Six Shitty Myths People Said Would Happen Over 40 and Never Did

I’m annoyed by the crappy comments people make about being over 40

This is a very personalised post because I’m shitty with many people negatively dismissing the glorious 40's.

Some people might think this is a time our brains start to wither away — but I’m only getting started here! I hope you are as well!

I am at the ripe old age of 43, six months shy of 44 — which doesn’t bother me in the least.

Why should I worry when I keep my health and nutritional habits are in peak condition. No one will tell me I’m old (apart from my teenager).

You are as old and under the carpet, as you want to be my friends.

We need to dispel some of the shitty myths flying around.

It’s hurting our potential — we are like a fine wine maturing.

Most of these disempowering comments come out of the mouths of 40 something-year-olds.

Perhaps they assume I’m in my 30’s and don’t apply to me right now.

All the better, I say, because I ignored the 30s myths back then and will continue to do so well beyond 40–50 and ’60s.

Here are some of the things people told me would happen in my 40’s and have yet to surface (and they never will as long as I can help it!)

One: You start to forget things often

Come on. I mean, we all forget things once in a while.

If you aren’t focusing on what someone is saying, or perhaps on what you should be listening to, of course, you will forget.

My teenager forgets where she leaves stuff all the time. She doesn’t even remember my birthday!

I remember a lot more than a teenager, to be honest.

I sometimes think part of my brain holds the capacity to remember what everyone needs to do.

I also need to think for most of the people I work with too.

Sometimes my brain feels fried up!

I guess this is part and parcel of being a woman and mother. We end up looking after our workplace too.

But honestly, if you don’t remember something, it’s not necessarily your brain ageing; it’s just you not giving rats bottom what the other person is saying.

Two: You get fat without a reason

Funny how this seemed to follow me into my 30s. It appears to have travelled upwards of ten years.

Let me be completely honest with love — from a personal trainers perspective here.

You get fat because of the following:

• You are eating more than you burn
• You are eating more than you should
• You are overeating during meal times
• You are snacking too much

See how I use the term “you” a lot?

Well, because that’s the truth.

You are in charge of what you put in your mouth.

But, unfortunately, your age bracket isn’t!

Sure, you might not be able to eat as much as you did in your 20’s, but I guarantee that you are probably less active now.

Muscle withers away if you don’t use it or build upon it.

Mucle increases our metabolism somewhat.

Good old fashioned weight loss consists of eating the right things in the proper quantity and doing exercise.

Maybe genetics plays a small part, but it’s your food choices, people.

So stop using age as an excuse by giving something else responsiblity for your own decisions.

Three: You don’t have energy like you used to

The main reason we don’t have as much energy as we did in our 20’s is more than likely due to the following.

• Our careers become a lot more demanding and time-consuming
• We are experiencing even more stress as we get older due to more responsibilities
• We have kids later in life, and to be honest, it’s beyond exhausting
• We are exercising too much despite the stress we’re under
• We don’t sleep enough
• We may eat more convenience foods than before
• We try to cram too much into a day, and it wears us out

Back at my old job, a 26-year-old would always groan about how tired she was.

She didn’t have a family to be responsible for but, she just didn’t drink enough water, exercise one bit or eat well. Do you think maybe that had something to do with it?

We can change our lives by deciding to eliminate energy-zapping things right now — no matter our age.

Please don’t use your age as an excuse for being too tired.

Everyone is tired, but perhaps we can’t get away hammering our bodies as we did in the past.

We have to be kinder, and maybe it’s payback for all the abuse we put our stomachs and guts through the years.

Change your lifestyle habits and watch how your energy goes through the roof!

Four: You find it harder to understand technology

This one makes me laugh all the time.

No, technology is not complex; we just can’t be bothered.

Why can’t people admit they can’t be bothered with Teams and prefer a phone call or face to face meeting?

It’s not that difficult to say so.

And as for techno-jargon, my workplace is filled with techno-geeks of all ages.

If you love it, then you embrace it during your lifetime.

My job is computer-based, and I’ve grown up with Adobe.

It took me a couple of hours to master PowerPoint.

I love learning new programs. Once you master something complex, you can quickly become literate in others.

If you are worried, do your research, play around with an app or do a course. It’s not that hard to learn technology; you have to WANT TO!

Five: Learning something new is more challenging

If we aren’t interested in a particular subject, we will not learn it quickly.

It will be hard, procrastination will manifest, and as those exams come around, the mark will more than likely be a failure.

I have a question for you — if you don’t want to learn this thing, why are you doing it?

Is it part of your job?

If so, can you find something that may be beneficial to you due to this course?

Perhaps get more money, a better job or acquire some unique skills.

I’m going to start a course on Cyber Security. It will be challenging and technical, but I’m up for it as my 2022 challenge.

I’m not dismissing my level of intelligence because I don’t have a bachelors degree.

I have a bachelors degree in life! We all do in some way. Use it to your advantage.

So, it’s not your inability to learn; you aren’t interested in the “thing” you’re trying to understand!

Six: It only gets worse from here on end

Age gets better or worse depending on your mental attitude.

I think my next 20 and above years are going to be marvellous.

So I’m all for learning and expanding my mind and career in many ways.

Some people count down to retirement -not me!

I’m going to work well and above my 60’s.

I’ve already planned it in my mind that I’m going to keep chipping away at life, being the best version of myself at every stage.

Why are we so focused on how wrong something may be?

Instead, take life into your own hands, fix your health, build some muscle and laugh a lot.

See how much your outlook will change.

Yes, you might have to slow down a bit, but your mind doesn’t have to.

So, I see age as a beautiful progression towards the final stages of life.

I embrace it and want to live it with a better mind, healthy, disease-free body and still at the gym, pumping away with the iron.

I’m no gardener who starts holding my back in pain.

I have the metal bar in my hands, dam it!

What do you want your older life to be?

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