40 something.... and Loving It!

“Life begins at 40”….I've heard it a hundred times. Sounds trite, but I must say it’s true. It’s so different when I was younger.Oh well, I  just turned 42 a couple of months ago and…I feel as though my life has just begun. Why? Because the best things in my life were realized when I reached this age.

•  I have greater understanding of who I am, my strengths, weaknesses, gifts and talents. Gone are the days when I would mimic my favorite local artist, none other than (Philippine's) "concert queen". I used to imitate the way she'd act, talk, sing even the way she'd dress up. My high school friends would even call me by her name, and take note-not my name. I kind of lost my own unique identity … Now that I have aged; I am satisfied with the way I look and with what I have. I've learned to be contented with my life even though I am not beautiful, rich and famous, I  have totally accepted myself and totally confident of who I am.

• I have significant learning experiences that have taught me valuable lessons. I made real bad choices in the past. I used to grumble a lot, easily annoyed, I rebelled against a lot of things and I can say, I messed up my life. I have hurt a lot of people, including my loved ones and now that I have a family of my own, I realized my past mistakes and I have learned some  lessons the hard way. I was able to ask for forgiveness from God and from the people I’ve hurt. I believe I’m forgiven now but it took a while before I could even forgive myself. Thankful still that my experiences and mistakes brought me back to my faith in God. Now, by God’s grace I feel free!

•  I’ve learned a new perspective, that being 40+ is not at all boring. I have learned to have fun and acquire new skills every so often. I have become more disciplined, I learned to love my body and take care of it, eat the right kinds of food…yes, you see I have been an overweight teenager,weighing 145 pounds (with medium frame and 5 feet , four inches in height) and won over it and now  after more than two decades, I am still able to maintain my ideal weight. 

• I have developed a better disposition in life- I believe I'm calmer now, forgiving and more contented than ever before.I always meditate on the goodness of God and  His wonderful creation. I am  definitely having  fun with my family …Oh,  I love them so much!  Having a loving husband and five beautiful children (three of them are now teenagers), I'm able to be myself and enjoy them and oh, actually enjoying my friends and the people around me in general.

•  I used to work really hard in the corporate world but have decided to work at home in the last couple of years to take care of what matter most in life: faith, myself.and family- I always have these three in this order and everything else follows. Right now, I am happy  being a freelance corporate trainer, writer and a counselor, that's right, a counselor and I feel I have a lot to share with my counselees because I've gone through so many ups and downs, the ugly and the beauty of life.

I could say, I am still a student of life. I know that I have still a lot to learn and God is not finished with me yet. I am still a work in progress. He is still molding me to be the person that He wants me to be. Doesn’t matter to me whether I am 14, 24, 34 or 42…all I know is that this is a great age to be. Yes I'm 40 something… and I’m  loving it!