I was a wee girl of 11, when my mum turned 40. I remember thinking how old that was. It was almost unimaginable that people could live so long! “Life begins at 40” holds no meaning to a kid. It feels like a lie that adults tell themselves, to cope with the misery of being old and ‘past it.’
Maybe that’s still the case. But as I turned 40 today, it’s a lie I’m more eager to believe.
What I genuinely do believe in the power of language. The words that we choose to use can completely change how we perceive a situation and therefore, how we react to it and choose the next steps to take.
Telling myself that I’m old and past-it, doesn’t do much other than deflate and demoralise. It makes me feel regretful about the past and stuck/hopeless about the future. But when I say instead that “life begins at 40,” I feel far more positive about everything. The past feels like a place where I’ve done a whole lot of learning. I feel hopeful and excited about the future.
I’ve stolen a trick from a friend of mine, who describes birthdays like the levels of a computer game. So instead of thinking, “Urghhh, another year!” I think: “Level 40! I made it!”
If you’re going to tell yourself a story about what it means to grow a day older, then it may as well be a good one. It may as well be one that inspires and motivates, rather than something that makes you feel like crap.
Think about that, the next time you’re bemoaning another birthday… Or complaining about what you’ve ‘got’ to do, instead of what you ‘get’ to.
Anxious-Ambition.com 