Updated on October 2nd, 2022
“There is a general feeling that at 50 you are going over the hill. Is this feeling well founded?”
Are you Past your Prime at age 50?
To consider that age 50, you are old and past your prime is a matter of judgement. To someone else age 40 or may be age 60 may be considered as being over the hill. It has more to do with ones mindset rather than than physical or cognitive decline.
Stages of Life
Every human being has go through infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, mid-life and old age. Ageing does bring some inevitable changes which are gradual and do not happen suddenly on reaching a certain age. It is a universal fact that there is a period in life during which you are at your prime and thereafter a gradual decline takes place. It is possible to arrest or delay this decline by adopting a healthy lifestyle but decline cannot be prevented. Despite that, at any age or stage of life, you don’t become irrelevant or useless to the society. Therefore, one should not consider oneself as being over the hill at any time.
Relevance of People after 50
If you are a job seeker, in a competitive race for a job, younger individuals may get a preference over 50 year old. It may make you feel that your market value has gone down. But this is not always true, there are jobs where experience is valued more than you physical attributes.
In todays competitive world, sometimes, the high stress levels cause an early burn out and prompt people take an early retirement, if they have amassed adequate fortune which can see them through their remaining years.
Life expectancy has increased and so has the fitness levels and quality of life. The retirement age is increasing gradually and so is relevance of people above 50. At age 50 you still have a long useful life left to live. Most of the times, at 50, you are most productive and effective.
Age brings along knowledge, experience and wisdom which compensates for the physical decline to a great extent. Age is only numbers and it does not lay down limits on what you can and what you cannot.
People well beyond 50 have achieved Remarkable Feats
There are a large number of examples where individuals have achieved remarkable feats at an age which is well beyond the retirement age:
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Fauja Singh began running seriously at the age of 89.
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Grandma Moses began painting at the age of 78.
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Colonel Sanders was 65 years old when with his chicken recipe, he started Kentucky Fried Chicken.
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Socrates, one of world’s greatest philosophers, understood he could still learn and started on music in his 60s.
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At age 95, Nola Ochs, an American woman, became the oldest college graduate when she received a bachelor’s degree in 2007. She didn’t stop there – she went on to pursue a Master’s degree as well.
Age is only a mindset
There’s no particular age. It’s all about your health and your mindset that lays down you limits.
So, to consider that you have crossed the hill at age 50 and are now rolling down on the other side is only a state of mind and may not be correct.
From age 50 to sixty
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Generally at 50, one is at Direction or Conceptual level
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Likely to be at a fairly high level of seniority in an organisation.
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The balance of years from 50 to retirement can become the most fruitful and rewarding years and must be made use of accordingly.