40 is the new 30 ... but it's not!

Since I started writing about my thoughts on turning 40 many friends came back to tell me that “40 is the new 30”. Problem is, I am not really sure how that one actually works.

Does it mean that when you turn 40 a whole decade just wipes out and we are magically 30 again? Or does it mean that nowadays, 40-somethings look just like 30-somethings?

The first theory is that the 20s actually blend in to the 30s and by the time we are 40 is like we are actually 30 again! Got it? I didn’t think so.

So, if 40 is the new 30, what happens to our 30s? Well, we would have to make them disappear! Yes, David Copperfield style.

Think about it. All the things you would erase from your life:

Some would skip getting married – and would still be single.
Many of us would miss our kids early years – but also the struggles of getting / being pregnant.
Others would skip painful divorce procedures – and would still be married to that same person. (ouch!)
Our CVs would be at least ½ a page shorter – many guys’ hair at least 5cm longer!

For those of us turning 40 these days we would also skip the entire presidency of George Bush, 9-11, the birth of Google, the Blackberry and eBay, and the introduction of the Euro.

Would erasing all these things from our lives make us 30? Really? No, I think it would make us a whole bunch of 40-somethings with 10 years of missed experiences, some good, some bad, but experiences that shape who we are after all.

So I vote for the second assumption. Most of my friends and I keep telling ourselves that we look and feel much better now than we did in our 20s (especially early 20s!) and we definitely don’t fit the image we had when we were kids of people in their 40s. Back then people in their 40s dressed and acted like … well, I guess people their age!

So I insist that being 40 is not the same as being “40 minus 10 = 30” but I should love being 40 because I know better than a 30 year old and still look as good.