Life begins at 40 goes the old cliché, but of course turning 40 is a milestone that can bring about a whole heap of changes in ourselves. By this point you may have very well weathered your share of life challenges and have been learning to be happier in yourself, as well as identifying what truly matters, but as life feels more settled, new realities start to emerge that can sneak up quietly, but it’s at this stage that you ignore them at your peril.
There’s no midlife clichés or stereotypes about slowing down, but about recognizing that your mind, body, and purpose will change, so you need to navigate them with the right tactics.
Prioritize Health Checks
Routine checkups are not optional extras anymore, but critical parts of your self-care, whether it’s health, cholesterol levels, or getting ready for a hearing test. Prevention truly becomes better than the cure. Hearing changes are one thing that can creep up gradually, often so slowly that you don’t notice until it starts to impact your conversations, work, or relationships.
This is why annual hearing screenings, exams, and general health checkups should be prioritized. Preventative care is the priority because now those little niggles that you ignore can become massive issues decades down the line.
Friendships Require More Effort
When you were younger you would easily strike up conversations with people, but as we get older we don’t just spend time with our families and therefore do not expand our social circle, but those old friends can quietly fade away unless we tend to them. It’s at this stage in our lives that we need to understand who is fueling our friendships and who we actually need to forget.
Strong social bonds are critical as they can protect against cognitive decline and depression as we age, and in our 40s it’s more about the quality of our friends rather than the quantity. Friendships become a vital ingredient for happiness, resilience, and even longevity. It’s a tough one to navigate, particularly if you’ve had friends that you now recognize to be toxic or social vampires, and this is why that cliché that you can truly count your best friends on one hand rings ever truer.
Find who’s important to you, but also look at what you give them, and if you feel you’re not giving them your best self, that you are actually using them as an outlet for your woes, then you need to think about how they feel as well.
Body Changes: The Early Messengers
Look at things like recovering after a workout; it takes a lot longer, and your late nights will hit way harder. Something like a social function on a Saturday could take you a few days to recover from for various reasons such as kids and life admin.
The fact is that instead of fighting these changes, you need to listen to what your body is saying, particularly if you are someone who subscribes to the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” philosophy. This is a big no-no. Self-care is the most important part of ensuring that right now you can continue to thrive later into life.
Don’t chase your younger self, but recognize that you are not who you were when you were 25. For example, hormonal shifts tied to perimenopause can start years before menopause itself, like mood swings, sleep disruptions, and subtle physical changes in women. For men, it could be a gradual decline in testosterone that may alter their energy levels or their muscle tone. These are not failures of your biology, but more that you are naturally changing, so, rather than panicking, adjust your habits such as strength training to increase both essential male and female hormones, hydration, and quality sleep. These are more than just health tips, but signals to treat your body with respect.
Your Self-Identity Is Evolving
For many people in their 40s, the roles that once defined them, whether it’s a spouse, employee, or a parent, don’t feel like they fit perfectly anymore. This is partly why people experience midlife crises, but it’s not a crisis; it’s a period of adaptation that you either embrace or you kick against.
This is often the time where people learn new skills, change careers, or rediscover creative interests that they haven’t had time for many years. Your 40s comes with a deeper self-awareness that makes your growth far more intentional. You know what drains your energy, but also what gives it back, and you no longer need to chase every opportunity. It’s about chasing the ones that you know feed you.
Nobody’s ever too old to reinvent themselves. The great thing about being in your 40s is that now you are wise enough to know what reinvention actually means.
Your Mental Health Must Take Center Stage
By the time you reach your 40s, you’ve experienced your fair share of emotional heft. Loss, grief, regret, career pressures, family dynamics, it’s all normal. But rather than pretending you’re fine because this is what everybody is like, if you ignore your mental and emotional well-being, you are neglecting your health.
This decade is when we need to start turning the lens inwards. Processing emotions in healthy ways and regulating your emotions is very important and has to be a skill that we cultivate. It’s not just about what happens on the outside in terms of successes, but we need to remember that inner calm is critical. Now is the time when you desire purpose, and it becomes less about chasing accolades and about living in alignment with your values.
If there’s one major truth about this decade it’s more that midlife’s not about decline, but is actually a doorway to possibilities, but in order to navigate through this door we have to be honest with ourselves rather than thinking we need to get younger than what we are, and in mind, body, and soul we have to learn to let go of other people’s timelines and live fully in our own.
