I have been doing some thinking about life, the universe and everything (so I know the big birthday is actually in two years…) and I decided I would share a few things I have learned on the journey thus far. Some you may recognize. I didn’t come up with any of these in a vacuum.

• Mercy is a better than judgment.
• No one is poor who has friends.
• It is better to leave the job and respect yourself than to endure for the sake of economics.

• Being able to look at yourself in the mirror is more important than what other people think.
• Making people angry for fun isn’t cool.
• Degrees and certificates mean very little. The truly educated continue to learn throughout life and don’t consider their education complete when they earn a piece of paper.

No doldrums, no sadness, no longing for younger years for me. I refuse to turn 40 and wish I were 30 or 20 again. I am stronger and better and more beautiful now then ever before. Sure, I don’t have everytihng in my life I had hoped I would have by now…. But maybe all that is still to come or, more importantly, maybe I did not need those things anyway. I really do believe we are given what we need. So I’ll turn 40 with a week of celebrations, topped off by participating in my first half-marathon. I am 40. Hear me roar.

http://redlipstickrunner.wordpress.com

I feel fabulous and thankful to be a wife, mother of two, friend, business owner and since turning 40, advocate, who is alive and healthy!

At age 12, I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. “Blindness,” “kidney failure,” “amputation,” and “no children” were recurring words that accompanied the diagnosis. Determined to conquer this disease and lead a fulfilling life, I went on the insulin pump at age 17. Having diabetes has strengthened my faith, confidence, and sense of humor. If one can manage and laugh about the daily challenges and surprises of living with diabetes, then one can accomplish anything!

Shortly after turning 40, I was honored by the local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). This life-changing experience directly partnered me with JDRF and the work that is being done to cure diabetes.
via: More Magazine

I was born in 1970.  All my life, that has been very convenient.  My age just went along with the years.  It was very easy for everyone to remember my age - including myself.  It is not so convenient this year, since 2010 minus 1970 equals 40.  For. Teee.  Yes, I’m really turning forty.  In May.  Sigh.

I’ve been trying to get mentally ready for this year.  I started reading More magazine at the age of 39 to prepare me.  It is, after all, a publication for women 40 and over.  I always look those charts in entertainment magazines that show everyone’s age.  While it is comforting to know that Matt Damon, Tina Fey, and Kelly Ripa will all turn 40 this year too, I am keenly aware that they get paid to stay in shape and look good.  They also have the means to employ chefs, personal trainers, nannies and whatever else it takes to stay fit and beautiful.  It’s a lot harder for us regular folks.  (Ewwww.  That sounded like something an old person would say!)

So instead of seeking consolation in celebrity magazines, I instead decided to look around me.  I have a lot of friends turning 40 this year and thanks to Facebook, I am back in touch with even more of them.  Many of my friends are committed to being fit and healthy and to passing those values on to their children.  So, as we I go through this year, and help several of my friends blow out the 40 candles on their cake, I thought I would introduce you to some of the Fittest Forty-Year-Olds I Know.

It’s February 24, 2010 and I am 40 years old. I can’t believe it…really. I remember when my parents turned 40. My forties. I’m official in

my forties. My dad had 2 more children in his forties. My mom finished her college degree in her forties.

I’m wondering what will happen, what will I do, who will I meet, how will I grow, what will I learn, who I will become in this new chapter of my story.

Check out this three part manifesto on a Gen-Xr turning 40.  here are some excerpts:

Image via Wikipedia

Jennifer Lopez has revealed how her priorities have shifted now that shes a mum. The singer-actress said turning 40 and giving birth to twins Max and Emme made her rethink her career and ambitions.”You start out young and confident, thinking you want to be an actress and singer – then you actually do it and its great for a while, but then you have all this success and other things start becoming important,” she told OK! magazine.”You have to know what is most important to you. And I think you have to realise that as much as you put into work, you have to put into your relationship and your children – but more so.

For me, my family is the most important thing and everything else comes after that.”Jennifer, whose husband is singer Marc Anthony, chose to withdraw from the spotlight because of the children.”I do have more of a personal life now. That part of my life has changed from the past. I just didnt want to be that person any more,” she said.

via J-Lo: My priorities have changed – Celebrity News & Gossip, Independent Woman – Independent.ie.

My whole life, I looked forward to turning 40. I don’t know why, I just always did. Now I’m here and it doesn’t seem possible.

I was in the doctor’s office today getting some tests done and the woman asked for my age. I heard the word come of out my mouth, but it seemed like someone else said it: “Forty.”

Forty.

So succinct. So poignant. Not the flourish and energy of “Twenty-Two”, nor the slightly interesting, lived a bit age of “Thirty-Six”. No, this is 40. In highway speed, 40 is safe; not the express way 65 and not the school zone 15 – somewhere in the middle is 40.

Jay-Z spoke to FemaleFirst about his great longevity in the music industry, turning 40 years old and staying grounded throughout.

On turning 40:

I feel fantastic about turning 40, I’m in a great place, got a fantastic album, my eleventh number one which beats Elvis, so I’m feeling like the king of pop.

On staying grounded:

When people get success, they often start getting rid of their immediate circle who knew them to surround themselves with yes men and women and they get lost.I have great friends around to keep me grounded, fame is a drug and your feet can get lifted off the ground but I try to stay centred and whenever I start getting big headed, they stop me.

Well, I did it. I turned 40 on Saturday night (what luck!).

People tend to ask things like “So, what’s it feel like being X?” no matter how old you are. Much to my own surprise, it really DID feel different looking into the mirror that morning and realizing that I was 40 years old! I had–like it or not–launched Me 2.0 and it felt great! Oddly and unexpectedly, I experienced a new-found optimism, almost an insouciant nonchalance of come-what-may. Things aren’t great: I’ll probably be out of work soon, I’ve spent all my savings making ends meet, and I’ve got a young family depending on me. These and other concerns have really been dragging me down for quite a while. Somehow turning 40 has empowered me stare all these things in the eye and smirk–if not totally burst out laughing! Really!

I was 18 at my mom’s 40th birthday party, and on that day I introduced her to the girlfriend who has been my wife for the last 17 years. Our oldest is only in 2nd grade, so it seems really odd to think about being the parent of a precocious college student at my age–I can finally begin to appreciate what I put my parents through! But more than that, I’ve come to realize how fast we burn through that unlikely accident which is our lives: it seems like just yesterday I was at mom’s party, and now I’m at my own…

For whatever reason, this past year I’ve become quite a student of family history and in so doing have developed a deep, personal and ineffable appreciation for that dash between the two dates of a person’s life. I’ve glimpsed the shadows of some forgotten ancestors by approximations of their dates alone, with others I’ve re-traced the paths of immigration, ship wrecks, joy, love, tragedy, war, child birth (and death), unprecedented success, and abject failure–all of which has contributed a verse to this powerful and on-going play. And without even a single one of whom I would never have been. And even as I was learning this, several of my kid’s baby teeth fell out and the adult teeth are well on their way. I too am contributing a verse…

I was an unwed mother of twin boys at 20 and spent the next 20 years focused on raising them. I married an alcoholic, worked in low paying dead end jobs, but I had tunnel vision, getting my boys to college. They were going to have all the opportunities I never had. They are in college now and at 40 so am I.

Some days I feel like I can take on the world yet other days, when the self doubt creeps in, I think who do I think I am. When Im sitting in class with 20 somethings and no one wants to converse with the”non-traditional student” I feel so insecure and out of place. Yet, learning is so incedibly exciting and my sons are very proud of me. Its a strange and exciting journey. I refuse to let self doubt and others opinions, regarding all the doors that will be closed to me because of my age, keep me from pursuing my dreams!!!
-We are not now that strength which in old days moved heaven and earth; that which we are we are; one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. – Alfred Lord Tennyson

I am 39 for one more week. I feel good, but can’t help focusing on the obvious. I am almost 40.

Good news: the years leading to this point have been rich and varied. I hope I have set myself up for another 40+ rich and varied experiences. I look at my children and think of them–facing the first 40. Here I am facing the next. I have never worried about birthdays marking my aging, but this time I am aware of it. On the one hand, I have spent the last 6 months working to get ready for next week’s day. I have lost weight and feel great. I look at the pictures of myself in my 30s and know I will look and feel more fit now.

There’s less room for mistakes now, but fortunately I am wiser and less likely to make as many, right? 40. I won’t take any shit.

Why don’t birthdays retain their ability to dazzle like they do when you are young? Actually, I thought that I would have a much more difficult time turning 40 than I did. I don’t feel that old. People tell me I don’t look that old. I am doing the things in my life that I want to. I am content and blessed. But there wasn’t the spark of excitement that I felt when I turned 10 or 13 my Golden Birthday. I wonder why…In this LO, I simply wanted to document some facts about where I am in my life. Someday I may want to remember what it was like to turn 40.

via At Forty – Serious Play.

I’ve never been one that was affected by birthdays or getting a year older, or anything like that! After all, I’ve felt “18″ ever since I was, well….”18″!

I have, however, been anticipating the landmark of turning “40″! I achieved this on Friday, and much to my chagrin, it has affected me GREATLY! I’m utterly shocked and a bit embarrassed, AND I feel like an emotional basket case….hmmmm, is this early “mid life”???

I’ve always been a nostalgic dude, and I long to live in a “childlike” sense of wonder, imagination, faith, and awe! But, I’ve realized something over the past 6 months–the runway to turning 40, if you will–for much of my “adult” life, i’ve been more jaded and insecure than I was aware of. I’ve sort of been on the proverbial couch for these past 6 months! It’s been the most revealing, yet painful period of my life that I can remember.

So now, as I cross the threshold “into manhood”, I realize that alot has to change! Things that I’ve grown good at justifying have to be laid down, perspectives and definition have to be re-positioned and re-defined, and relationships that I thought were genuine but turned out to be pretty one-sided have to be walked away from! These are good things, I believe! It seems that the first 39 years of life for me have been a rehearsal!

I think this is a great idea and want to help you exceed your goal Aimie!

via Random Thoughts: Pay It 40…a birthday gift to your favorite charity.

Some of you may know that next year I will turn 40. I don’t feel 40 and I don’t think I look 40, but the calendar tells me it’s true. I wanted to do something that wasn’t about me. I wanted to figure out a way to give back. I wanted to make a difference, even if it’s just a little one. I have a few friends that will be turning 40 soon as well. In order to make it less traumatic for us and a definite plus for somebody else, we came up with the “Pay It 40″ campaign. Sort of a play on the “pay it forward”.

I will create a new blog/website with links for all the charities. In the spirit of giving, I’d like to open up the Pay It 40 campaign to anybody who is turning 40 from November 1, 2009 to October 21, 2010. What you have to do is: 1 leave a comment here with your name and birthday, 2 chose your favorite charity if you know a link, post that as well and then when the new blog is up and running you can tell all your friends.Let me know if you have any questions. Please feel free to share this information with others. I would LOVE to have 40 people participate.