What do you wish you’d known/started doing at 35?

[Cuzcospoison]

Just as the title says, really. I’m about to turn 35 and would love to know from anyone over that age what they wish they had known, or started doing, or done more of at 35?

I fell like lots of people talk about what they wish they’d known at 18 or 25, but not as they entered mid-life. I finally feel emotionally mature enough to take advice at this age 😂

I wish (OK when I was 40 not 35) I'd had the confidence and life experience to realise that not everything on mumsnet was true or valid. Also I wish I'd realised that people post a lot of lies and fantasy on forums such as this.

Thank you all so much. There’s been so much of value here, I’ve been making notes.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying that 35 is middle aged - not that there’s anything wrong with being middle aged anyway. I used the term mid-life only to mean that I feel it’s not the same season as your 20s and early 30s 😊. That the 20 years that follow 35 are sort of the middle of your life, if you live to the average life expectancy, nothing more than that.

Can I just clarify, following on from a PP, that even in your 50s you don’t feel and you don’t look particularly old. I don’t. I just feel like me. I can do everything I ever could do, and am probably fitter than I was 10 years ago.

Yeah what is above:

health
sunscreen - mural is the best non greasy
tret skin and me stuff
invest and save -open a SIPP or open a Lisa and put £4000 a year - you get £1000 govt contribution plus the wonders of compound interest
make sure you and your partner have incredible life insurance
invest in friends and fun
live with integrity and humour

The money and insurance you already have but but many do - think it’s the most important as so many women are taking such a hit on pensions etc in that age group.

Check your boobs

I wish I had divorced my ex sooner, but then I wouldn't have been able to finish my degree 😞. Definitely wish I had watched my weight and taken up exercise

Look after your teeth

Liars lie. If anyone, ever tells you a lie that is important - not off the cuff, but considered - they will lie about anything and cannot, ever be trusted.

Learning to accept that inescapable reality is incredibly difficult for most.

Investing more time in personal friendships, hobbies and interests.

I'd go back and tell myself to moisture my neck and chest when moisturising my face each morning. My face skin is looking not too shabby 10 years on and simply moisturising a little more each day would have kept the whole area looking half decent. Instead my chest / neck look markedly different in texture and appearance.

I wouldn't have let my career slide. I had my first child at 34 and was planning another so my mind very much wasn't on my career then.

Been playing catch up ever since and never quite managed to make it.