We say life begins at age 40 and we mean every word of it. But to cope and love life at this age can feel a bit cumbersome.
No point feeling old while you’re at the prime of your life.
In the words of a dying old woman who had been fortunate enough to live over a bouncy hundred years.
And, unfortunately, was misdiagnosed and told she was dying a few months earlier than she eventually did,
Life is short. You aren’t even a hundred years old yet, why stop living now?
The Golden Decade: Coping at 40
Did you just hit the golden age of forty? Or are you fortunate enough to be on your way to the golden age?
Here’s a little big secret nobody has probably told you about recently, “you just hit the best decade of your life, it’s a decade filled with hope and every reason to thrive, love life and keep living your very best life yet.”
Gone are the days when forty was the decade of despair. Research studies are finding that this decade is the best yet.
One study found that this decade is the best one to start a business with more than two times more chance of success than when you are 25.
Psychologists have also found that people within this age range and older are better at analyzing complex problems.
Forty is also the age of confidence, wise expertise, and happiness.
40 Golden Rules For Coping And Loving Life Even More At Age 40
Coping and loving life with all its ups and downs is a function of your perspective and what you make of your own life.
It’s even better when the odds play in your favor. All over the world, women are conquering this age and are doing it beautifully.
We bring you 40 golden rules or tips for coping and loving life even more as you hit your 40s.
Embrace the Confidence that Comes With the Age
Yes, you are not protected from worry, anxiety, health risks, family problems, but you are more confident in your abilities, trust this confidence that stems from your wealth of experience gathered over the years.
Understand that Self-Confidence is a Jewel that Adorns Adulthood
At this age, you are expected to have higher levels of Self-Confidence and Self-worth than the average young person, it is one of the perks of getting older.
Value your Ability to Appreciate Life Better
You literally have seen the worst in life, you’ve loved, lost and gotten better at living life, value your ability to appreciate the big and simple things, this would help you as the years roll by.
Wield the Weapon of Knowledge
At this age, you are a walking bundle of experience and knowledge. At 40, you are more than a fountain of wisdom on diverse topics, knowledge is only as useful as when it is applied. Make sure to make the most of this weapon to help yourself, family and those around you.
Trade Perfection for Beauty
There is a special kind of beauty that comes with accepting the fact that you are imperfect. In order to be able to love life, even more, you need to accept that just as you are, you are beautiful and that is all that matters.
Understand that Your Opinion About Yourself Matters Most
Remember this; you are responsible for your emotional and mental states 100% of the time because you have direct access to them through your thoughts. Your thought primarily builds you and others up or brings you all down. If you think that your wrinkles make you look ugly, then it will make you look ugly faster than the opinion of a third party.
Participate to Experience More of Life
Everything in life isn’t necessarily a competition. Getting into a new gathering or environment should not always be about winning, start something new simply for the prospect of connecting with people with similar interests and creating new memories.
Stop Fixating on Your Body
Researchers predict that the age of immense bodily fixation ends as a woman draws closer to her fourth decade of life but still yet, population studies show that between the ages of 40 and 60, more women spend more money on beautification surgeries. Beauty regimes are good options as long as they are not rooted in a dissatisfaction with your body.
Your Wrinkles and Age Lines Tell a Story
You cannot run away from aging anymore, do the reasonably best you can but remember that those lines are life’s way of showing how much you’ve overcome.
Keep Friends Who are More Like Family
Gone are the days of vane friendships and popularity contests. With the golden decade comes the need to weed out your circle, leaving behind only the truest relationships. Circumstances and events that lay ahead are best survived with friends that are backbones and sources of strength.
Train Yourself to Make Good Connections
In order to cope and experience more out of life, you should be able to create new connections, decipher true intentions and get to know people for who they truly are, these connections would last a lifetime.
See the Fun Side of Life
We bet you spent the last twenty decades being so serious, relax now, you are 40, let the fun begin.
Understand the Difference Between Knowing Your Worth and Putting Up a Just Fight
The essence of maturity (which comes more easily to you at this age) is its knack for distinguishing situations and proffering appropriate responses. Know when to back down and when to stand your ground.
Define Your Own Style
Societal trends and Celebrity fads are great but are not authentic enough in themselves for you at 40. The golden age is a time to create personal style statements that suit you just as you are irrespective of the latest trends while also refraining from looking terrible.
Separate Mountainous Problems From Molehills
We cannot overstress this particular point, big situations should be tackled head-on, insignificant situations paid as little attention as you can spare par time.
Eat Healthily
Your body has been worked harder than that of a 20-year-old, you need to do more to remain in good shape physically, a great place to start is with your diet.
Set Doctor’s Appointments and Meet Them
It is not enough that you have the intention to do regular medical checkups to keep abreast of everything that concerns your health, you actually have to take steps towards better health. Start by making your appointments with the Doctor.
Consider the Dentist a Friend
One big medical issue that you cannot shy away from as you get older or hide is the health of your teeth. Now is a good time to visit your dentist more often and become good friends with them.
Allocate More Time to Meditation and Relaxing
A healthy 40-year-old is one who knows how to deal with stress, meditation as well as other relaxation techniques is important.
To keep your physical and psychological state in good shape. Experts say that Breathing Techniques are great for the heart as well.
There is Nothing Mystical About Mid-Life Crises 
Women and men alike go through a dipping point in their lives. The golden years happen to be the period when this happens the most. Some women even suffer the ‘empty-nest syndrome’ when their children get older and leave home to start their own lives. It is not a myth, women all over the world experience it at varying degrees.
Feelings of Dissatisfaction Come With the Age
Perimenopause and menopause happen during the golden years, they come with changing hormonal structures in your body. Doctors say that these hormonal changes affect sleep patterns, body morphology, cognitive functions, and interest levels. All these unfamiliar feelings often result in dissatisfaction and anxiety. These are normal occurrences at age 40.
You Could Feel Invisible
The world has focused laser-like attention on young people, giving little attention to the older population. At this age, you could feel unseen. Prepare for these feelings and handle them appropriately.
Understand the ‘Blue-Moments’
All issues that relate to Midlife Blues and Crises fall other anyone of these three categories: psychological, physiological and personal. Your blues may be as a result of personal dissatisfaction, you only need to remind yourself of all your accomplishments and to take pride in them. Psychological and physiological issues should be talked over with professionals: therapists and doctors.
Embrace the Soothing Benefits of Nature
Another great way to deal with Midlife Blues is by embracing nature. Research findings indicate that outdoor experiences help improve moods. Effectively dealing with feelings of dissatisfaction, worry, and anxiety.
Spend Enough Time Sleeping
Yes, it’s ok to sleep and you would not be considered irresponsible for doing so.
Be Open to New Ideologies
Experts describe the mind and who you think you are as a software program that is designed in place, filled with biases and boundaries (both limiting and unlimited) set straight in stone, if left alone, we would never adopt but we certainly must.
Slow Down, No Rush, Go at Your Own Pace
There is no longer a need to hurry and rush everything, the golden age comes with the blessing of going slow (only if you take it for what it is rather than a limiting factor).
Two Sides of Coins; Marital Bliss or Divorce
The golden age either makes marriage more blissful or it offers you the liberation you’ve always wanted. We hope you would find joy at this time with whatever decisions you are faced with where your marriage is concerned.
Make Your Relationship With Yourself A Priority
At this age, the family gets smaller as your children move out and build new lives for themselves. A new time for self-discovery presents itself and one way to love life more is by building a relationship first, with yourself.
Look Forward to a More Satisfying Sexual Life
Science tells us that women get more satisfied with sex at this age, sometimes because they are having less sex or having better and more adventurous sex. You decide what category you fall into.
Don’t be Pessimistic About Time
You are getting older and it isn’t the end of the world. Rather than being so pessimistic why not live every moment and do with it the most you can?
You are Your Own Decision Maker
Now is not the time to be pushed around and bullied, your decisions are yours to make.
Spend Time With Friends and Then Yourself
Every night is not a party night, friends should not come over every day, you need some time to yourself too, you get more out of life when you wake up rested and re-energized.
Try to be Flexible
You will meet people who are not your regular kind of people, get a job take would stretch you, move to new cities. The key to thriving is to adapt and keep being flexible.
There is No Knowing the End
There aren’t truer words than those of our forefathers who say the journey of life comes with grey hairs start. Emphasis on the journey; enjoy the journey of life for you do not know when it will end.
Live For You Now
As you grow, you find that you are expected to live for first your nuclear family, then your spouse, then your children. At 40, the storyline changes in your favor. Begin now to live for you.
You are Beautiful Just the Way You Are
Yes, your skin is stretching, the folds are becoming more noticeable, the grey hairs aren’t listening to dyes anymore, yet your beauty has not diminished one bit. Remember this every time the worry creeps in.
Time is On Your Side
The biggest deception of aging is that people now expect nothing big from you, experts disagree, some of the best inventions were made by 40-year-olds, successful businesses started with older CEOs in their golden ages, best books were written by golden men and women. Nothing (especially not time) is against you.
Embrace the Child in You
Need we say more? Laugh in the rain, dance silly, watch cartoons, etc. Whatever unleashes the child in you.
Get Excited About Life
Life couldn’t possibly be better, find the bright side of every situation and enjoy each moment as it comes.
We see every day more and more that the society is trying harder to define the boundaries of fulfillment along the lines of age but the age-long saying that age is nothing more than a number remains ever true, what distinguishes the age ‘thirty’ from ‘forty’ is merely a few more days and months. We say forty is the new thirty and you can cope and love life just as much now as you did a few days and months ago.