Turned 40? Welcome to the bright side of life: Follow these 10 tips to ‘Live Life Kingsize’ after 40!

Highlights

• You are not alone to have turned 40, every human born on this planet, lucky enough to make it till 40, will turn 40 at some point in their life.
• Changes you experience after turning 40 are not unique to you, majority of us do experience the same.
• The road ahead, what you can do to make the best of your years after 40 is more important, instead of living in despair.
• There are these 10 tips people are following to live a happy life after 40.
• Finally, there is a lot left in you so go ahead and live an exciting life after 40 because you deserve it.

One day, suddenly the world starts to go out of focus and it becomes progressively difficult to read text from the book in front of you. You rub your eyes, splash some water and its back to normal. This repeats every few days and then becomes routine. This probably is the first realization that you been around the sun 40 times! Congratulations!! You’ve turned 40! Forty New Year’s Eves, as many monsoons and the same number of birthdays have gone by, silently ushering you into the middle age. One thing though, this is not the time to panic or despair, rather rejoice and make the most of your post 40 years with these tips people are following to live a happy life after 40.

Congratulations on Turning 40!

What you are experiencing has happened to every human to have ever lived on this planet. Let’s quickly talk about the changes you experience within and around, and after that, we shall make an attempt to learn to cope with them, oops, let me correct, learn to live the best phase of your life.

Changes You Experience After Turning 40

Sure, after you turn 40, you will experience many changes, within your mind and body, and also around you. Worry not, you are not alone, and everyone experiences those changes at this milestone. Read below to find out about the changes most people experience at this stage of life.

• You were passionate, and at the same time hypersensitive, towards everything in life when you were 20 something. Now you have a more pragmatic approach towards personal and professional issues.
• You may have been impatient and impulsive, often brusque, but now your actions and speech are more calculated, refined and weighed upon. You are a matured scotch that has mellowed over time.
• You used to plunge into everything that caught your attention. Profession, relations, fights and life in general. Now you are making decisions more carefully, after putting the weight of your own experiences behind them. Your decisions and actions mostly have positive outcomes now.
• Your thought process is more grounded. You now also value others’ experiences, advice and traditions and give them place in your decision making.
• Romance used to be more of a rebellion than romantic; like a mountain river, fast, shallow and unpredictable. Romance is still there, albeit like a calm lake, but remember ‘Still Waters Run Deep‘!!
• You are still as good looking as you were. Only some inches have moved from your shoulders to your waist. There may be a little extra chin on your face but your sex appeal has not diminished at all!! You still make heads turn.
• Someone may have ruffled your emotions when for the first time they addressed you as ‘Uncle or Aunty’. It must have taken days for you to get over that!!
• The wealth that you yearned for in your twenties and thirties is now yours. The fancy titles at work, the corner office and the swanky car, all are yours.
• So are the routine health checkups, they also are yours now and sometimes the results come back with a few parameters breached here and there. Worry not.
• There is a sizeable population of greys in your hair and beard. For the first time in 40 years, your bathroom closet has hair dyes.
• Your medicine chest has more stuff now. By now, for some, at least one medication may have become routine.

Sounds familiar? Yes because as I said earlier, these are pretty standard and widespread changes that all of us experience when we turn 40.

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The Road Ahead

The list could go on, but that is not what I intend to rub in here. Sure these transformations happen and they seem to signal the end of a golden era of one’s life, and that is where most people get it wrong. From the experiences of many around me and my own, I have figured out that life beyond 40 is actually the best phase and your 40th birthday is the first day of that phase of life!! It gets better here, provided you are ready to make some adaptations. Here are those most popular 10 tips people are following to live a happy life after 40. Believe me, if you follow them honestly, they can make your life, on the other side of 40, as exciting, if not more, as your younger years.

10 Tips People are Following to Live a Happy Life After 40

1. Don’t Panic on your 40th birthday. An year has 365 days and one of them happens to be the day when you were born 40 years back. You don’t grow old unless you decide to, so your 40th birthday is not a reminder of your ageing but the culmination of another trip around the sun.
2. What is required though, is to pay a little more attention to your health and fitness. Your hormones were keeping you in shape till now but from now on, let determination take over and do the same for you. Create a fitness regime and follow it honestly. Commitment and discipline are on your side now and the likelihood of you settling into a fitness routine and succeeding is very high as compared to when you were younger.
3. Now that you have all the money, visit body spas and parlors more often. Looking good makes you feel confident and happy, and compliments are a bonus.
4. If your doctor wishes you to take some medication or advises abstinence, follow it like a commandment. Your body will remain in good shape. So what if you miss out on one of your favorite snacks, there are infinite other pleasures waiting, if you are healthy.
5. Don’t start wearing clothes simply to cover your body. Continue to dress to impress. There are still admirers out there. Don’t disappoint them. Try every attire and carry it gracefully. Don’t ask for opinions. Be your own judge.
6. Whoever said you must now focus only on your profession and family responsibilities was a pessimist. Go out and indulge because you deserve it. Chill with friends, talk your heart out and make some noise. Unleash the teenager in you.
7. You probably are in more control over your time and finances. This is the time to immerse in hobbies that you have always wanted to. Go grab that guitar and play it to your heart’s content. Go trekking, camping, paragliding or doing theatre. Do whatever you wanted to all these 40 years.
8. In order for your face to have the same charm you had in your twenties, take care of your sleep. The only thing that has changed now is for you to try and get more regular sleep to maintain that magical glow on your face. A small price to pay, isn’t it?
9. Agreed, some things might change irreversibly and will be beyond your control, such as receding hairlines and disappearing jawlines. Accept them gracefully and don’t try to hide them. Rather live with these changes confidently and flaunt them! It will eventually happen to everyone. How others look at you depends upon how you want them to. So be the showstopper you used to be, even with those extra inches around your waist!
10. What changes the most when you turn 40 is not your body but the mindset. The mindset has more to do with ageing than the body. Do not let it get over you and take control. Accept the number and keep adapting. You will never grow old.

You Deserve More After 40 – Go Get It

This is an article dedicated to all my fellow humans who have crossed over to the other side of 40. Make it the time you’ve been waiting for. Look back and see how many milestones you have accomplished. You are definitely a more sophisticated human now. So go ahead and make some course corrections and bring back your life to the fast lane.

There still a lot of gas left in the tank, press the pedal and enjoy the ride!!