Yes Virginia, There is Life After 40!

Swiss psychotherapist, Carl Jung said, “Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research.” Funny, yes, but completely grounded in truth.

I had a very memorable conversation with Audretta Hall, founder of Support4YourDreams, about what she liked most about being over forty. Audi said, “I consider forty to be a right of passage,” and she reminded me that the children of Israel had wandered in the desert, murmuring and complaining for forty years, before reaching the Promised Land.

Isn’t that the reality for most of us? Up until the age of forty, we’re sort of  drifting through life, trying to figure it out, and trying our best to live happily within the lives that our parents, peers, significant others, and even society says we should live.

But after forty, we experience some major paradigm shifts, and the personal transformation begins. We understand more about who we are and what we want. We reclaim old dreams and passions and we begin to design a life based on this new understanding and rediscovery of self.

As we break away from prescribed norms, we’re free to go on a bold and exciting journey in midlife; a journey that leads to a very rich, rewarding, and authentic second half of life. I know many women, in their 40′s, 50’s, 60’s and older, who are changing careers, starting businesses, pursuing degrees, writing their first book, and achieving things they never dreamed possible.  So move forward boldly ladies, and enjoy the journey. You put in your forty wilderness years to arrive here – and here – is a wonderful place to be.