I just thought I would share my experience of turning 40 as it is one of those milestones that we achieve with mixed feelings.

I decided to go in denial and took a mini sabbatical to Latin America to learn Spanish instead of having the big 40th birthday party with friends and family. I spent the initial part of the trip with a travel age of 35 thereby celebrating my “36th” birthday party in wine country at an asado with fellow travellers!

I think 40 gives you the confidence to try out new experiences such as a 50km bike ride in a gorge, scaling a precipice over a waterfall barefoot, socialising with fellow travellers a decade younger, being wined and dined by men a decade younger…

I am turning 40 on the 24th of June, only next week. Im so excited. Im heading off to New Zealand for a year to study Film making on the 29th. I have worked hard for a year to save and have written many scripts for movie ideas. My dreams are coming true! To have a career from my creative abilities. And I have a successful online business that will ‘come with me’. Onwards and upwards!

The ugly – one year ago I left my abusive partner, no children thank goodness! It took me 8 months to sort out who the hell I was! After being bed wench, cuppa maker, housemaid & cook for 13 years I lost myself.

I feel ‘free’ I am reclaiming myself! Yes I can save money! Yes I can have my own business! Yes I can pay all my bills, Yes I can travel, Yes I can hope, Yes I bloody well can….

Well, I’m 40! (With an exclamation point no less!) Yes, I turned 40 a few months ago. I have to say until my dr. appt. yesterday I really embraced 40, last night I didn’t and today.. even worse.

Let me start at the beginning.

For my 40th birthday, I had a birthday party. I have family and friends around. My husband, son and 2 step daughters (kids are 7, 15, & 17 respectively) were also with me. I had a great time and really found myself embracing the 40 year old syndrome. I am reasonably active after work, but during the day, I have a day job and sit at a desk all day.

So, after my birthday, I continue with my life, but a funny thing started to happen, I started to feel more confident. It was like a revelation one day. I felt like I gave off an aura of confidence and I felt sexy!! I felt more sexy at 40 than I did in my 30′s. Maybe because I could flirt with younger men and know I could get away with it. (no sexual innuendo’s just flirt). Maybe I was embracing the cougar in me. I felt more comfortable in my skin. So, life is good…

Well then I started noticing little things, my size 8 shorts didn’t fit.. uh-oh I went to a size 10…o.k. I wanted to get back into the gym more often. I started doing the workout that I did at 37 and –oh my the size 10 shorts are getting..umm snug..I also added modifying my food intake–diet for all of the non-dieters–which is something i didn’t do before.

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

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

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…

Turning 40 next year. I look 26 but I feel 40! I have just started working out so I look even younger. I don’t know what it is, but I do not like loud sounds, people, events, music. I like to spend time alone or with family. I am only concerned with me. I know it sound crazy, it may be a phase, but I love my time alone. When I was in my 30′s I could not get enough of the party, on the go, now I am home by 9:00pm. When will the fun hit me again?

Hello to all I found this page with curiosity by Google-ling Turning 40ty and came across this page. Anyway I love the quotes that some of you have shared but Time is rushing away and I’m still lost in finding my destiny. I hope 40 is the new 20ty. But I was searching then too?

I have had a fairly good attitude about getting older, but now I have no edge over my friends who hit 40 in the last few years. I turn 40 next week, March 19 and I can’t believe how crummy I feel this right now.

I originally wanted to host a big party to celebrate, but time slipped by and here we are and I have no plans. My mother invited me out of town with her this weekend on a work related trip, but the rain is making me rethink the four hour drive.

SO here are the range of things I feel right now and I have no one definitive thing to attribute to. I am a relatively happy person with a relatively nice life, HOWEVER…

I am disappointed, let down, deflated, insecure, exhausted, overwhelmed, befuddled, weepy, sad, tired, underwhelmed, depressed, anti-social, and all together worn out.

Okay people, I’m turning the big 4-0 in less then 2 weeks. To some women this might put them in crisis mode ….but not me. I think being 40 will be great! I’m young enough to still be healthy and active, and old enough to be mature and insightful. Yes, it would be nice to have the bod I had at 21, but do I want to go back to that time? No way. Back then I thought I knew it all–but I didn’t have a clue about what life was really about. A real understanding about the truly important things in life takes years to learn….and even now I’m still working on those lessons. I bet I’ll continue to work on life’s lessons for many, many years to come.

Being the giving person that I am (don’t laugh!) I am going to share my top 10 ways to stay young and beautiful….even after turning 40. This has not been scientifically researched (but who really cares?) so I will not be held accountable for side effects or um……accidents if you try these top 10 things. Don’t say I didn’t warn you Side note: These little nuggets of wisdom are in no specific order. (Just thought I’d add that for those of you that are very particular about those types of things.)

DAWN’S TOP 10 SECRETS FOR STAYING YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL

What do you do when your dreams come true? Except for being fat, I really don’t have any serious complaints about my life so far! I have a great wife. I have an amazing one year old child. My parents know I love them. My brother knows I love him, although I have not spent enough time with him lately.

I have been successful enough in various businesses to have the things I want – Home, Second Home, freedom to travel to wherever I want. I am starting a philanthropic venture. I am starting a little cafe just for the fun of it. But I still feel something strange in my stomach about turning 40?

A way to break through any block is to create a vision board.  I have used this technique for over 25 years. What it does is focus your brain on what you want instead of what is holding you back. Then the mind will begin to find ways to resolve those blocks to keep you moving toward your vision. It is highly effective. I always seem to get what is on my board. If I don’t it is often because, I realized I really didn’t want it.

When I was losing weight I had images of lean and slender woman who looked fit. As I was turning 40 and I was at my ideal weight I changed my focus. I put on my board a caption that was on a magazine that said “40 and WOW”. Look for photos and phrases that are inspiring to you and make your goal real. Create a board of these images. This is a great thing to teach kids, my children and I have done this together as a craft project.

Place the board somewhere where you can look at every day. I have one right in front of me right now, it is focused on my business and has images of success. The brain unconsciously works on this goal even when you are not thinking about it. Give it a try.

I’m turning forty next year – yes, the big 4-0. Some people are terrified of that designation of “middle-age”, but I’m looking forward to it. Yes, I’m strange that way.

Turning twenty was wonderful; I was no longer a teenager. Thirty seemed as if the beginning of life had come, and perhaps I’d finally gain the respect of my older peers (yeah right, like that’s ever going to happen). So what is the matter with turning forty? For me, absolutely nothing. I celebrate it. It means I’ve survived another milestone.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t think I’d make it to my next birthday. When the physical body wears thin it really makes your world and focus shrink down to what is truly important. During that time, life for me was about reaching that next milestone to ensure I’d be here for my son. He became my driving life-force to do everything possible to live another day, week, month, and year.

Life has such meaning and purpose to me each and every day. I no longer struggle just to survive; now I thrive. It is a precious gift to be given a second chance.

I think it started when I turned 35, that whole mid-life thing. I had always considered anything over 70 as gravy, so 35 was half-way there.

Oh My God!

I looked at my life at that moment and was horrified. I had nothing.

I’d just given up my entire life to help my mother with hers. Possibly the worst choice of my life, or perhaps just a part of the big picture plan, who knows. Either way, I was living in an unfinished basement desperately trying to please an unpleasable woman. My marriage was falling apart rapidly, my kids were suffering and I thought, this is what I’d worked my ass off for nearly twenty years for?

In all honesty, I fell into a deep depression that probably lasted three years and during that time I tried to accept that this was my life, end of story, this was as far as I got.

That season of my life ended and I thought that was that, but the following years proved to be even harder. I lost four babies and my marriage and I no longer speak with my mother or sister. I feel in ways I’ve lost everything that I was. There are night like this, where I realize there is really no one on the planet (besides my kids, I hope.) who would miss me if I disappeared and that makes me profoundly sad.