40, fat and... going for it!
Live your dreams while you have your life. I’m turning 40 soon, and I feel bloody great about it. Forty, fat and full of energy. That’s how it should be. I’m sitting here in May 2010 thinking about how differently people around me react to milestone birthdays.
Lots of people I know are hitting 40 around now. Some call it a big milestone. Others get downright depressed. One of my employees is really struggling with it. I understand that a milestone birthday can make people take stock, but I also think that reaction is worth thinking about.
What have you actually done with your life?
When you turn 30, 40, 50 or 100, you might ask yourself: What have I achieved? What have I experienced? Where am I? You’ve lived part of your life, after all. How big a part remains to be seen. I joke that, with all the research into ageing, 40 might only be a third of the way through, but what matters is that you start reflecting.
My slightly harsh thought is that if you’re upset about reaching a milestone birthday, perhaps you haven’t used your time quite as well as you’d have liked. Then it’s worth reconsidering your life. Are you actually doing what you want? Are you getting what you expected out of life?
A birthday can be the occasion to ask those questions. But it also needs to lead somewhere. Just sitting there worrying about the number doesn’t help.
Live your dreams with a plan for your life
My advice is to take a day or two away, perhaps in a holiday cottage, and try to look at your life from the outside. Perhaps you’re an entrepreneur or dream of having your own business. Then you’ve probably thought about a business plan. But have you given your life the same thought?
It doesn’t have to be a detailed plan with everything written down. But if you don’t know where you stand or where you want to go, how the hell will you get there?
Take your spouse, your partner or your dog and sit somewhere you can think about it. What did you dream of when you were young? What do you dream of today? What do you actually want to spend your life doing?
If you love diving, do something about it
I use diving as an example. If you love diving and just work your arse off to afford it on the occasional holiday, consider whether you could make it a bigger part of your life. Could you become a diving instructor in Thailand?
That’s my blunt encouragement to make a brave decision. Write the dream down and break it into smaller things. What would it actually take to make it possible?
You may discover that what you’re longing for isn’t quite as unattainable as it looks from a distance. In my example, you can explore the route to becoming an instructor, giving you the chance to dive every day instead of only on the holidays you can afford.
Life doesn’t start tomorrow
Life is what you’re feeling right now. It doesn’t only begin when you win the lottery, when your child is out of nappies, when you get a driving licence or when you retire. Whatever the hell you’re looking forward to, this is your life too.
It was yesterday and the day before, and it is today. That’s why I think you owe it to yourself to find out what you dream of and start making it happen. Also read Skab din egen succes on finding your own path and taking your dreams seriously.
I want to be someone who reaches a milestone birthday with a smile and thinks: Bloody hell, what a great life it’s been so far. If it ended today, I’d feel I’d got a lot out of it. Not because I want it to end. That would be fucking awful. But I want to be able to look back with that feeling.
That’s why I’m happy about turning 40. So do something about your dreams, for fuck’s sake. Nobody else will make them happen for you.
I’m turning 40, and God, how little I care… Best wishes, Martin
60 – sexet …seriøs …. super konsulent …Sig bare til så kommer jeg.
Gik i gang som selvstændig konsulent for 1 1/2 år siden som 59 årig da jeg flyttede tilbage til Danmark efter at have boet 18 år ude i verden, 5 forskellige steder. Jeg holdt min 60 års fødselsdag i SydAfrika ,hvor jeg havde inviteret min gamle far på 86 og mine unger ned sammen med min mand for at fejre mig YES .
Jeg er vist over halvvejen, men det stopper mig ikke … Livet leves her og nu.
Jeg elsker det.