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Very recently, I turned 40 years old. I prefer to think of myself as a “fledgling 40″ spreading my ever so lightly dusted grey wings, maybe not soaring as high as the other chickadees but still holding my own. Gradually I am owning up to my status as a middle-aged woman. I am learning to graciously accept the “yes, mam” that have replaced the “dear” and “miss.” These days, I religiously slather on sun-screen even in the dead of winter, strap myself into a major support bra and color my hair, ever six weeks. There are some days I feel more like 80 years old with my Fibromyalgia, but I can still joke like a child, laugh at knock-knock jokes and look not too shabby with some cover-up and mascara.

Yet, the weeks, days, hours and seconds leading up to that epic birthday were not pleasant. I admit there were repeated bouts of hysteria, rants about intrusive gray hairs and more than a few tears. But I survived. It was all storm before the calm. The morning after the big day I fell into an emotionally serene cocoon – wow, I thought “I’m 40!” I was officially a “Cougar” with a license to leer at younger men! Woo Hoo. Well, maybe I would pass on the leering.

But I did feel different. I still felt a little like that naive, introverted 20 year old I will always harbor inside, but she was more like an echo. I was owning up to my life experience and felt wiser. I also felt relieved. All those years of making blind choices, learning and growing from my mistakes, going down winding paths, then finally arriving here with a sense of relief and understanding. It is not that I will never get lost again, but I am now better equipped for the journey. I have also realized that I have no regrets – every decision and action has brought me here to my family and I am blessed.

So, as I settle into this new persona, I am ready … Bring it on!

More from Elizabeth at http://www.asofawithaview.blogspot.com

Sesame Street turned 40 yesterday, the Internet turned 40 last month, Diddy and Matthew McConaughey blew out 40 candles last week…guys, I think we’re on to something here. Turning 40 is as cool as it gets.

And I see a real trend in how people are celebrating. Gone are the “over the hill” parties; today 40 year-olds look more like characters from “The Hills.”

From safaris, to surf school, to costume parties, Botox bashes, girl getaways, Vegas, and Paris, people are celebrating 40 in bigger and better ways than ever. And why not? Forty is fabulous.

With that, I recently adventured into blogland to launch My Fabulous 40th Birthday. I hope all of you 40 year-olds and almost 40 year-olds will drop by as I spend the twelve months leading up to my own 40th birthday blogging about fabulous 40th birthday ideas, real birthday celebrations, and a few musings on what it means to turn 40.

Glad to be in such good company as all of you!

http://www.myfabulous40thbirthday.blogspot.com

It’s very common to cause your own stress. Everyone does it. So don’t stress about your stress, learn some valuable techniques to alleviate it. Susan Fletcher, a practicing psychologist and stress management expert has tips to help:

Don’t read into things so much. “Sometimes a look is just a look and a dirty coffee cup is just a dirty coffee cup. It’s not a passive-aggressive way to say you are not appreciated,” Fletcher says. Don’t make things bigger than they need to be—with people or work. Some people make a project bigger than it needs to be in an effort to increase their own value, but they are increasing their own stress as a result.

Learn how to transfer trust. “I really like Stephen M.R. Covey’s stuff from his book Speed of Trust. He says people have to be able to trust before they feel it. Just like with your kids when you give them a little rope. And with someone who works for you, you have to let them fail because failure is feedback,” Fletcher says. “Don’t just say, ‘It’s easier to do myself.’”

Recognize when you are being inefficient. “People who are stressed get stuck answering e-mails for two hours at the expense of higher value items that need to be taken care of, “Fletcher says. “Don’t get lost in inefficient behavior. Ask yourself, ‘What’s my ultimate outcome I want here and what do I need to get there?’”

Find an accountability partner to help you meet goals. “Choose a friend or a family member—probably not someone who lives with you because you don’t want to muddy the waters. It has to be someone you will listen to but who will hold you accountable.”

Say no sometimes. “You have to say no to things you might enjoy, but you are not in line with where you are professionally or personally at the moment,” Fletcher says. Then you can spend your time on what matters to you most.

Setting Priorities | 2009-10-02 | SUCCESS Magazine | What Achievers Read.

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.

Words to live by always from Og Mandino.

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now.

Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success.

I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest.

I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure.

I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever.

This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.

These are some of the best personal development blogs out there.  They are in no particular order. If you have any blogs you think should be listed in the personal development field leave a comment and I will update this list.