When you were a kid, 40 years old seemed so far away! That was your parents' age and you couldn't even think that you'll get there too. Life was busy with too much excitement, fun and adventures. At that point, being 40 meant being old.
In your 20's, you were under the impression that by 40s you will have everything figured out. You imagined that you would find your call or purpose and you would be living without any worries.
When you reached 30's, you realized that the time gap was not as big as before. You found yourself only a decade away from the point where you would need to be. You took a long look at your life and wondered if you did your best to reach your full potential. You asked yourself what else needed to be done?
You still had time to find yourself. As far as you knew, you followed your dreams, passions and had no regrets. Though there was a strange feeling that you experimented. It felt as if you were missing something. A short glance at your friends, made it clear for you that you were not yet on the right track.
They all seemed to be living a perfect life. They had blooming careers, their mortgages were almost paid in full or at least in half, their kids were excelling at school and performed more extra-curricular activities than you could have counted on your fingers. In a nutshell, they had it all.
Meanwhile, you, the wanderer, seemed to be the slow sea turtle in this crazy race called life. Compared to them, you were far from feeling complete. You never had a linear career. Your work expertise touched a wide array of fields as you have plunged into so many domains.
Your resume always puzzled recruiters cause they had a hard time understanding your ability to adapt and assimilate so fast any knowledge. Plus, they were looking for stability, the one thing in your life that you didn't have. Not because you were afraid of commitment, but because it meant tying you down.
You always liked to be free as a bird, capable of taking off whenever you needed. Needless to add that you had to embrace remote work, entrepreneurship and learn on the job how to deal with everything.
In addition, your dreams went further than owning a piece of land or a property, being validated by others or chasing money. All that scenario was incompatible with your philosophy of life. You valued experiences and people over all that. Money was nothing but a tool. It was never a goal.
Your life had never followed any patterns and it had been far from boring. You never cared for social norms or peer pressure. When your friends walked down the isle in their bridal dress, you walked down the isle in some airplane towards some new destination, ready to face new challenges.
"Be truthful to yourself!" was one of your main rules that kept you going. No matter the situation, you chose what felt right for you and lived in peace with the outcome.
When you finally reached 40's, you discovered that milestone was not time related. Some people in their 50's or 60's still have no clue about who they are. They haven't figured it out yet, despite their age.
Many of them enjoyed living in their comfort zone and did not venture outside of it in order to dig deeper and explore their potential. Fear of not trying new things is their main regret. They say there is an age for everything and that time will not come back.
Most of us live under the impression that time works against us. That we are given only a few chances and we should take advantage of them while we can. Comparing our life experience with others' is pointless.
There is no wrong or right way of living life. There is no perfect time for settling down, having kids, change career, start a new project or anything else. There are no timelines. It's never too late for anything. Once you get this, you know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. All that really matters is what you feel cause your happiness and piece of mind come from within.
Lot of wisdom in those words as they are soothing too, 40 is just on the corner. 💪❤️
Thanks, Nick! ;0)
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True words of wisdom. People experience life at different paces and levels of understanding. What works for one person may be completely incorrect for another, though neither are wrong in their choices.
I myself am now in my early 40s and just starting to learn what my true potential is and could be. In the age of social media it is important to remember that we are individual personalities as well as members of the human community. Ones personal path to enlightenment is far more important than what our peers may think of our life decisions.
Thank you for writing this. I enjoyed reading this well written and thoughtful post! :)
Thanks! There is no recipe for happiness or only one path to follow.
Hi lymepoet,
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Thank you! This was such an unexpected surprise!
Interesting thoughts
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Thanks for stopping by!
Nice discussion. I'll be interested what you think at 60.
For me, now that the career and "wealth" building are all in my past I realize what matters is the joy I had, and that we are all pretty much the same.
Congrats on the curie.
Thank you. These small moments of joy and happiness is all that counts; we don't take anything with us when we leave this life.
Everything you write in this post is very consistent. You have several reflections, especially over the years. You are also very certain about the expectations and perspectives according to age. The truth is that life must be lived as best we can. We must know how to distinguish opportunities and take advantage of them in our human growth.
It has been a great pleasure to read you, Regards @lymepoet
Thank you! Throughout the years our perspective on life changes and so our expectations or goals. We learn to be more selective and focus more on what really matters and ignore the distractions.
So is!
Very good reflection, the important thing about life is to live it fully, happily and do what you want, besides life is only one. I congratulate you on your good writing and your curie vote. Greetings
Thank you! I totally agree. Living it fully helps eliminate the fear and opens new doors that you may have never reached otherwise.
An incredible reflection that invites us to stop for a while and review everything we have done so far, it is true that there will be situations, moments and places that perhaps we want to change but we must know that from that we also learn, it is better to remember all that is beautiful and move forward, we must sow in our present good things to have a prosperous future and that our harvest is good. It is time to continue, to love, to visit, to enjoy and above all to forgive, in life we must live in peace with others and with ourselves. It is a good reflection that makes me think that in a decade I will reach my 40 years and it scares me a little but I know that what I do now will be the fruit of tomorrow. Congratulations on this reading.
Greetings.
Once we accept that the everything is in balance (the good and the bad), we can move forward. When we stop accusing others for x or y reason, we can forgive and move on. Thanks for stopping by and leaving behind your words!
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life is very difficult to try to understand.
Not everything makes sense right away. Some piece of the puzzle will make sense later on ;0)
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That is so beautifully written and on the spot :)
Hi @lymepoet. Wow, I totally get this. My thoughts exactly when I a teenager, and I thought people in their 40s were elderly. I couldn't see myself past that age. Then when started my career, I couldn't imagine myself being at the same job for the next 35 years.
You are told you need to start your retirement savings when you reach your 30s. Well, that didn't set well with me because I was too busy living in the moment with a family.
Then at age 40, something kicked in and I was that "elderly" person I thought about as a teenager. It didn't matter what anyone else thought. My thinking was that I'm tired of working 40 hours/week. I want to enjoy my life. But with kids, it's hard. So I decided myself to get it in gear and double up on saving that I didn't do in my 20s.
You are right. There is no right or wrong way to live your life. Everyone has to determine that for themselves. But I feel one does have examples and guidelines if you're determine to accomplish certain things.
One thing that is valuable is to engage in something you love to do. Otherwise, you're like a mindless robot, punching a clock each day and don't know why.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on life.