Welcome to the fulfilling chapter of your life
As soon as you turn 60, chances are you’ll be feeling vastly younger than your parents at this age. It’s a tribe never seen before.
It’s safe to say that, collectively, a lot’s come our way.
Medical advances and alternative health options have extended our lives significantly. And given us a rich array of choices in life unknown in previous eras. Opportunities for an education, to have a career, and have different careers. To leave our birthplace. To relocate. To travel and see the world.
We have fewer stigmas, too. We are not pariahs if we marry late or not at all, if we divorce, re-partner, or have children late, by artificial means, or not at all. We can explore same-sex relationships, if drawn to do so.
Choice is ours
For the first time, we can choose who we want to be. And we can reset ourselves, too; start again.
Having choice defines us.
Through technological advances, we choose who and what we connect with online. We’ve got unprecedented access to people, organisations, and ideas across the globe.
All these things were out of reach of our parents.
In fact, today’s woman of 60 tends to be lively and aspirational, notwithstanding some health issues and battle scars from living.
What’s different
Most of us have experienced grief and loss by 60 and realised that some realities of life cannot be changed. We’ve mostly learned self-acceptance.
And, strikingly, we’re more confident than our mums. We’re more outward looking. We try new things, and we feel “damn good” many days.
We feel in our prime, or not far off it.
And don’t feel old. No, we’re much nearer middle age than old age.
And men have become ‘younger’ too at 60. Many hard labour jobs have been lost, making way for easier-on-the-body jobs. And with myriad positive changes affecting men too, men are far from how their fathers were at this age. Just ask them. We just don’t notice the contrast as much because they’ve always gone out into the world.
Pre-1970, it wasn’t uncommon to think that turning 65 was the beginning of the end. You were ‘old’, work was behind you, and if you were lucky, you’d have a bit of time before dying. Essentially, you were old.
Old age is well off
Now, the opposite is true: the general attitude is that old age is well off into the future.
We have a whole new generation, really. Straddling middle-age and old age.
It’s bizarre to be lumped into the elderly category when you feel so young. How many times have you heard, “I’m 60, but I feel much younger!”
Not all of society has caught up. It’s not uncommon for advertisements aimed at 60-year-olds to use actors in their 70 or 80s, but it’s jarring if you are the one being targeting. It just feels wrong to be labelled as old when it doesn’t apply and may not for years to come.
Older is several chapters now, not one
The reality is that for most of us, turning 60 is just the start of getting older. It’s now several chapters of life, not one. By that I mean we are at the young end of being older.
Give us time and we’ll move into regular old age but that could be a decade or longer.
And we will still not be very old, geriatric, and infirm, for years – years – beyond that. Many of us will live to our late 80s or 90s….and that’s the third chapter of getting older. It’s a far cry from being 60.
Pulling it together
At 60 today, we are just getting started.
We’ve got amazing experiences to draw upon and honed many skills. We’ve got perspective on life and know about living well.
We’ve expanded our horizons beyond any previous generation turning 60. And with work and family obligations now reducing, we have freedom to find deeper fulfillment. And we have a hell of a lot to offer the community.
We’re entering in the wisdom years.
You mightn’t be 60 yet, but what will you do when you get there?
The bottom line is this: Turning 60 today is vastly different from our parents and it’s worth celebrating! It’s only the start of getting older: you will be far from old. There are so many opportunities to live wiser, and happier. What are your plans?