When I saw Logan’s Run as a kid in the seventies, it seemed a reasonable plot device that everyone was killed off at 30. Plenty of time to do what you had to and shuffle off. As for 40 – give us a spell. Ancient.
Women had sensible short hair, didn’t own sneakers, dabbed Ungvita ointment on everything, knew how Tupperware and tuckshops worked. Men were suited, short on small talk, had tennis elbow and gallstone problems. Both smoked inside and carried chequebooks.
The characters in The Golden Girls were younger than Carrie and co in the latest series of Sex and the City.Credit:NBC
Now people are ageing in reverse. A social post doing the rounds notes the main characters in the first season of The Golden Girls are younger than the 55-year-olds in the current Sex and the City incarnation.
Rose, Blanche and Dorothy were having afternoon lie downs after a couple of mint juleps. Carrie and Co are all halter-neck jumpsuits, same-sex relationships and late-in-life learning.
It’s amazing how different our view of women that age is in 2022, just since the 1980s. Sixty is sexy, fifty is nifty and forty is fabulous. Nicole Kidman said it after her fifth Oscar nomination at age 54: “The older I get, the absolutely sweeter it is.”
Nicole, you are my longtime nemesis. I think we both know it should be me plugging in Keith’s GHD in our Nashville master suite. But for now, let’s put that aside while I say you are bang on, lady.
Nicole, we both know that it’s me who should be plugging in Keith’s GHD in our Nashville master suite.Credit:Instagram
We’re united in the Sweeter Beyond 50 sisterhood that includes my hilarious and intuitive friends, your own resourceful, loyal tribe and Kidman peers like Jennifer Aniston who is hitting her style zenith at 53. Men, if you’re revelling in what’s happening in your sixth decade and upward you’re welcome too.
Our cultural story has been that age diminishes us. So not true, according not just to Nicole but research which shows old people are happier than those in their twenties.
Turning 50, I didn’t feel anxiety. I’d ticked a lot of boxes: career, kids, marriage, nice house, hair that mostly only fell out when I was stressed, swapping the Kia Carnival for a six-speed Golf.
Five years on, I’m even happier. More than I’ve been since my first sweet spot as a young mother smoothing my girl’s hair into a ponytail, making Sunday crepes, yelling the Tiny Dancer chorus en masse.
Now I’m bang in the middle of a second. I think it’s because I’ve stopped ticking boxes. I still have dreams, it’s just I’m taking my sweet time figuring out what they are.
Being out the other side of the mortgage and education maelstrom has shifted my ambitions from national roles and perfect piles of laundry to fewer shoes and honest conversations.
No more status seeking. Money is just a social construct for which I swap my precious time. I’m slower to take the bait, offence or care what anyone thinks of me. Perspective means small things mean more. Swimming with my dog Maggie, doing push ups, having intuitive friends, kids who invite me to parties and parents who are alive.
It’s not so much my daily life has changed, more I feel different about it. Optimistic. Weirdly triumphant. My energy has shifted from ‘What does everyone need?’ to ‘Ooh, my turn now.’ The freedom is fantastic.
Celebrating her first week of retirement as the world’s best practice kinder teacher, my friend Jessica popped a cork at the Barwon Heads caravan park where our families holidayed together forever.
Back then, we drained glasses between heating up giant tubs of bolognaise and wondering if it was bedtime yet. Now it was just us and our blokes and the sunset and a big cheers to getting older.
In her sixties, Jess finds joy in “giving—of time, love, knowledge. It’s so little about money,” she said. “And I love there’s less expectation to look and behave a certain way. I look forward to getting away with even more naughty behaviour as an old lady!”
Me too. Nicole, enjoy the sweetness. Thanks for bringing visibility to the traditionally invisible years.
Kate Halfpenny is the founder of Bad Mother Media.
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