I was chatting with a lady the other day who’s turning 40 next year, and I asked her how she felt about reaching that milestone age.
Luckily, she felt OK about it, but I’ve noticed in my coaching career that some people are very affected by any birthday with a zero in it.
Of course, it’s just a day like any other, but similar to New Year’s Eve it seems to signify so much more.
I told her how, weirdly, I feel more youthful at 54 than I did when I turned 30.
I’m not in denial about the effects of gravity, grey hairs and wrinkles. I know I’m changing physically, but mentally I’m feeling as young, if not more so, than 25 years ago.
In my late 20’s, I was all about feeling like a proper grown up.
I had just got married, I had gone from renting a house to be a home-owner, I was driving a more expensive car, I decided I was getting too old for for getting wasted at nightclubs, I was doing a “real” job running a mortgage brokerage with my husband, I was doing grown-up-mum-stuff like school runs and baking actual cakes for school fetes.
I was a mature, responsible adult doing mature, responsible shit.
Some of my friends had already turned 30, and some were on the verge of it, and we all approached that big birthday with much teeth-sucking and furrowed brows.
We. Were. Old.
Our youth was behind us.
Might as well get measured up for our coffins now.
Little did I know ten years after that, I’d start to view life very differently.
I’m not sure if it was all the life coach training I was doing, but when I hit 40 I decided there was still a lot of life to live, and that hopefully I hadn’t even hit the halfway mark of my life yet.
When I turned 50, I felt even better - so bloody grateful that my body still worked as well as it did when I was in my 20’s, and I loved it more than ever before, despite the inevitable ageing process.
I love Seneca's quote, “Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms, you will be able to use them better when you are older.”
Bang on, Senny Boy!
I’ve always had ambitions, and I love the thought that life still holds many opportunities for me, and I feel as if I have more mental capacity to chase them now than ever before because I have wisdom and experience on my side, too.
I’m not sure when this youthful enthusiasm will reach its natural peak and start to decline, but I haven’t hit it yet.
Are you in your riper years and considering starting your own business, but think you’ve missed the boat age-wise?
In a study in 2018, it was found that contrary to the popular belief that young entrepreneurs were most likely to succeed, “The highest success rates in entrepreneurship come from founders in middle age and beyond.” In fact, a 50 year old founder was 1.8 times more likely to be successful than a 30 year old.
So if you’re in your 20’s and 30’s and worried that life’s passing you by and you’re not Richard Branson yet, or if you’re a few decades into life and think it’s too late to start something new, then don’t lose hope!