER

But not old.

Pretirees

p-retirees ?