Life in your 50s doesn't have to be depressing, though that's when you realize you've passed the halfway mark. You can look back and be sad that your youth is over - but you can also recognize that another interesting phase of life is coming.

Life in your 50smay be times when a crisis comes suddenly. The children are moving out. You lose your job or you retire. You are separating from your partner. You are experiencing the death of your parents. This upsets the balance of life, causing sadness, anxiety and fear. But sometimes it doesn't take a sudden change to start sliding down a mental slope.

One day you look in the mirror and you think that now it can only get worse. Well, in your 50s you can't hide the changes caused by the passage of time, but that doesn't mean you don't have anything good in your life anymore.

What if you smile in the mirror? It doesn't matter if you see more wrinkles then. It is not your appearance that determines whether you will feel the joy of life. It is in you - and it will radiate outward like a smile if you think of the years ahead, not as a road to nowhere, but as a basket full of possibilities.

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Life after fifty, i.e. at the best age

You are over 50 - enjoy! In Western countries, people at this stage of life are referred to as "best agers" - people of their best age. Because it is a time when new opportunities open up, and old age is still a long way off.

Admittedly, youth is behind you - but with it the burden of youth and early adulthood. Behind you are the sleepless nights, when the kids were little, parent-teacher meetings, fear that you will pay off the loan. Think about working at night, making extra money in a second job, life on the go. And these deliberations whether you are not pregnant again … Now your children are raised, your professional and financial situation is relatively stable.

And even though you don't have the condition of a 30-year-old, you are still fit, and you have experience that you did not have in your youth. So don't think: "it is not appropriate for me to do this", "I can't do that anymore". Think: now I FINALLY can! I can start a company - becauseI have knowledge and contacts. I can travel, take care of my he alth and appearance - because I have the resources for it. I can indulge in my favorite activities - because now I have time, I can carelessly enjoy sex - because I will not get pregnant anymore.

Many things that have been blocking you disappear, but many interesting perspectives open up - you just need to be able to see them.

Trained mind

Although its capabilities decrease with age, the mind is flexible: it can and must be exercised. How to do it every day? Instead of writing down a shopping list, for example, try to remember it. Learn a new poem by heart every week. When you are driving into unfamiliar surroundings, do not use GPS, but study the route on the map beforehand.

When entering an unfamiliar room, look around, then close your eyes and list as many items as you can remember. Each morning, remember what you did the day before.

It is important to feed your brain with new sensations. The mind easily falls into a routine, so to keep it plastic, it must be given new tasks. This could be, for example, trying a new route to work. Travels to unknown places are mobilizing, then we constantly learn something, meet new people and new habits.

Writing with the left hand, learning a foreign language, learning to play an instrument, ballroom dancing course, and even listening to music mobilizes gray cells. It's important to do something unusual that breaks the routine, as this forces your brain to learn and create new neural connections.

Life after fifty, or experience gives confidence

Middle age is the time to summarize what you've achieved in life: relationship, children, friendships, professional achievements. This balance also includes difficult experiences - divorce, work failures, serious illness, death of loved ones. It's a natural part of life.

But even dramatic events teach something. What you have experienced over the years is now your asset, gives you confidence and allows you to move forward. It is worth perceiving the fifth decade of life in this way: not as an age of growing limitations, but of opening up opportunities.

Divorce? Well - it's a trauma, but also a liberation from a toxic relationship, creating the possibility of a new opening. Has your eyesight deteriorated? This is a great opportunity to add a new touch to your styling - fashionable glasses. Will you become a grandmother? Wonderful - there will be small children in the family again, but this time you will not stay awake at night, but you will have a great time pampering them and showing them the world.

Life over 50: I know myself, I know what I want

Do not regret the time that has passed, cherish good memories and draw strength from them. Now you are on anotherstage, and this stage is no worse. You experienced the first shock of your declining youth when you were 40.

Unfavorable changes in appearance, deterioration of condition, child maturation, marriage crises - you already know all this and you know that you do not die from it. You've worked out ways that allow you to live with it, you've mastered the situation. Now it's worth considering what is important to you. What do you like and want to develop in your life, and what would you like to change.

Do you dream to do something different than before? Start your studies or change your qualifications and job, or after work, do something you've always dreamed of - who knows, maybe this will become your main occupation or at least let you take a break from everyday life.

Do you want to look and feel better? Take care of yourself: sign up for fitness classes, to the tourist club, go to the spa once or twice, treat yourself to a new hairstyle that will emphasize your mature beauty, consult a stylist on how to dress. But don't bend to fashion.

If they don't have your size in the store, don't think there's something wrong with you. There is something wrong with fashion, as it does not take into account more feminine sizes. Accept yourself as you are now and act according to the principle: I no longer have to meet expectations or explain that I am doing something that is good for me. Because I already know what I want, and it's a waste of time to suck up the world.

Life after fifty: a covenant of generations

It is worth maintaining friendships with peers who have the same generational experience as you and understand you in half a word. But equally valuable are close contacts with people from younger generations: with their own children and their friends, with younger friends and colleagues. They bring a breath of freshness into your life, help you get used to modern technology, trends, fashion, culture news, language changes.

They ensure that you are not left behind, but are still in the mainstream of change. At the same time, for them, with your experience, knowledge and distance to the world, you can be a kind of support. You know their troubles because you had similar problems in the past. And you can advise on how to get out of a difficult situation, tell how you solved a similar problem yourself. Or just listen, cheer up, hug. You can, to some extent, replace their parents for young people who have abandoned their cities and families in search of work. And helping them feel that you are needed.

Life after fifty: away with helplessness

You have probably been in a situation more than once when your age was an obstacle. Whether you were looking for a job or during a trip, when you could hardly follow the guide,or when you did not know how to quickly master a new computer program.

When such experiences multiply, it's easy to give in to the temptation of helplessness to say: I'm too old for that. But then it may happen that, in frustration, you get stuck on the couch in front of the TV and stop having an impact on your life. You need an experience of agency.

Get out there and use your skills. It can be voluntary work, activities for a housing community or help given to a neighbor. By helping others, you feel that you are improving the world. You can see that you can still do a lot.

Contact with people increases your knowledge and experience, creates a network of contacts that gives you a sense of security. Such a positive experience boosts self-confidence, protects against helplessness, frustration and depression.

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Category:

Geriatrics