Is 50 really the new 30?

As my 50^th birthday approaches, I wonder if what I am hearing is true. Is 50, really the new 30?, or is this all just a marketing ploy to get us out of our comfy old sweatpants and into expensive designer jeans?

Back when I was in my 20s, I thought 50 was ancient. it would all be downhill from there. I would be spending Thursday nights playing bridge with the ‘gals’, searching the papers for early bird dinner specials, while whining about the younger generation.

But now that I am almost there, I find I don’t have time for any of that. Early bird specials??.. I usually don’t have time for dinner until 7pm, and that is only if I don’t have a night meeting.

My life is not slowing down, I am busier than ever. I think one thing that happens as you get older, is you start to feel a sense of obligation to the society you live in.

The ‘all about me’ attitude of your teens and 20’s, now becomes the all about ‘us’,

Perhaps it is accrued wisdom that brings this phenomenon on, or just a desire to make an impact on humanity, and save a troubled world?  Either way it seems to define the new ‘50’. As people around me approach that mid-mark, they seem to be bolder, riskier, more defiant to settle for the status quo. They are changing careers, starting new businesses, taking in foster children, volunteering in their community in ways that brings them joy and fulfillment.

The new ‘50’ is good. It is about getting ‘real things done, about being productive in society. It is about discovering what is important…and what is not.