What is middle aged to you?

[Anonymous]

If a magazine article described three people: a young adult, a middle aged adult, and an elderly adult, what are the three ages in numerical form that come to mind? I think: 25, 45, and 75.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a bit specific to individual people, but the period between having little kids and retiring is a good proxy.

My sister and I are two years apart in age. But, she had her last kid at 29 and I had my last kid at 43. She is now an empty nester and I have a 3 year old. We are both middle aged, but our middle age looks very different. She spent a few hours babysitting for me a couple of months ago and she needed a nap afterwards. She is probably in better shape than me because she has more time to work out, but mentally she is no longer able to tolerate the tedium of little kids that I deal with every day. In that sense, I am not yet middle aged because I can’t move on to that mental stage yet while my sister can embrace it.

That's not how it works. At 46, you are middle-aged. It's not dependant on how old your kids are. Having your kids late simply means you had your kids late. It has nothing to do with the stage of life you are in.

My uncle is 91 and has a much younger girlfriend of 86. He travels, jogs, hits the gym, lives on the beach in California, golfs, dances, travels a lot. He only retired at 80. He has no plans to die. I don’t consider him elderly at all.

Umm. This is not how words work, you guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:45. It's, very generously, middle of one's age. Elderly is anyone over 60.

I think elderly is 70+ but it also depends on the person. The so called "elderly" in my family can still clean your clock!

60 is definitely old. I'm 61 and comfort myself by saying I'm on the young end of old. It's just a number, I still feel great and am very active but don't kid myself that I'm still young.

[Anonymous]

It is so interesting how negatively people feel about aging. I’m
52 and I love it. I’m a middle aged woman. I am smarter than I’ve ever been. More sure of myself than I’ve ever been. More empathic to myself and others. I have physical limitations and I don’t look as good as I did before but I wouldn’t trade what I know for anything! You can call me middle aged, you can call me old. Doesn’t matter because I am in such a solid place. I’ve also lost a number of friends so each and every year is a privilege. Not gonna spend one minute of time wishing I was younger.

[Anonymous]

45

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is so interesting how negatively people feel about aging. I’m
52 and I love it. I’m a middle aged woman. I am smarter than I’ve ever been. More sure of myself than I’ve ever been. More empathic to myself and others. I have physical limitations and I don’t look as good as I did before but I wouldn’t trade what I know for anything! You can call me middle aged, you can call me old. Doesn’t matter because I am in such a solid place. I’ve also lost a number of friends so each and every year is a privilege. Not gonna spend one minute of time wishing I was younger.

Same here. I’m also 52 and I love my current age. I’m comfortable in my own skin and I couldn’t care less what other people think of me. It’s incredibly freeing. I old enough to remember what life was like before the Internet and social media, thank goodness.

[Anonymous]

My current age plus ten years.

[Anonymous]

40 and I am 40, through retirement.

[Anonymous]

0-25. Young
25-50 Early middle age
50-75 Later middle age
75-100 Old

[Anonymous]

I'd say 40-55 is middle-aged, 55-70 is the golden years and 70+ is elderly. I don't consider 60 to be elderly but it's not middle-aged either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:45. It's, very generously, middle of one's age. Elderly is anyone over 60.

You may think 60 is elderly now but trust me you won't when you are 60.

barack obama is 60. I still see him as the young president we had.

Lenny Kravitz will be 60 in 3 years, he doesen't at all seem near elderly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a magazine article described three people: a young adult, a middle aged adult, and an elderly adult, what are the three ages in numerical form that come to mind? I think: 25, 45, and 75.

This seems right to me too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:45. It's, very generously, middle of one's age. Elderly is anyone over 60.

You may think 60 is elderly now but trust me you won't when you are 60.

barack obama is 60. I still see him as the young president we had.

Lenny Kravitz will be 60 in 3 years, he doesen't at all seem near elderly.

There’s definitely a lot of variability when it comes to getting older. Compare a 45 year old from a well-off suburb here with a good job and good access to health care to a 45 year old in a small town in the rural Midwest struggling with poverty and addiction.

[Anonymous]

I’m 43, so technically I am middle aged. I have lived half my life give or take 5 years.

50-69 feels middle aged to me. It’s not young and not elderly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:45. It's, very generously, middle of one's age. Elderly is anyone over 60.

You may think 60 is elderly now but trust me you won't when you are 60.

barack obama is 60. I still see him as the young president we had.

Lenny Kravitz will be 60 in 3 years, he doesen't at all seem near elderly.

You are confusing elderly with unable. They aren’t the same thing. Elderly is simple a descriptor of how old one is. Old doesn’t mean bad and young doesn’t mean better.