To think I’m officially old now? What was your defining moment?!

[moggo]

That’s it. I’ve now officially hit old age. Went to a concert with my daughter this week and it was standing. I was on the fringes of a mosh pit and it was very annoying. My feet are still bruised, my hips and legs are killing me and I can’t hear anything. I’m still absolutely exhausted too. I’m 58.

When did you have your epiphany?

When there was something up with my phone and instead of googling it myself I rang my son 😂

Was at work and as I wrote the date I said ‘ it’s my dd’s bday today. Ooh said one woman how old is she? 43 I said oh that’s as old as my mum.

I'm afraid you've not got long. Old starts at 60 apparently.

In my (admittedly very privileged) case some of the tangible compensations of my 50s are: almost paid off mortgage; more time with DH (travel, theatre etc); adult children who no longer need me much; tidier house as no longer full of teenagers; far less laundry; I no longer need to chase promotion, can choose my hours and could afford to retire now if I wanted to; no toddlers to wrangle; no more school choices or impending GCSEs/A-levels/UCAS to worry about. I can even cook the kind of food that DH and I like without having to factor in everyone else's preferences.

But most importantly, lack of concern about how I look, what other people think, and an absolute lack of interest in buying more 'stuff'. It's really liberating and a big change from my 30s. (Don't get me wrong, I still go to the hairdresser and generally look after myself, but being an invisible middle-aged woman is so much better than I thought it would be!).

I realise not everyone's so lucky, and lots could go wrong, but I am very much enjoying it for now.

I felt old in my 30s, but as the kids grew and I could do more I'm feeling young again (47 now). I party until 3am, I feel like I went backwards. The only thing is that my hips and knees sometimes remind me I'm not as young as I think.

I was wearing sketchers from age 19 so… I can’t link that with being old. I remain to be convinced crocs are comfortable but my 6yo would live in them!

The mirror tells me one thing, I'm getting old, I hate that bloody mirror! I'm struggling to get rid of menopausal pounds, my waist disappeared and more chins than I like. But..I still play two sports, do an active job and have a dog that does activities too. I don't generally feel old..just that bloody mirror likes to taunt me!