This post may contain affiliate links. Full disclosure policy
This post may contain referral links. If you click through and take action, I may be compensated, at no additional cost to you.
When you were in your twenties, thirties, or even early forties, did you ever look down the distant road to your fiftieth birthday and imagine it could mark the start of the best, most exciting, awesome years of your life?
Neither did I.
But now that I’m here, I’ve discovered that being over fifty is fantastic!
Women entering their fifties are coming into a peak period of life, a period that can extend for many years and even decades. Why? Because, by and large, women beyond fifty share qualities that allow them to enjoy life more fully than ever and to powerfully impact the world around them. Those qualities, the six reasons it’s fantastic to be over fifty, can be summed up in one word…FIERCE.
Free
Even if they don’t have children, most women spend a significant part of their life and energy on the business of caregiving. The years beyond fifty free us from some of those responsibilities, leaving more time for personal development and growth.
I wouldn’t trade the experience of raising my three boys for anything. My kids were and are my pride and joy. But they were also a LOT of work! They demanded a huge portion of my mental and physical energy when they were young. Now that they are older, I can spend that energy in other areas.
Isak Dinesen, the famous writer, said, “Women, when they are old enough to have done with the business of being women, and can let loose their strength, may be the most powerful creatures in the world.”
Now, you may not be “done” with the “business of being women.” You may still have a household to run and children at home, or you may be caring for aging parents. But if you’re in your fifties it’s likely that you have more time than you did in previous years, time to finally start developing your potential, tapping into your deep reservoir of personal strength in ways that can not only increase your own pleasure in living, but positively impact those around you.
Intuitive
When I say “intuitive” I don’t mean some sort of mysterious feminine ability to know how events will unfold before they happen. I’m talking about the intuition that women beyond fifty have about themselves.
By this point, we know pretty well what we want and why. We’re not fumbling around for the key that unlocks our own personality anymore.
That means we don’t need to spend as much time chasing down rabbit trails that lead nowhere. We understand the difference between an idle whim and heartfelt desire. And we know ourselves well enough to critically assess what it takes to turn a desire into a reality.
Hey, I have all kinds of idle whims. Nothing wrong with that. Six star cruise line websites, I have discovered, are excellent places to indulge them. So are CraigsList adverts for impossibly adorable teardrop trailers. But I recognize them for what they are – things that might be nice to do or have but aren’t truly a priority for me. At least not right now.
But when a deep desire comes along – say the desire to start a blog for women beyond fifty – I know it. I also know myself well enough to realistically assess how much time and effort it would take for me to fulfill that desire.
Tapping into my personal intuition helps me channel my energy into the things I truly care about. It also saves me from wasting time on things that are unimportant or less important.
Experienced
This is huge for me, one of the biggest advantages of life beyond 50. At this moment in time, I know more than I ever have before because I have done more than ever before.
Sure, there are still plenty of things I don’t know. Keeping up with the rapid-fire pace of changes in technology can be really daunting but I think that’s true for everybody. However, when it comes to vocation and calling, human relations, spiritual insights, practical knowledge, and just plain common sense – I have a wealth of wisdom to draw upon. So do you.
Experience is the best teacher. Being beyond fifty puts you at the head of the class.
Real
Women beyond fifty are real, genuine in their relationships and more comfortable in their own skin. They’ve come to accept themselves as they are and gotten past the stage of needing to please everybody on the face of the planet.
Of course, we all have moments of insecurity, times when we fall back into old people-pleasing patterns.
A few months ago, I was ruminating over why someone I’d met seemed to take an instant dislike to me. I called my eighty-five year old mother to ask if she still worried about what other people thought of her. “Oh, no,” she said. “I stopped caring about that years ago. Right after I turned eighty.”
Hooray! Something to look forward to!
All kidding aside, I don’t spend as much time worrying about the opinions of others as I used to. It didn’t take long for me to quit thinking about the person who disliked me. Twenty years ago, or even ten, I’d have lost a lot of sleep over it. Not anymore.
Life beyond fifty has taught me to be real and more accepting of myself and other people. Not everyone is going to like me. And that’s okay.
Confident
When you add up experience, intuition, and acceptance of the real you, the result is confidence. By this time, you’ve traveled a lot of roads – some smooth, some bumpy, some pitted with potholes or blocked with boulders.
Of course, you’d rather stick to the smooth roads, who wouldn’t? But having dealt with rocky roads in the past and lived to tell the tale gives you confidence in your ability to take whatever the world dishes out, as well as the courage to take risks and the desire to tackle new challenges.
Enthusiastic
One of the biggest advantages of life beyond fifty is the sure and certain knowledge of how quickly time passes. That translates into a very real sense of urgency and genuine enthusiasm to fully embrace this unique time of life as soon as we can, for as long as we can
Women beyond fifty are in a hurry. And we should be!
For many women, the years beyond fifty have the potential to be the most productive, creative, energizing, meaningful, and influential season of life, but we know only too well how quickly it will pass. We’ve got no time to waste!
Life beyond fifty is fantastic. The freedom, intuition, experience, acceptance of the real self, confidence, and enthusiasm that blossom in the fifth decade and beyond make this an incredibly productive and exciting season of life.
Women who embrace and build upon those qualities can live a life that is powerful, meaningful and, yes, absolutely fierce!
