I can’t quite believe I’m saying this, but this is the last week of my thirties…! Next Monday, I will have been alive for 14610 days (or thereabouts) and although there’s a part of me that would prefer to let this pass like any other day, I find myself here, writing to you! I remember being a little girl and thinking that anyone over the age of 20 was practically a fossil, so it’s no surprise that my 13 year old son made this comment the other day:
Mom. You’re nearly forty. You’ve had your time.
Now, I know he didn’t mean it to sound as harsh as it came out - he was trying to comfort my insecurities about how I looked in a photo - but it really got to me. For the following few days, his words tapped away relentlessly through my mind, like a persistent woodpecker (and everyone knows I hate birds!) Was this really it? Is my life over now? Should I even bother getting out of bed ever again??
Just to say, turning forty hasn’t come to me as a shock. The signs have been creeping up over the last few years, both physically and mentally - the weight gain; those pesky silvers slithering through my ponytail; the creakiness and crankiness that my lovely family have the joy of enduring… I mean, it’s been coming. But I don’t think I’m ready to accept that my time is over - not just yet. After all, Vera Wang didn’t start her career as a fashion designer until she was 40.
So, after the initial, mortifying realisation that no, I may not be the confident, outgoing, slim-even-though-I’ve-had-two-dinners, popular young woman that I once was (although I’m not sure I ever really was her, but that’s for another blog post), I recognised that I still have a lot of life left in me and I still have value. I decided that I wanted to make a list of forty things to achieve in my 40th year on this Earth - things I’ve always wanted to do, or been too scared to do. Things like starting a blog (oooh look, there’s one ticked off!), setting up a podcast and finishing my almost-written young adult fiction novels I’ve been sitting on for almost two years.
Three down (well, not down, just on the list), thirty-seven to go.
And this is where you come in.
I need your help to create my list of 40 things and I’m asking for suggestions that are a bit different from the usual ‘bucket list’ ideas. I want to be challenged but feel a sense of achievement at the same time, and if I can help other people while doing my 40 things, then that’s even better. My plan is to choose ideas that are interesting and feasible, then share the experiences with you here… so please, have a little think for me and let me know your recommendations!! Comment below or email themixededition@gmail.com.
Danielle xx
Me, during my 'time'
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