Life Begins at 40 (Birthday)

What do people go through once they hit the big four-zero? What goes on in their minds? What about their lifestyle, does it change? Their relationships, their worries, problems and secrets. Life begins at forty. This is the revolutionary outcome of our New Era. Today it is half a truth. Tomorrow it will be an axiom

In the coming 2 days from now, I will be celebrating my 40th birthday here in Kabul Afghanistan with much hope and wish that I will be safe. They say that by the time you are forty years old, you have enough experience and skill to do what you want to do with your life. (Often said as an encouragement to those reaching middle age. also, by that time we had enough financial security to enjoy our-self now and then, rather than having to work all the time.

If you are running thirty nine, it means that your count down has begun for turning into forty; you need not unduly worry about your aging and you are getting into in your forties. There is an English proverb ‘Life begins at forty. How true it is! In fact it is a prophecy. There’s something about turning forty that brings out the philosopher in us all. “You’re only as old as the person you feel”

The liberation of the big 4-0 has enabled me to look at myself and my own needs from not so much a selfish point of view but an assured and settled one. This in itself is quite magical from an ‘inner sanctum’ point of view as it offers us, for perhaps the first time in our adult lives, freedom from the weight of others’ judgement that we have perhaps unknowingly carried around with us since our childhood. Suddenly, in our forties we acquire the liberating understanding that no-one’s judgement really matters except our own. That, instead of feeling responsible for other people’s happiness, we can simply choose to embrace the understanding that we can’t change the world after all and that, instead of watching our life go by through the expectant eyes of others, we can actually start living it on our own terms.

So, to all of you about to turn forty I say this: be prepared for the unexpected - you! Enjoy your fortieth birthday and the years to come with all their magic, miracles and above all the understanding that life really has just begun. Happy Birthday to me on March 10.