40!!! Is it the new 20? Or are we being pressurised to maintain the beauty standards and forced to be young?
Forget what happens to us externally and let’s focus what happens to one internally. Well I for one was absolutely looking forward to being 40!!!! (even though some of my doctor friends advised me to lose a few kilos, I decided to be me after two consecutive Covids not knowing what half our lifetime looked like…hoping that at 40 it was half my lifetime ). Not matching the beauty standards set by the society I thought let me rally on and enjoy my 40th!!!
40 did a lot for me that my 20s or 30s could ever do. When I turned 20 I wasn’t happy letting go off my teens and then when I turned 30 I was made to feel old!!!! ( and I wonder how did I even let that happen). But when I was turning 40, I was desperately waiting to hit the big 4 and 0!!! I felt liberated and since then I haven’t looked back!!
And one might wonder what this liberation is all about? I didn’t really care what the world thought of me or how it perceived me anymore. I didn’t care how I dressed and how my hair was, how I looked without makeup in public. I stopped dressing on days when I didn’t feel like dressing, on the other hand I dressed to kill on the days I felt like, but it was never to please anyone from society. Well, these are again externally. Well, internally, I was on a different plateau. I couldn’t care less if something or someone wasn’t adding value to who I am and I could let go off easily. No one could emotionally manipulate or emotionally blackmail me into doing things that I wasn’t ready to do!!! It became more about mental health and emotionally well being, reducing the number of people, reducing the number of social engagements and I realised it was always me who added value to my own life. It helped me value my space, my time!!!
Life is extremely simple and we complicate things. Even though having known this all my life, at 40 I started living it. I became less judgemental because I started focusing on myself and my internal growth. Having lost a few friends before they could even turn 40, I became even more appreciative that I was able to reach here. I started valuing life overall.
I can’t wait another decade to turn 50. Looking forward and hoping that it would be half my lifetime !!!!! with better version of me and having the right people around me who will enrich my journey.