Hitting my 40’s was hard. Why? Because I hadn’t even dealt with turning 30! I didn’t think life would be fun anymore and considered myself too old to be young and fun. And that was not cool. How little I knew!
As it turned out, my 30’s were great. In my 20’s I was figuring out what I wanted to do in the workforce, living with good friends and partying up a storm. Life had not bitten me in the a&rse and it was just fun. I hit 28 and moved to London for 4 years where I did the working and travel lifestyle – returning home when I was 32. I took up the fifo lifestyle because I had always said that I wanted to be independent financially and achieve everything on my own terms. I never wanted marriage or kids and here I am in my early 40’s looking back on life and wondering if I would change anything.
I have my own home and car, no debt except the mortgage and 2 dogs who are my kids and who my life is “run” by. I get asked all the time if I am married and/or have kids and when I advise no to both, I am met with that “what is wrong with you” look. Because clearly something must be wrong when you are on your own right? It is not how it is meant to be! I am here to say WRONG! I enjoy living life how I want, I love being outdoors and making sure the dogs have the best life they can and I enjoy the freedom to come and go as I please with anything.
HOWEVER, I believe that no matter what path we women take, at some stage we will always question our choices and wonder “what if”. I have certainly done that in my 40’s. Would I have been happier if I had had children? Would marriage have grounded me? What will it be like when I’m old and on my own – will I regret my choice to be alone? And then there is the superficial stuff. We look in the mirror and pick ourselves apart. Collagen doesn’t seem to exist anymore, things start to head south and everything gets loose! So do we fix that or just deal with it?
I can only of course speak for myself, and my current outlook on my own situation is that I am proud. Everything I said I would do in life I did. I travelled, I built my own home (2 actually), I followed the work path I wanted to be on and am still aiming higher. My spiritual belief is that we must travel the journey we are on as we have many lives, and to be better in the next life, we must learn lessons in our current life.
So what do I think of the 40’s now? I think it is our prime time! We are mature now, we have lived and experienced things and are more capable of accepting things for what they are. What may have brought us down in our younger years is no longer of concern. We can, and will, get through anything. And yes, I’m happy that this life for me is about being independent and being with my fur kids.