To feel a bit depressed to be turning 50?

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1. Fifty. FIFTY. It sounds so ooolllllddd. I feel 25 inside. Your mum always said that didn't she and you looked at her wrinkly face and boring life and thought 'yeah ok'.
2. I know the alternative to turning 50 is not turning 50 and I am lucky to be here, happy-ish and healthy-ish
3. Do I celebrate like a loon and invite every man or beast I've met over the last five decades or I do I have a quiet dinner and cry into my Champers?

Anyone else in the same boat. Any words of encouragement or positive vibes to send my way?

I'm exactly the same OP. I'll be 50 later this year and it just seems such a big deal. I didn't give a toss about turning 30 or 40 🤷‍♀️but since NY it's on my mind a lot.

I'm in the same boat (50 in March) and I feel exactly the same way! It's more a 'where did the time go' thing, and it feels like there's still do much I want to do and I'm running out of time to do it! Doesn't help that my mum died young, so that's also in the back of my mind...
I shall probably celebrate (quietly) and sob into my champagne later when I'm alone!!

Fifty isn't old anymore. We're children of the 70s! We had disco, punk, ska. OK, questionable fashion but that was the fun of it.

Those 'over 50s plan' adverts give me mortal rage. I don't give two shits about June's fecking parsnips and wearing beige cardis. I want to neck cocktails and dance with my friends, tell outrageous stories and laugh till my ribs hurt. And I will.

Fifty schmify - bring on irresponsible late middle age.

Oh theres going to be some great music song a longs in the "bide a wee" care home when we all get there.

Yup. I've been 50 for seven years and it doesn't get any easier, with 60 looming over the horizon. Time seems to pass so quickly now; it's scary.

I'm fifty next month and feel the same. Not planned anything yet as I'm waiting to hear the results of cancer treatment. You would think this would make me happy about turning 50 rather than the alternative but I still feel outraged that I'm this old and also now have a broken body.

I turned 50 the year before last and had a huge party with 50 friends at a local restaurant overlooking the ocean - it was fabulous!!
My friends all still talk about it and say they are looking forward to my 60th

I turned 50 this year. I wasn’t fussed about the age really. Just a number. I took a day off work, drank a couple of glasses of wine at home, had snacks and watched a couple of DVD’s in peace. I’m a single mum, work full time, 3 kids - so for me a day chilling doing nothing was the best present to me!

I've got a couple of years to go but it scares the hell out of me! How can I be 50 when in my head I am 21?

I know this may be of know help but I turned 50 last year and it was a great birthday. I channelled all my energy into organising a party at my house for my close friends and family and also a holiday filled with wonderful treats. I used turning 50 as an excuse to do so many nice things, every time I thought is that a bit extravagant or not necessary I said to myself I only turn 50 once, it really is the one if the biggest milestone birthdays of my life, I probably won’t make 100 so why not really go for enjoying being half a century. I was too busy ordering myself birthday cake, and booking hair and makeup for my party I didn’t have time to feel old or depressed.
I’d say celebrate, celebrate, celebrate!

Despite poor mental health turning 50 was fine. I organised a weekend away with close family and spent some pretty near perfect time with my baby granddaughter. We don't see her often due to distance but she lights up my life.

I was 50 last year. Great so far. It is odd but at least I made it. My eldest sister died at 44 so I feel blessed to be here.

I'm doing a special holiday for mine. No party.

I hated turning 50 (I'm 60 now). It's the worst birthday of all - 60 was a doddle, as were 30 and 40 - but fifty. Urgh. The good news is that it passes, and 51 isn't half as bad! Hope you have a lovely day anyway - I recommend a bottle of vodka and a large box of tissues!

It’s a big one to get your head around, isn’t it? Turning 40 was quite fun, with lots of celebrating. And doesn’t seem that long ago! But just not sure about 50.... Maybe because I’ve just got older and more tired and celebrating sometimes seems like too much hassle. Going on a girls weekend for a friend’s 50th in April, and I am looking forward to that - so hopefully that will fire me up a bit and I’ll start making some plans. Happy 50th, and yes - do celebrate like a loon, or at least immerse yourself in something wonderful to mark the occasion

50’s nothing these days. I will turn 60 in a couple of years but that’s nothing either.

I can't wait to be 50 which is very soon. Closer to retirement .

When I reached 50 I felt the same and didn’t want a party to advertise how old I was. Instead I celebrated with my DH and my then DS12 by going to London for the weekend. We stayed in a lovely hotel, had nice meals, a theatre trip and the best thing ever was they had arranged for me to be a zoo keeper for the day at London Zoo. I got to muck out/feed the giraffes, sit with the lemurs in their enclosure (had one on my knee at one point) feed a tiger etc. It was actually bloody hard work but I loved every second of it. DH and DS followed me around like the paparazzi filming/photographing me so I had lots of memories.

I’m now 18 months off my next big birthday and I will do the same. No big party and advertising how old I am. We will do something special that I will joy and will be memorable. The next day I will go on with life as normal because nothing much has really changed.

Turning 50 this year too and I'm quite excited about it! Some times I feel just as you do, old despite not feeling it, at other time, feeling like I'm 80! But all in all, I'm very fit for my age, and am told look in my early 40s.

The way I look at it is that more and more women in our age, who are keeping healthy and fit will live in their 100s and healthily so, which means that 50 could be only half way...half way!!!!

My goal for my 50s is to work less and have more time to look after myself physically and mentally. I'll start by celebrating abroad in the sun, have saved for a few years to be able to do so.

I’m 54, don’t feel it, I’m about 35 inside. Despite constant pain and mobility problems that came with spinal surgery when I was 43, mentally I’m better than ever

I agree that 50 seems like nothing these days. I wouldn't class it as 'old'. Halle Berry, Elle Macpherson and the like are 50 now. I'd say plan a nice party, treat yourself to getting your hair done or a facial or something similar.
Look back on what you have achieved and how far you've come, and maybe plan something like a new hobby you have always wanted to try.

My late 40's and early 50's were utter shit because the menopause hit like a steam train. If you have a bad menopause it can ruin your 50's for you. I suddenly became older looking because of the lack of oestrogen and even when I went on HRT there was definite ageing.
I felt awful, my marriage broke down it all went to hell.
I don't want to scare you but 50's are not for pussies. And no way is it the same as 40's. It's the gateway decade to old age and things change.

My fifties have been my best years yet - and I've had a lot of good years!

There's been a few health issues and I lost my darling younger sister to a horrible disease (She'd never see 50). Love my work, paid off my mortgage, reasonably comfortably off, travelling a lot now both DCs left home, became a granny, got married, finally have the money to get much needed work done on the house.

I'll be 60 in a couple of years and I'm hoping for more of the same!

I honestly believe that age is only a number. Just because biologically you are 50,you can act and feel as young as you like. And happy birthday 🥂🎊

"50’s nothing these days"

If your life is fairly sorted, it might not be.

But if you've never found your career, or are single and your children are Adults. It's an age where you question your life choices and sometimes beat yourself up over them, because your time has run out.

How you are, thought of, treated and feel physically changes.

If you aren't changing physically, in ways that interrupt your life and that could just be vaginal dryness, or loss of sex drive (which if single means loss of affection) then you are one of the incredibly lucky few.

It's about accepting changes, I suppose, but when they are fundamental to who you was, then that's extremely difficult.