In less than an hour I turn 40...

[Titsywoo]

Tell me all the wonderful things that you remember/experienced/are experiencing in your forties! Does life really begin at 40 or like my MIL says is it all downhill from here?

No idea, I'm about half that

In all seriousness - you can still do everything you're currently doing! Ignore your MIL.

Ageing only comes to the lucky so you better embrace it!

(Blatant placemark for all the feel good posts as I'm going to hit the big 4-0 in a couple of years)

It’s not too bad ... I’m 45. Happy birthday 🎂

I’m nearing the end of my big 4-0 year and it’s been great. I wouldn’t go back to my thirties if you paid me. They weren’t bad but this is better

I stopped worrying about how old I am when I realised that each year I was worried about turning a year older and wishing I was a year younger. What a waste of energy. My mum died at 54, which is my next birthday, but I've just graduated uni and am starting a new career. Never too old.

I am loving my forties, I find increasingly that I don’t give a flying f*ck about lots of things that used to seem so important.

What Piff said. I'm mid 40s and I've got more confidence and JFDI than I've ever had. I've got over procrastinating for almost everything. If you can't decide, it doesn't matter - just pick randomly.

I was such a slacker when I was younger, don't know how I could stand myself.

I'm 42. So far the 40s have been good - lots of agency and conscious competence.

When I was 44 I had my third child.

After maternity leave I altered my working pattern significantly (didn’t change profession but specialised in a particular area and worked from a different venue) so that I considerably increased my income.

I am now 51. Feeling my age physically just a bit but honestly I’m still energetic and ambitious and my forties were absolutely great.

Happy birthday.

40s were fab, 50s truly excellent, 60s going extremely well so far!

I’m just into my 40’s and it’s my favourite decade so far (yes, it’s early days but still..). I feel fitter and healthier than ever.

Happy birthday OP. Have a fab day

Me too Titsywoo!!!!!!! Very happy birthday to youuuuuuuuu 🎂 (& me)

I'll tell you when I hit 50, next year.

My rather bolshy personality has come into its own, at least.

I turned 40 recently too and it really isn't so bad! It doesn't really feel very much different unless you think about it. Celebrate it, it's a privilege not afforded to all.

Yep gonna placemark here too
My passport says I will be forty next year, ha ha ha stupid passport.
I just can't be forty already, I was 20 just last week I remember it clearly. Ahem

Oooh! Nearly happy 40th birthday OP! I have a month left until I'm 41 and I've loved it. I loved my 30s too though, just for totally different reasons!

I am loving my forties, I find increasingly that I don’t give a flying fck about lots of things that used to seem so important.*

Definitely! I was 44 on Wednesday and apart from being a bit startled by that fact, I'm certainly more confident and far less likely to people please.

Greetings from the far end of the 40s! It’s grand. You’re all the woman now that you’ll ever be, go and raise some hell.

Life gets better the older you get. Settled with dp; no longer have to get up early in the morning, leap into car and zoom off down the road to work; kids grown up so getting plenty of sleep; a bit of spare money and time to enjoy it.

I ran the London marathon and raised £2500 for charity. Other than that though I've Diego a quarter of this year with an injury and turned 41 feeling like a broken old lady!!

Yes. I flipped out when I hit 40. We were staying in the Moab desert and I lost it. I lost all caring of how people perceived me. I give way less of a fuck now at 41 and have never been as happy. I felt like a weight had been lifted.

Don't know what Diego is doing there! Spent I meant!

My mid 40s were great. After staying in an unhappy marriage for 20 years I divorced, went to university and got an undergraduate degree then because I loved it an MSc. My children became teens and then adults. I'm mid 50s now and whilst I've still not got the employment role I thought my qualifications would equip me for I'm happy ☺️

I've loved my forties (nearly out the other end of them now). While realising this post isn't in Feminism  this is the decade where I've completely stopped giving a fuck about the male gaze and (probably not coincidentally) the male gaze has stopped giving a fuck about me and omg. How liberated I feel.