I'm 60. I don't remember my 50th birthday, but I hope I called my parents and thanked them. I'm grateful to be alive. Dad made it to 89, mom made it to almost 97.
When I turned 49 I started saying I was 50 so I would be ready when it came, I had no difficulty turning 50 whatsoever.
I am 49. Thanks for the advice.
I didn’t plan it that way, but I did the same. I was saying I was 50 at least a year ahead of time. Ran Boston for the first time at 49 and frankly was annoyed I wasn’t 50 yet so I could say that.
I don’t like getting old, but the numbers don’t cause me a lot of grief.
Was looking forward to it. Incredible party at at hotel ballroom with family and friends. Stories, videos, kareoke and more with over 70 folks. Very grateful to my wife for setting it up. Looking forward to the 60th. My dad will be there at 93. Maybe I'll make it to 100. Feel great!
I was happy on my 50th birthday, as I usually am on my birthdays. I was excited about my party and had a good time. I'm actually proud to be this age and still be active and in good shape. People always say I look much younger when I tell them my age.
I turned 50 earlier this year and my actual birthday didn’t bother me. The one time I really felt my age was at a mile race in July. The start times were based on your age group and I was in the “50 & above” group. I wasn’t offended, but I had to laugh thinking we were basically all lumped together as the older crowd. I looked around and there was a lot of gray hair, a lot of sagging skin and at least one guy in his 80s who looked confused as to why he was there. I thought, “Yup, these are my people now”.
Fifty is sad because you have turned the corner and you're heading for home. People will say you are "middle aged" but you are closer to 3/4 age than the middle. Minus a few years off the backend as "sh!tty years spent going to doctors" and now you are really down to only having a good 20 years left in you. Also this is the age where you will be dealing with the loss of your parents, or serious medical issues that will affect your them.
On the good side, at 50 I hope you have done enough financially to where you can see retirement as a realistic goal. You should be secure in your career, and if you had kids they should be well on their way into adulthood and making their way in the world.
Running wise, very very few of us are able to keep racing or able to do the work necessary to be competitive. Most of us have to be happy that we can still get out there and get in a few miles here or there, and we can do enough to make sure that while we may be 50, we can be a very very fit and healthy 50.
50 was no big deal. Neither was 60. I pretty much do everything I’ve always done…and a few new things that I never had a chance to do previously. Don’t let a number bother you, live life to the fullest.
Being 50 sucks. Some friends are dead by now via war, suicide, accidents, and deadly disease. Lost a friend to a brain tumor, another in an endless war, one to suicide, one in a car crash.
If you have not lost someone, you must live a very sheltered life.
Recently got together with a bunch of college friends. In my mind's eye we are all still early 20s, doing the stoopid $hit that 20-somethings do, but we are all damn near 60. SIXTY! How the heck did that sneak up on me?!?
Frankly, apart from all the aches, pains and niggly old man ailments, I still feel like I'm in my 20s and the idea of being nearly 60, which my brain knows to be true, simply won't sink in... :-D
Was your 50th birthday a very sad a depressing day? Or was there really no difference then the day before when you were 49?
I don't know dude. Not sad though. I feel just about the same as I did at 35, just a little grayer and slower. Life's fantastic, full of adventure and love. You do get a sense of time ticking away, but dang... when you look back and consider everything, you realize how blessed you've been to get this far. Sad? Nah. Grateful and aware, yes.
Some friends are dead by now via war, suicide, accidents, and deadly disease.
Same here, on all those counts. My parents, in their early/mid 80s, seem to lose a friend or family member once a month, whether they'd like to or not. I've watched my dad lose at least a dozen of his best friends over the years. I am not looking forward to that stage of getting old, the accelerated rate of losing loved ones along the journey...
Was your 50th birthday a very sad a depressing day? Or was there really no difference then the day before when you were 49?
Of course it wasn't a sad day.
It's an arbitrary moment in your life. You took another lap around the sun. Big deal.
Only sad things should cause you to be sad. A birthday is just a reminder that you have lived another year.
When I turned 50, I had more money than I had ever had before. I was closer to retirement than ever before (now retired). I saw those as good things.
We can't change the number of our age, but if there are things you CAN change that you want to change, like your fitness, your financial situation, your relationships, that you CAN change for the positive, then go about doing that.