What Is Middle Age?

There are some that would think thirty-five years is middle age while others may think fifty or older is the magic number. Our perception of what we consider middle age to be will determine how old we feel and how we feel about the age we are.

The real question is how long do we think we will live? I for one would hope to live many years past 70 so for me, thirty-five is not considered middle age. In today’s world thirty-five is still considered young; many couples are just starting their families in this age bracket. Beginning to have a family at thirty-five is more the norm than starting to have children at twenty used to be. The times, and our definitions of what is acceptable as we age, have changed. Previously, if a child was born to parents in the thirty-five to forty year old age category, it was thought to be an unplanned pregnancy.

If families are started at thirty or thirty-five, theoretically children won’t leave the nest until their parents are at least fifty or fifty-five which seems to be a more appropriate age to think about being considered middle age.

Children keep us feeling younger and encourage us to be more inclusive of youthful attitudes; daughters don’t want to see their mothers as being unfashionable and sons want their fathers to be able to ‘keep up’. Parents will try to fit the images their children have of them which results in older people feeling more youthful.

Although 'middle age' can be evidenced physically by increased wrinkles, reduced physical fitness and a reduction of strength and flexibility, I believe that ‘true middle age’ is better defined by each individual’s attitude towards their own aging. As an example of this, my brother and I are a little more than a year apart in age but he considers ‘middle age’ to be at a younger age than what I consider it to be; this attitude is based on the differences in our perceptions on aging.

When one looks in the mirror and sees wrinkles lining the face and a head covered in a halo of gray, do they see ‘old’ or do they look beyond the obvious to the possibilities of what life still has to offer them.

Until one is truly considered to be ‘old’, whereby assistance is required for daily necessities, then I believe we remain in the category of ‘middle age’; if it is absolutely necessary to categorize.

The middle years can be the beginning of a new life. Many are starting new careers in their fifties and sixties. And as we become older and hopefully wiser our opportunities can broaden; by using wisdom, knowledge and more availability of time, we can help others or work towards our own long forgotten dreams. Ignoring opportunities are a lost potential for future happiness.

Avoid negativity as if it were a raging lion and look towards the future with a positive attitude; look for the sun shining on the horizon, not the thunder clouds. Middle age is the oasis between the uncertainty of youth and the unknown future of the elderly. Our oasis can be what we make of it.