Just six years until my middle-aged ‘career decline’? But I’ve just got started! | Emma Beddington

At 49, I'm already well into my late career', according to an idiotic graphic from the job search giant Indeed. But that's not the way life works any more

At 49, I've just learned I'm in my late career" era, according to a recent marketing graphic from the job search giant Indeed. That's what work is like for us 45- to 55-year-olds, following Exploration" (21-25), Establishment" (25-35) and Mid-career" (35-45).

Late career! I have only been doing this for 14 years (the less said about the decade lost to the law the better) and this bald characterisation has given me full-on existential vertigo. It's worse than when my best friend told me last year I was probably peaking", which I obviously heard as freewheeling towards death". Why even bother staggering on?

Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist