Turning 40 in a few days. Any words of wisdom?

[oregonjen]

I'm a little sad today thinking about it. My feelings recently have been a roller coaster. One minute, I'm fine. The next, I'm sad. Sure, I tell myself, it's just another number, but this one is really hitting me in the gut.

[Blue-Jay]

I turned 40 last month. It's no big deal.

[Burma Jones]

1. 40 is the new 29.773

we just keep getting younger and younger and younger..........................

[oregonjen]

2. So I've heard.

:)

[Burma Jones]

5. I'm 47, I told my Dad that 50 was the new 35, to which he replied

"all that means is that you'll have to work until you're 80 to retire"

[Beer Snob-50]

3. It really isn't bad

until you go to a bar and everyone around you is being carded and so you take out your id and the person says "That's okay your greying hair gives you away."

[Hugin]

4. Yeah...

DON'T DO IT!










Just kidding. :D

40 wasn't that hard for me... 41 was though.

Give yourself a big pampering! You deserve it!

You'll feel better soon, I promise.

[NewWaveChick1981]

6. It's not a big deal...

:D In fact, I've found that I'm having a lot more fun and have a better attitude now than before 40. :) Besides, there are a lot of younger guys who are attracted to "older" women (that means 40 and over)... I'm not totally sure what the mystique is, but it's there. :P

[Haole Girl]

7. Just pick an age and stick with it!!

Seriously, don't let a number...or age in general...stop you from enjoying life! I learned that, through a series of lessons, in the past couple of months. As the year rolled over, from 2006 to 2007, I realized I'll be 46 this year (in July). I had a meltdown about it. Then, about a week later. well the past few days actually, I realized how silly that was (my own crisis, that is). What is in a number...really? And, what choice do we have about it, anyway? I am not going to fall victim to our society's pressures and hang-ups about getting older. I will act like I want to act, do the things I've always enjoyed doing (until my body can't take it anymore), and live life to the fullest. Life is too short to worry about whether we are too old....or too young.

Man, I really got up on my soapbox, didn't I? As you can see, I've worked through a lot of this stuff, myself, recently. Hope you work it out in your own mind, too. Please try not to let it get you down. Hugs for you... :hug: :hug: :hug:

[oregonjen]

12. Thanks for that!

[Haole Girl]

17. You're most welcome!

:hug:

[SPKrazy]

16. Hey, You're A Month Older Than Me!

or am I already 46? 1961, no I'm 46 this year. Had a senior moment then.

August is my birthday month.

I agree with what you said, age is just a number, I don't feel any older than I did at 40, it hit me then. Funny thing is that the birthday that bothered me the most was 25, I kept thinking "quarter of a century"

Now, I'm on the back side of 40 heading towards 50. I'm just glad to be able to do things, and have the chance to be alive.

We're as young as we feel KC2!

:pals:

[Haole Girl]

19. There aren't many of us around, you know, from that year..

...I notice it, all the time, when I'm at work, because I enroll people into our frequent flyer program and have to ask for their date of birth. Very rarely do I see 1961. One man told me most of us are locked up! Whatever it is, it's a little erie!

:pals:

[SPKrazy]

22. Most Of Us Are Locked Up?

wow, I feel privileged and paranoid now.

Must be a little island for 1961 people somewhere?

I know that some people say 61 is the end of the baby boom

I think we got the raw end of the deal, we're too young IMO for the baby boom, and too old for "gen x"

so we're the "dazed and confused" generation (the movie that they made for us)

:pals:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. My dear oregonjen........

I recently had a thread about this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6032779

It's a good time to be getting older......

And I feel that you have many, many good years ahead...maybe even the best years of your life!

I know, that for myself, as I get older, I also get smarter!

Have a very happy birthday! :party: :toast: :bounce: :bounce: :toast: :party:

[oregonjen]

14. Thanks for the link

The replies were great! :hi:

[kwassa]

9. I can't remember 40

Seemed important at the time. I'm not sure why.

[Left Is Write]

10. I turned 40 last June. I also had mixed feelings about it.

I still do, to be frank. On my birthday, I told everyone I was thirty-ten. That didn't fly for long.

Try to think of it as a beginning - a new chapter of clean, unwritten pages, and think of positive things you can look forward to.

[SPKrazy]

11. I'm 45, 40 Didn't Hit Me Until A Few Months Later

so many things happened at that time

my son was born the year before
my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer
I changed jobs

it just seemed like such a time of change. It all hit me later.

But I don't feel any different really, just a little older.

Happy Birthday in advance!

[zonkers]

13. Forty is a cakewalk.

[kwassa]

15. I remember, it's the 19th anniversary of my 21st birthday

[oregonjen]

18. Hey that's awesome!

19 years ago on my b-day, I had a celebration with my friends at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tokyo, while I was an exchange student. Thanks, I had almost forgotten that! :-)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. Two quotes on growing older

"Getting old isn't so bad when you consider the alternative."--Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor.

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?"--Satchell Paige, baseball player, who really didn't know exactly how old he was.

[SmokingJacket]

21. Everyone's getting older at the same rate.

For some reason, that always makes me feel better to remember. All those people I went to school with are ALSO old now, too! ;)

I'm going to be forty next year and it's kind of freaking me out, too. I've tried to slow things down a bit by keeping a diary and blogging every day. I think it's important to BE HERE NOW and not worry so much about the future or obsess about the past.

[BOSSHOG]

23. Why would you not want to grow older?

and why are you worrying about something you have no control over? May I suggest Dr Wayne Dyer's book "Your Erroneous Zones." (Probably out of print, its and oldy but goody.) Humans spend so much time worrying about things they can't control and waste time doing so. He says its exercising our erroneous zones. Being your age (whatever that happens to be) is what those younger then you should goal to be.

And don't forget the serenity prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
courage to change the things I can
and wisdom to know the difference

[Rambis]

24. I would go to the Barley Mill

and have a couple pints of the terminator or a rubinator (3/4 term 1/4 Ruby ale) and soak it in it beats the alternative:)
Good luck!

http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&category=Location%20Homepage

[RetroLounge]

25. 40's no biggie, really...

I'll be 46 in February.

How the hell did THAT happen?

:shrug:

RL

[crim son]

26. If you're in Oregon, it doesn't matter how old you are!

You are lucky.

I'm forty-three. I didn't start to feel old until this past birthday. Forty was fine!

[Efilroft Sul]

27. I turn 40 next month, too.

It's not the number so much that bothers me, it's that I'm dissatisfied at not reaching certain benchmarks in my career by this age; face it, I'm ambitious. But there are tradeoffs, too, like marrying the most wonderful woman in the world just five years ago and having two equally wonderful little boys since then. Chasing toddlers around the house and yard is a great way to stay young. If the bastages at work get me down, my kids bring me right back up.

Forty's not going to be bad. When I think about it, my teens and twenties were downright rotten. My thirties were a vast improvement. The forties have been what I've been waiting for my entire life. Look that positively at your forties, oregonjen, and you'll be A-OK.

Cheers.

[havocmom]

28. Don't sit in your birthday cake

Even if you are with a dashing doctor who would offer to lick the frosting off your slacks.

Trust me on this one.

You'll be fine. Trust me on that one too.

[liberal hypnotist]

29. Give it Hell!

A short time ago I turned 40 and the next thing I knew I was sixty. Give it hell. Time is a tricky little demon.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

30. My mom's 51.

Besides, 40's a fuckload better than the only alternative.

:P

[Parche]

31. PDX

Lets go to the chop house(2nd Oak downtown PDX) to celebrate!!!!!!

Drinks on me!!!!!!

[av8rdave]

32. I got some words of wisdom when I turned 40, but they wouldn't apply to you

[jgraz]

33. I count in hex -- I won't turn 40 for another 1A years

[wain]

34. Be careful! Sometimes being in your forties you do, well, funny things

Things out of character. Things that surprise, even shock, those who know you. Later, you'll say to yourself "what the hell was I thnking"? It's like being a teenager again, a little reckless, but not as forgivable.

Be glad when you're fifty. You'll be wiser and more stable.

:hug:

[LuckyTheDog]

35. 40 is the new 30 (nt)

[TOhioLiberal]

36. 40's no big deal...

50 is the one that's currently freaking me out. :shrug: By the time I get there, it'll be the next big milestone.

You're only as old as you feel, and act ;)

[auntAgonist]

37. I turned 50 today ..

40 wasn't that long ago and neither was 30. Words of wisdom? ... enjoy every day to the fullest. Love those around you. Love YOU. Appreciate the world and all the GOOD in it. Do what you can to make it better. 40 comes with great responsibility. To some you're 'old' to other's you're a youngster. To you, be true, healthy and happy ... You'll have many more decades ahead.


best to you.

aA
kesha

[hippywife]

38. Forty really hit me hard, too.

My first thought was "OMG! The next thing I know I'll be 50!" :cry: I'm 48 now and it really hasn't been the catastrophy I thought it would be.

Just remember, you can lose weight, change your hair, and so many other things about your appearance but you can't stop aging, so no need to sweat it as long as you make the effort to stay healthy.

Oh, and enjoy your birthday! :hi:

[Rosemary2205]

39. Oh trust me, you'll LOVE being 40 something.

Yeah, maybe you didn't discover the cure for HIV or start up the next Google or win the peace price. Who cares? There's just something so wonderful about coming to terms with your life, what it is, what it isn't, and knowing you have a place in this world.

You also get to look back at the 20 somethings, roll your eyes and say "thank the Gods I ain't that stoooopit anymore". :)

[oregonjen]

43. Oooh definitely saying thank god I'm not that stupid anymore!

Wouldn't want to go back to those years at all.

[swag]

40. Happy birthday.

Have a good time.

Eat good food.

Laugh a lot.

[maxsolomon]

41. 41 hurts more

you're IN your 40s.

but you are an adult, no denying it. the slacker generation rules!

[NNadir]

42. Celcius or Fahrenheit?

The alternative to turning 40 is dying young.

[caty]

44. You can still do

everything you did in your thirties---only you will know how to do them better. Practice makes perfect.

[graywarrior]

45. The next decade will be the best of your life.

Trust me. I know.

[Courtesy Flush]

46. Are you fucking kidding me?

40 is just the beginning. Man, I wouldn't go back. I'm 47 and loving it!!!1!

At 40 I couldn't see the end of the tunnel. Now ealry retirement is within reach, and I'll be young enough to enjoy it.