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Midlifers, we're no longer invisible
About Leanne | crestingthehill
Hi I'm Leanne, medical receptionist by day and blogger by night. I blog at Cresting the Hill - where I write about how much I’m enjoying Midlife and the empty nest. To quote Maya Angelou: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.”
One of the questions I've been asking myself lately is why has the midlife pendulum swung so far? It seems in the last decade or so we've gone from completely invisible to being gung-ho and full-speed ahead.
Have you noticed that every midlifer seems to be on an adventure? They are traipsing all over the world, running marathons, writing blogs, starting new businesses, throwing big birthday parties and generally living life on a large scale.
WHERE HAVE THE CHANGES COME FROM?
It wasn't all that long ago that midlifers were complaining about being invisible. You can read hundreds of articles on how we disappear as we age. But over the last decade or so, we've had a resurgence and everyone seems to be out there doing interesting stuff while sharing it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for the world to see.
Read more from Leanne: The midlife marriage fairytale
I was talking to my husband about this the other day and we came up with three simple reasons for the change that's occurred in our age demographic. I'm sure there are more factors, but these were the three we came up with.....
MONEY
Midlifers seem to have more expendable income these days. Most have worked for several decades and with the kids off their hands, they find they have quite a bit of spare cash floating around -- and are looking for ways to enjoy it.
The temptation is to stash it away for retirement, or to leave it to the kids when we go, but I think there is a little bit of the YOLO mentality in our generation. We all want to enjoy the fruits of our labour, rather than putting it all away for a rainy day.
It may mean that we have a regular date night, a weekend away or, better still, that trip overseas that we've been coveting all our lives. We couldn't afford to take the whole family, but with only two of us to pay for, it becomes very do-able.
HEALTH
Midlifers are probably the healthiest we've ever been for this age and stage. We eat sensibly (most of the time), we make sure we're doing some regular exercise, and we still feel like we're in our 30s. Why not make the most of this time of life before our health starts to deteriorate?
It's inevitable that the ageing process will catch up with us eventually, so we're seizing the day and doing the stuff we want before it's too late.
We've all heard stories of the person who waited to do their living when they retired and then found it was too late because their health failed them - and we don't want that to be us!
SOCIAL MEDIA
Ahhhh, that amazing invention that puts our lives on display for all to see. Most of us got our social media happening when our kids were updating their lives online. We wanted to keep an eye on them and stay connected, so we signed up for Facebook.
The interesting thing is that our adult kids seem to have moved on and don't use their social media all that often, but we are out there sharing all our experiences with our friends and loving the social side of it.
I see travel pictures, grandbaby pictures, mother-of-the-bride and wedding pictures, anniversary pictures, new pet pictures, restaurant pictures, weekend-away pictures, and the list goes on. We'd never have known how busy everyone was if it wasn't for the immediacy of social media -- and our generation is utilising it to the full.
ARE YOU INVISIBLE OR FULL ON?
I'm hoping there's a happy medium between fading into the background and having the need to be living every moment of life full-steam ahead.
I must admit, I love that midlife has become interesting, that we're doing more and experiencing more and life hasn't stopped. I'm so glad we're not invisible and we're making the most of this fantastic stage.
Do you have plans for the next few years? Are you off on a trip? Starting a new business venture? Selling the house? Taking up a gym membership? Discovering a new hobby? Isn't it a great time to be alive?!
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