So this month I turned 50. To be honest I was actually quite pleased to reach this milestone. 40 I was not happy about, 40 just felt old (you can read about that meltdown here) Whereas 50 didn’t bother me.

I know that shouldn’t be the case. I’d been warned that waking up at 50 turns you overnight into an extra in the Golden Girls. Suddenly you can’t get up without groaning, hair sprouts in unlikely places and a good night out finishes at 8pm with a cup of cocoa and an episode of Antiques Roadshow (to be fair that sounds like me anyway minus the antiques roadshow) Yet I didn’t really get that feeling, I felt strangly elated.

For many reasons 49 wasn’t a great year, I lost my Mum to alzheimers, a work friend died suddenly, Mr F had ankle surgery and was out of action for 3 months (to say my bed side manner has been tested would be an understatement) and generally things felt all a bit difficult. So I’ve gone into 50 with a pretty optimistic view of it but without making out it’s some miraculous game changer.

I think when I turned 40 I felt as though I should have already achieved my life goals, whereas at 50 I realise I don’t even know what those goals are yet, and I’m just not that bothered. Obviously I still wanted a fuss for my actual birthday and had a lovely weekend (Ok lovely week, I did drag it out a bit) full of good friends, good food and good wine so I didn’t entirely let it pass by unnoticed. But it was all just a very lovely milestone rather than some kind of mid-life crisis so I have high hopes for the year. I mean the day after I turned I got an appointment for a mammogram and a bowel cancer screening kit so 50 already seems to be the year that just doesn’t stop giving.

Of course as is tradition (well I did it once, not sure that’s quite classed as a tradition) any milestone birthday deserves a list. My 40 things list was great fun, and I managed nearly all of them. However 60 things in a year sounded quite a feat, especially if I want to keep my job and also find time to read some books, so instead I present my 60 things to do before I’m 60!

As any good project manager would do I’ve future proofed by list by leaving some gaps for things I decide I want to do in the future so it’s currently a 51 things to do list, with 9 gaps left but it’s still a good mix. Hopefully one of those gaps doesn’t end up being a belated birthday meltdown!

You can see the full list (if you are really that interested) here