What is 40? It is a great song by U2, but that is not what I mean today. Today I turn 40. I have not struggle with turning 40 as some do, but it has caused me to reflect on my life. To tell the truth, I have been reflecting for a month or so on this as I have been heading toward the BIG 40. In my reflecting, I have thought “what positive difference have I made in peoples lives”. This has caused me to think more deeply. I have come up with a life purpose statement as a result of this reflecting. I want to make a positive difference for Christ in peoples live and then in turn see them make a positive difference for Christ in peoples lives. Whether this statement will change or morph over the years I do not know, but I would suspect that it will, but for now this is what I want to see happening. I want my life and my time here on this planet to count for the Kingdom of God both now and for eternity. Do you have a life purpose statement and if you do what is it? Read more from Jim at his blog.
You know, this whole idea of turning 40 years old is really getting to me. In 19 days I will have lived four decades, nearly half a century, that’s halfway to 100 years! To some people it’s “just a number.” To me, though, it’s a major step in my life that I really don’t want to take.
When I was a child, I thought 30 seemed old. That age came and went without any issues at all. Turning 40, though, seems like jumping into a bottomless abyss or something. Once I take that step off the edge, I”ll have no control over what happens to me and no way to stop the fall.
At 40, my life is more than half over, statistically speaking. This first half of my life flew by! Will I be 80 just as quickly?
My parents are both gone. My mom had a stroke at 71 and my dad died from cancer. My mother didn’t suffer much but my dad lingered on a little while. They lived long lives and made an impact on those around them, but in just a few generations, no one will even remember they existed. I don’t want to be lost to history.
My mother-in-law is still living. She’s 83, or somewhere around there. She doesn’t own a computer, just got touch tone phone service a few years ago and still drives around on Saturday mornings to pay her bills. I’m afraid of falling behind the times as she has done and being lost in society.
If she gets a letter from her bank, she always calls my wife and asks her to come explain the letter. I’m afraid of not being able to understand the tasks of daily life or make decisions on my own, as seems to be happening to her. Oh, she’s all there mentally, she just doesn’t understand the “modern” way of doing business.
I don’t like the idea of turning 40 at all. I see older folks around me having a hard time keeping up with the times. I see them suffering through financial hardship with no chance of ever getting out of it. All they’ve worked for seems to have gone up in smoke. What’s the point of it all?
My children are 15 and 17. I’m kind of looking forward to them being out on their own because my wife and I had children early and didn’t really get the chance to enjoy being a married couple. At the same time, though, I’m afraid of not being needed anymore.
When I was 30 I dreaded the thought of turning 40 - it was going to be terrible…I just knew it. Well 40 is here and quite frankly…it was no big deal. In fact my life is better than ever - I’ve recently had my first baby and I feel and look great…other than some of that baby fat that is hard to get rid of around the midsection. I’m secretly afraid that someone will ask me someday if I’m her grandma but thankfully people always just ask me if she’s my “first.”
I keep reading all the time in beauty mags and even on the bulletin boards that 40 is some type of major threshold - you shouldn’t wear sparkly or shiny makeup, you should cut your hair, not wear short skirts or shorts and on and on. I love to sparkle, I love my long hair and I would wear shorts every day if I could.
So is 40 really a big deal? I don’t think so. What about you?
Do you feel and/or look 40? I sure don’t feel it! How about you?
For many, turning forty is a dreaded day. Somehow a stigma has been associated with it that has resulted in some individuals spending days in mourning. Thousands of men and women each year allow the marketing industry to impress a depressing anticipation into their attitudes and actions. That being, that turning forty is a dreaded moment that influences all the days to follow in a negative manner. It has even been reported that on occasions, depressed individuals have resorted to alarming measures.
This book is about life, and a part of life is accepting the fact of aging to be ingrained within the process of living. The time that is spent in living is an investment. We can choose to make this investment with growling and complaints or we can choose to make it with grins and compliments. Regardless of which path we choose to travel, of this we can be certain - Time Is Never Regained.
Take Time To MEDITATE: it is the PATH TO VIRTUE
Take Time To Be HEALTHY: it is the SECRET OF YOUTH
Take Time To LAUGH: it is the MUSIC OF THE SOUL
Take Time To Be FRIENDLY: it is the KEY TO FRIENDSHIP
Take Time To DREAM: it is the HITCHINGPOST FOR BALANCE
Turning 40 has so many expectations!!! What about a woman who turns 40 and is married with no kids? That sure does raise more eyebrows than just the age itself. Even at 39 people thought “poor you, but there is hope”. Hey- ever think some people just don’t want to have children? hmm Hopefully at 40 the questions about why no kids will finally cease. Ahh.. a good thing about the new decade in life!
Have you heard? 40 is the new 30. That is if at 30 you were starting to show those fine lines, your underarms were beginning to sag and yet your inner self was starting to be twice as strong as it was at 20. For most of us, turning 40 will be a dramatic difference from the past two decades of our lives.
Turning 40 carries the weight of “oh my God, I’m getting old.” We realize we are not, after all, invincible. The three glasses of wine we used to be able to drink now dwindles down to one. The eyesight we had so sharply now becomes dimmer (yikes…trying on those reading glasses in the drugstore is an exercise in humble). The body needs more work. The skin needs more powerful products (and possibly procedures?). The spirit starts to clamor for past passions and dreams. We realize this is our life. We better really start doing something about it.
Of course you’ve heard the stories “Once I turned 40, my rear headed south and didn’t stop.” “After 40, my energy just dropped.” “Getting old sucks.” All true. It happens. It doesn’t skip anyone. Some are more affected than others, but we all are affected. There is some solace in that fact. We are united in the aging process. It’s what we do about it that separates us.
Some let the downhill slide begin and never make an attempt to stop it. Some go a bit overboard and start heading to the docs for Botox well before hitting 35. There’s a happy medium in there somewhere, but it does take effort. If you are set on aging well, you need to work at it. It does not just happen.
Naturally your diet needs to be healthy. Of course you need to exercise (definitely start doing weight training if you haven’t). Your body has always needed this. Get yourself to a good dermatologist to assess a skincare program (washing your face with whatever’s in the shower just won’t cut it anymore). However, it’s what happens inside that makes the entire process so darn interesting.
You look in the mirror and see someone older, maybe a little tired with a bit less spark. However, upon closer inspection, you also see a full-grown woman with wisdom, clarity, sense of self and even confidence. It’s those inner changes that totally make up for the loss of girlish glow you might experience. While we still want to look youthful and attractive, we somehow know that giving up that rather naive look about our eyes for the deeper, slightly more crinkled look is absolutely worth it.
There are women who would probably say they’d give up the wisdom to have the youth back. But if they really thought about it, would they? Would they, if given the choice, want to make those same past mistakes again? Deal with those toxic people long ago cut out of our lives? Work in that awful dead-end job while trying to make something of ourselves? Deal with the diapers? Date out-of-work musicians and cocky guys who never did call? Worry about the rent? The roommates? The uncertainty?
If you really think about it, the youth factor is overrated. Sure, you can exist on three hours of sleep, eat what you like without worrying about sagging, not have the responsibilities of your current life. But, like in the old Twilight Zone episodes, the price may be too steep. Nothing is free.
These days turning 40 is completely different than when our mothers and grandmothers turned 40. We aren’t necessarily deemed matronly and doomed to skirts below the knee and sensible shoes. We can wear tight jeans, super high silly heels, body-hugging jackets and even hair extensions. We can look 30 (or maybe 35) as well as be smart, sexy, confident and self-powerful. If it’s done right, it’s done well. If it’s not, it’s just a sad clinging to a younger time. It’s finding that line between that works for you.
As a 40+ year old woman, I know it takes work to look and feel good. It takes more than some and less than others. As always, it’s a work in progress. I relish the work ahead. As a woman facing the same, be careful what you spout to others coming up the age ladder. We should sing the praises of becoming a more self-evolved woman and let them that face it later, dare I say, even look forward to the prospect?
K. Moehr is an author and marketing consultant. Her book, Top Sellers Tell, can be found at http://www.amazon.com Visit her direct sales power marketing site at: http://www.isellmoretoday.com
Calling all 40 and Fabulous Women: Be a part of our next book project! Tell your story about turning 40 with your own personal interview. Contact K. Moehr to learn more: kmseller@aol.com
Your familly is growing. Work is stressful. And it gets harder and harder to hit the gym. Its when we hit the age of forty is when we really begin to see our bodies begin to change, again. Above the surface it may seem that there is no significant change, but underneath there are some dramatic changes. Below are some facts from Inside The Living Body that illustrates some of the changes we all encounter.
• By our mid- to late 40s, our skin begins to lose elasticity, becoming saggy and wrinkled. Years of exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun have worn down the collagen that binds our skin cells together. We do not regenerate the cells as quickly anymore.
• Our eyesight is also not the same. The inner lens cells — the same ones we were born with — stiffen and don’t focus light as well. The lens cells, heart cells and some brain cells are the only ones our body never replaces.
• Even though we may exercise, our body shape changes. We lose around 6½ lbs. of muscle each decade of our adult life — and put on more fat. Women tend to put fat on their hips, men around their waist.
• But fat is much more than an extra inch around the waist. Bright yellow fat deposits find their way into every available cavity within our body, even inside our blood vessels. Inside the Living Body In extreme cases, the fat builds up so much that it blocks the vessels completely, causing heart disease — the leading cause of death in the western world.
• The stress of working and raising families causes premature aging of the cardiovascular system. The outward signs include sweaty palms, shortness of breath and dizziness. Inside the body, adrenalin and cortisol flood the bloodstream, our heart pumps faster and our muscles and arteries contract.
• Stress accelerates the aging of our blood vessels. High blood pressure damages cells in the artery walls and they become stiff and thick, especially in our biggest artery — the aorta. Arteries with stiff walls restrict blood flow. That means as our blood pressure rises, our heart works harder. It’s a vicious circle — the more we get stressed, the more we damage our blood vessels, and the more we damage our blood vessels, the less able we are to deal with the effects of stress.
• For women, menopause triggers a dramatic chain reaction in the body. Eggs or the hormones estrogen and progesterone are no longer produced, and as a result, women suffer from insomnia and hot flashes.
• In our lungs, shallower alveoli (air sacs) mean we’re more easily out of breath.
• Our brains have shrunk by 10 percent, which could explain why some of us get confused and forgetful.
• We become hard of hearing — we can no longer hear quiet sounds because so many of the sensory hairs in our cochlea (inner ear) have been destroyed.
• Our once-clear eye lenses are now stiffer, turning a yellowish-brown color and even cloudy — as crystals form in the lenses — the result of a lifetime of exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
• Our skeleton is also dramatically affected by aging. Bone cells are destroyed by hormonal changes faster than new cells can be rebuilt. Our bones, therefore, are more brittle and we suffer from osteoporosis.
• Every day, cells clone themselves in the billions to battle wear and tear on our organs. The DNA inside each cell gets copied. The old cells die off and the new ones take their place. But the copying system isn’t perfect. Any imperfections in our DNA are also duplicated. Over a lifetime, we make so many copies of our cells that even the tiniest defects accumulate. It’s like Inside the Living Bodyusing a photocopier. Copies made from copies degrade in quality. In our faces, we have totally replaced the bone every 10 years since we were born. Our 70-year-old face is a seventh-generation copy of our baby face. The imperfections are exaggerated with each copy.
• Another reason for aging might be the air we breathe. We need oxygen to live — but throughout our lives, it slowly poisons us. Inside each of our cells, our mitochondria are like tiny power plants, combining food with oxygen. They create the energy we need. But, just like a power plant, they also generate pollution. In this case, the pollutant is oxygen. The mitochondria change the molecules into unstable forms called free radicals. Over a lifetime, free radicals slowly suffocate the mitochondria and damage our cells.
They love the game, they love the camaraderie, they love the money. So why stop?
Major League Baseball has more 40-somethings on rosters than at any time in the last half-century, and that’s even without 44-year-old right-hander Roger Clemens, who is deciding whether to play this season.
While every franchise searches for the next young box-office hero, it’s the sport’s senior citizens such as John Smoltz, Jamie Moyer, David Wells and Moises Alou who still play for postseason glory.
Some of the biggest names in the game are on the far side of 40, such as Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. They remain well-conditioned and well-compensated. Together, those five have more than 55 million reasons for continuing their careers in 2007.
“The carrot that dangles before them is bigger, shinier, more valuable and richer,” Atlanta Braves general manager John Schuerholz says about why more 40-somethings commit to stay in top physical condition and continue sacrificing family time. “The next year they play might mean another $10 million or more.”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, 24 players 40 or older played in the majors in 2006. This season, 25 players who will be at least 40 during the season were on opening-day rosters or teams’ disabled lists. From 1962 until 1980, there were never as many as 10 major leaguers 40 or older.
I’m turning 40 on Wednesday. I don’t want to turn 40. I’ve been depressed about it since I turned 38. I keep waiting for some grand stroke of wisdom and peace to overcome me, but all I feel is irritable and bewildered. Mostly irritable.
I poll everyone about aging. Children, Safeway clerks, ancient relatives, psychoanalysts, New Age friends, garbage men, the whole gamut of humanity. Children say, “40 is old. Duh, stupid-head.” Everyone else says some variation of, “40 is young! Age is just a number! Besides, it’s better than the alternative! Wait till you turn 50! It’s all about attitude!”
Only the psychoanalyst spoke the truth: “40 is the beginning of an endless slide into decay, culminating, mercifully, with death.”
That seems about right to me.
I wasn’t happy about turning 30, either. I felt like the era of blissful irresponsibility was folding. The world forgives you for walking off a job at 25, but at 35 it’s sort of unbecoming. Actually, you can do anything at 25 — bounce checks, move every two months, stay out until 4 a.m., eat nothing but popcorn and never exercise. I mourned the end of that life, deeply. (more…)
I’ve had a few months to mull this over by now, having started my 5th decade at Thanksgiving. I was worried that turning 40 would make me feel old. Frankly, there are days that it does. Partly I look at where my father was at 40: he had been teaching for 20 years and I was almost finished high school. I have been teaching 5 fewer years than he had at this point, and I have a 2 year old.
Most of the time I can get past that though, and focus on myself and not my dad. Long ago I noticed that men in their 40s do as well in races as (and in many cases better than) men in their 30s or late 20s. That always surprised me until I was in my 30s and had 2 (and then 3) kids. I was never able to get enough sleep and time for training was at a premium, particularly once the kids outnumbered the parents.
But now things are moving in the right direction. Our older daughter is almost 9 and is a big help with the other 2, freeing us up more of the time. My wife is pretty good about trying to free me up once or twice during the week for runs and I try to get out early both Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Lindsay pool has lanes open for adults from 9 to 10 on Monday and Thursday, so I try to get in after the kids go to bed.
Yes, life now seems to be about finding balance, although I suppose that is true at all ages. But this year I hope to re-write my PR times at most distances. I have had trouble shaking off the leg injury I developed at the beginning of July, unfortuantely. I guess taking longer to heal is part of getting old(er).
Just turned 40. I am in the best shape of my life, have a terrific supportive husband and some awesome friends.
Life is good.
I get a lot of flack from my siblings each year. I am the youngest. I’ve taken to reminding them that they’ll always be older than me and then ask them if they want to race.
I’m always somewhat melancholy around my birthday. It’s lingered on this year.
It is just a number. Getting older beats the alternative.
Most of us, at one point or another, take a moment to evaluate our lives and the paths that we have chosen to take. We each do it at different times and with different emphasis. Sometimes people do it around high school or college graduation time, when deciding what career to pursue, how we want to be regarded by society, friends, and family or how to transition ourselves from a student to a grown up.
Turning 40 - It's All About the Journey is a collaborative work in progress focused on this major life event.
Is it coming up? Did you just turn? Was it a pivitol time for you? Did you sleep right through it? Was it everything you wanted it to be? Do you have what you want? How has it changed your outlook on life? Now What?!
This site invites you to share your experience of one of the most important turning points in your life so that you and others can teach and learn, inspire and be inspired, challenge and be challenged, and experience Turning 40 to the fullest.
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