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AIBU?

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Original poster

42 is fucking old isn't it?

204 replies

StillSmallVoiceOfCalm · 20/08/2016 21:30

Wrinkled. Old. Saggy.

Fucking hell.

OP posts:
EmpressOfTheSevenOceans · 21/08/2016 08:14

Happy birthday! May you always know where your towel is!

MissHooliesCardigan · 21/08/2016 08:26

I had a full-on midlife crisis when I was about 38. I started becoming obsessed with looking at everyone in the street to see if they were younger than me and spent hours looking at my grey hairs and wrinkles. Then I realised that there is fuck all I can do about it so I might as well embrace it. I found that it kind of helped to think about all the people I went to school with and how they will all be the same age as me now.
I'm 48 and life is pretty good. My parents are in their 70's and are currently on safari in Kenya. They spent the first 2 months of the year touring South America. I shall consider myself old when I start hanging plates on the wall and collecting figurines.

RandomDent · 21/08/2016 08:29

Happy birthday! We apologise for the inconvenience. :)

juneau · 21/08/2016 08:31

I'm 42 and I don't feel old at all. I don't think I look that bad either, but you really, really do need to exercise to keep things firm once you pass your 40th birthday. So either do nothing and accept that things are going to go south, or get off your arse and find some activities that you enjoy.

Hulababy · 21/08/2016 08:35

43y here and definitely not old! I don't feel middle age either - reckon that's just a state of mind.

Mind you the knees went ages ago before my 40s due to arthritis (a firm not linked to old age) so I probably felt older back then when diagnosed compared to now when I'm used to it. And eye sight is better than ever due to laser surgery.

Also have more money available now so can go out and do more - so feel more active and out and about, so less old.

And dd is a teen so I'm not shattered firm lack of sleep - so again feel younger for that too.

Age is a number. 42y is not old these days at all, it's barely middle of your life expectancy.

Outnumbrd · 21/08/2016 08:38

Miss Hoolies I'm 38 and I've started doing that! Lifting up my hair at work to look at all the grey hairs, looking at the students at work smooth skin!! However I am actually probably much, much happier now and in control and getting to know myself than I ever have been!

Chopstick17 · 21/08/2016 08:48

I'm 45 and I feel better than ever. Yes there are a few more lines but that's not important . It's the inner confidence and acceptance that goes with it that matters. I have lost friends and family in recent years and so with each birthday I consciously remind myself how lucky I am to be here. Shoulders back,deep breath, reality check OP. Get out there and live!!!

YvaineStormhold · 21/08/2016 08:50

Happy Birthday, OP!

I felt like you turning 42, but it's been a brilliant year so far. Moved house into a great area, started a new business, made loads of new friends, and am the happiest I've been for years.

Honestly, the forties appear to be the decade when it all finally comes together.

Embrace it!

ThePinkOcelot · 21/08/2016 08:54

Only if you've really let yourself go and look like Waynetta Slob on a bad day, but no it really isn't.

Gottagetmoving · 21/08/2016 08:57

42 is a brilliant age. Better than your 30s..I would choose to be 40 to 45 forever.

RaRaRamona · 21/08/2016 09:11

42 is simply a grown up age.
It is not too old to have a baby , as is more and more common now, however, being 60 with an 18 year old is old.
When people talk about having a baby in their 40s, do they not realise that they will become very old parents as the child grows up?

FitbitAddict · 21/08/2016 09:53

I'm 48. I got married a few months ago, I've just finished my second MA, I run about 15 miles a week and once DD has finished sixth form and gone off to uni, DH and I are going to live and work abroad. Whatever middle-aged is, I'm not it. My parents are in their 70s, they are old, not me.

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 21/08/2016 10:12

Happy Birthday StillSmall FlowersWine

What time do you want us? Grin

Original poster
StillSmallVoiceOfCalm · 21/08/2016 10:13

Any time. The gin is open.

OP posts:
Original poster
StillSmallVoiceOfCalm · 21/08/2016 10:13

Entry only if you bring a towel.

OP posts:
BuggersMuddle · 21/08/2016 10:14

I cannot fathom why so many women spend their 20s fretting about not being good enough / slim enough / whatever enough; then switch immediately to being too old / too fat / too saggy / too whatever.

It just seems....such a waste.

I am mid-30s. I am not fucking old. Or middle aged. Or any of that shit. If any of my peers what to claim those labels within the next 10 years (and plenty do already), they are clearly precocious Wink

(And to those who say 'middle aged' is just a statement of fact. It might have been at one point, but nowadays it's all too readily used as a value judgement).

SchnitzelVonKrumm · 21/08/2016 10:15

I've been 42 for years and no way is it old Grin

RortyCrankle · 21/08/2016 12:30

kaitlinktm
I'm 61 and look like Methuselah - but because I'm old I don't give a shit! grin

I'm 71 and look like Methuselah''s mother and give even less of a shit Grin

Seriously OP, 42 is YOUNG - enjoy your life.

stopgap · 21/08/2016 13:51

39 here, and would consider 50-65 middle aged and above 70 as older. "Old" I'd say is 80 and above.

I spent the last decade living in Manhattan, so 40 seems young.

user1471552005 · 21/08/2016 13:58

I love getting older. Finally learning to embrace myself, including the faults. More awareness of others thinking and able to second guess and understand situations.
Being liberated from not having to look like a hot chick.
I am looking forward to creating a little mayhem when I am old enough to get away with it.

Floisme · 21/08/2016 14:02

'Young', 'middle aged' and 'old' are not personal characteristics or states of mind, however much some posters might like to think otherwise. If some people are deluded enough to use them as value judgements then that's their problem. I'm 59 and I shop at H&M but that doesn't make me any younger than someone dressed head to toe in Country Casuals. And it won't ward off failing memory or bladder control.

Happy birthday op, 42 is a bloody great age and you are one lucky bastard.

SchnitzelVonKrumm · 21/08/2016 14:28

It seems to be the case IME that most women enjoy their 40s more than their 30s.

Crispbutty · 21/08/2016 14:42

I felt old in my late 30's... I am now 46, my DP is 34, and I feel more alive now and healther than I did ten years ago. I can still party hard if the mood takes me, I havent started wearing beige, and I have just started a new career, which I figure and hope I have at least 20 years to work in it, or longer.

42 is definitely not old! I dont consider middle aged to be until the mid 50's and my definition of elderly is upwards of 75.

justpeachy74 · 21/08/2016 14:44

No. No it fucking isn't! Not just because I'm that age.Grin

AuldYow · 21/08/2016 14:47

Don't be ridiculous, I'm 42 later this year - I'm fitter than I've ever been and I finally think I'm actually quite attractive, DH has been telling me for years. It's taken nearly 42 years but finally I've got confidence, roll on the next 50 or so years Wink