In the last few years I've developed a course called the Feel Good Forties. The seed of this germinated in the run up to my 40th birthday over year ago. Entering a new decade can be exciting, but I was surprised at the negativity surrounding turning 40 as a woman.
I had already decided I was going to rock my 40s. That I was going to seize this decade with both hands and get as much out of it as possible. And I think that this is something we should all contemplate.
For those of us that are fortunate enough to have had children in our twenties and thirties as we enter our 40s they are at school and less dependent. For those of us that have worked hard at building careers and businesses, we're more able to know what we want and who we are in the workplace.
So now it's time to put us back in the driving seat. Not as a marketing ploy to make us buy more expensive face cream and make up or to play on our insecurities by selling us a magic weight loss potion.
No, it's time to put ourselves back at the top of the to do list. It's your turn to go first now. If you could do anything you wanted to, what would it be right now?
What would it be tomorrow? Next week? Next year?
We are more than the wife/partner/daughter/mother/employee label.
And yes, we are ageing. That's inevitable. How we age is a matter of how we approach the care we show ourselves. Yes, that does mean exercise, and good nutrition. It also means stress management and nurturing ourselves. This could mean new hobbies and activities or revisiting old ones. So far I've tried abseiling, climbing and am about to do my first triathlon. I'm also trying to get more yoga and meditation into my life and am contemplating flute lessons and art projects. And that's just the start.
And yes, we will face some hormonal upheavals over the next few years. I think we can see these as a wake up call to look after ourselves from the inside out, to know more about our bodies, how our changing hormones affect us, and how we can expand our knowledge so that aren't a passive part of this change in our lives.
And that's what my Feel Good Forties course is all about. It's a bit of a passion project of mine. The course ran live in 2017-2019 and will soon be coming online….sign up below to hear more.