{"id":49451,"date":"2019-05-13T17:58:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T16:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flashpacknew.wpengine.com\/?p=49451"},"modified":"2023-07-06T16:12:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T15:12:58","slug":"9-unexpected-and-wonderful-things-i-discovered-in-my-40s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/solo\/wellness\/9-unexpected-and-wonderful-things-i-discovered-in-my-40s\/","title":{"rendered":"9 unexpected and wonderful things I discovered in my 40s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turning 40 can strike fear into the heart of the bravest individual, but as Andrew Dickens gladly discovered, your 40s can bring all manner of pleasant surprises. Here are nine of them.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Generation gaps aren\u2019t that big<\/h3>\n

\"harold<\/p>\n

Post-Brexit, much as been made in the press of war between the \u2018older’ generation and the \u2018younger’ generation<\/a> (exact age criteria rarely given). It\u2019s billed as if they\u2019d actually fight each other in the streets if it wasn’t for the fact that neither generation likes to leave the house.<\/p>\n

When you hit your 40s, you\u2019re slap bang in the middle of these generations. People in their 20s still talk to you; sometimes they even ask you for advice because you\u2019ve allegedly accrued some level of life knowledge. Older people talk to you because they recognise someone who\u2019s used a phone box and a cheque book.<\/p>\n

It makes you realise that, for all the social and technological changes, it\u2019s not age that makes a difference, just whether a person is a massive tool or not.<\/p>\n

Your body doesn\u2019t collapse in on itself<\/h3>\n

I was waiting for this one. I was waiting for the aches and pains and needing to pee three times in the night and gradually filling out my baggiest of baggy clothes because my metabolism had slowed to the pace of a particularly lethargic sloth – but it didn\u2019t really happen. My 40s have probably been my fittest decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s not all plain sailing. I pee more during the day<\/em>, but I put that down to drinking more coffee (also a side-effect of hitting 40, cos I’m sophisticated now). And I probably do ache more, but that\u2019s because I\u2019m now married and only get half a bed to sleep on.<\/p>\n

Walking is the best<\/h3>\n

\"will<\/p>\n

When you reach 40, you seem to work out that the best way to travel is the way nature designed us to travel. Weird.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re younger, you have an aversion to walking. It\u2019s either too much effort or not fast enough or too boring. Then, in your 40s, things change. Your legs and brain meet up and produce a PowerPoint presentation designed to teach you a few things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Walking really isn\u2019t much effort.<\/li>\n
  2. Walking is great for your mental health.<\/li>\n
  3. Walking is really good exercise.<\/li>\n
  4. Walking is really good exercise you can do without needing a gym membership or a shower.<\/li>\n
  5. Walking is really good exercise you can do while enjoying scenery\/music\/sunlight\/cake.<\/li>\n
  6. Walking is often quicker than public transport.<\/li>\n
  7. Walking doesn\u2019t hate Mother Earth.<\/li>\n
  8. Just because you can\u2019t walk all the way doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t walk some of the way; you can kill the worst leg of commute by walking it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The next thing you know, you\u2019ve joined the Ramblers, got a dog, invested in some seriously nice \u2018activewear\u2019 and reduced your stress levels by 79 AAAAAAAGGGGGHHH points.<\/p>\n

    Read more:\u00a0How to lose weight and get fit in your 40s<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    I like more food<\/h3>\n

    No, really. I was a supremely fussy eater as a kid, with my diet pretty much limited to peanut butter sandwiches (still my favourite spread) and anything you could coat with vinegar (I still eat pickled beetroot straight from the jar and don\u2019t even think about judging me).<\/p>\n

    Now, there is very little I won\u2019t eat (goat\u2019s cheese can burn in hell) and so, so much more I enjoy. I think this is pretty universal. As you get older, you get more adventurous. You travel more and discover \u2018foreign foods\u2019. You\u2019ve probably been in more relationships in which you ate stuff to impress or appease the other person.<\/p>\n

    Also, between the ages of 40 and 50 you begin to lose taste buds, while the ones you still have shrink – so you can\u2019t taste the nasty.<\/p>\n

    I can still wear trainers and hoodies<\/h3>\n

    \"sylvester<\/p>\n

    Yeah, I wasn\u2019t really expecting this one, but I didn\u2019t have to make a full swing towards the boots, jeans and jumpers in my wardrobe. Maybe wear a lot of blazers. However…<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s probably down to some collective Peter Pan syndrome – which I wholeheartedly welcome – but people over 40 dress basically the same as 20-somethings. Trainers, hoodies, sweatpants: all are perfectly acceptable and I can afford to buy more of them.<\/p>\n

    Which is great, because you also appreciate an elastic waistband more post-40.<\/p>\n

    My quality-quantity ratio is much better<\/h3>\n

    Something at some point in the last couple of years went \u2018ping\u2019 in my head and I realised that my money is better spent on good things.<\/p>\n

    Yeah, revolutionary, right?<\/p>\n

    But that doesn\u2019t always register when you\u2019re younger and more skint and on the look-out for \u2018bargains\u2019. Then, \u00a320 spent on five pints of generic lager seems like a cunning plan. Now I know that \u00a320 spent on three pints of tastier, poncier, more expensive and – crucially – stronger craft beer is a much better investment. Likewise, I now know that a \u00a3100 jacket will look better and probably last longer than a \u00a340 jacket.<\/p>\n

    \u2018Buy cheap, buy twice,\u2019 is an old and well-known adage – it’s just taken me 40 years to pay it any attention.<\/p>\n

    Read more: 6 amazing things I discovered in my 30s that I never noticed before<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    There are fewer f*cks to give<\/h3>\n

    \"john<\/p>\n

    I thought I\u2019d worry more as I reached middle age. I thought I\u2019d worry more about death and getting fat and making money and what I was doing with my life.<\/p>\n

    And yes, I do worry about these things, but less than I did before. Why? I don\u2019t know. Maybe it\u2019s accumulated wisdom or maybe I\u2019m just too tired to care. But it\u2019s probably because you realise that there\u2019s very little point in wasting the next 40 years of your life consumed with more anxiety than is completely necessary.<\/p>\n

    There are also things you used to give a monkey\u2019s about when you were young but don\u2019t anymore. Things like being \u2018cool\u2019, being \u2018ripped\u2019 and, of course, your impending 40th birthday. There\u2019s a whole list here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \u2018Why not?\u2019 becomes your motto<\/h3>\n

    I think this is the most pleasant aspect of any midlife crisis<\/a>. As mentioned, you don\u2019t care about being \u2018cool\u2019, you can taste less, and you\u2019re also aware that you\u2019re around the halfway marker in life so, if you\u2019re going to do something, you might as well do it soon. Worst comes to the worst, you\u2019ve had some good years, eh?<\/p>\n

    I have my limits: bungee-jumping, skydiving, holding a giant cockroach, sleeping alone in an isolated Gothic castle near an insane asylum. But these are few and far between now.<\/p>\n

    I didn\u2019t notice I was 40<\/h3>\n

    \"tom<\/p>\n

    There was no discernable overnight change. My hair stayed in, I didn\u2019t become more right-wing, I didn\u2019t start putting hashtags in my Twitter profile and I didn\u2019t start dating a 21-year-old. It\u2019s almost as if 40 is only a little bit older than 39.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Turning 40 can strike fear into the heart of the bravest individual, but as Andrew…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":69361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9030],"tags":[575,492,674,825,768,684,1528,434,493,5102,2641,457,582,3398,473,453],"class_list":["post-49451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellness","tag-40s","tag-career","tag-confidence","tag-exercise","tag-experience","tag-fitness","tag-food-and-drink","tag-happiness","tag-job","tag-life-in-your-40s","tag-midlife","tag-relationships","tag-stress","tag-turning-40","tag-walking","tag-wellbeing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}