This side of 40

Disclaimer:  If you are still under 40, you may not want to read this.  If you are 40 and over, you will probably just sympathize : )

There are things I wish people had warned me about before I started stumbling significantly past 40 years old.  It's not 40 that gets you, it's those years shortly after 40 that you start noticing things changing, at least it was for me.

At 40, I thought something like, "Well, this isn't so bad.  I basically look and feel better than I ever have."  Good-bye insecurity with my body, hello long-term running to continue to keep me in shape, hello confidence in my ability to be a mom, wife, and employee that I've never had before.  Overall, 40 felt great.  What was all the fuss about anyway?

But then, I noticed a wrinkle on my forehead!  I mean, really, I could live with more pronounced bags under my eyes and laugh lines.  Those were just signs of enjoying life, right?  But a really distinct line right across my forehead?  It just wasn't fair to go straight from still fighting teen acne in my early 40s to this!

Then, I swear to you, one day I just woke up and the skin on my arms looked OLD.  I don't mean that it hung more, it's just that the texture didn't look like my skin anymore.  This can't be right.  I'm still a mom to a teen and a not even preteen.  I can't have skin that looks like I most remember my Granny's skin looking, can I?

And then, I just started waking up with mysterious aches some mornings.  Sort of like what you get when you overdo it on exercise, but funny thing, it wasn't after days of too much exercise.  I mean, really, what is that all about?  But sure enough, talking to others 40+, I hear a similar theme.

I was the person who healed quickly.  When I had PRK (like Lasic) eye correction surgery in my early 30s, my eyes healed too quickly, said the eye doctor.  Anytime I was injured, from teen through my 30s, I healed more quickly than the doctor said I would.  But something weird started happening shortly after 40 on that front also.  I don't heal so quickly anymore!

Finally, I'm just tired more often.  That one actually has me a little worried.  I seriously want to nap often, which is totally unlike my typical go, go, go attitude.  I've always enjoyed a good night's rest, but my energy during the day just isn't what it used to be.  I even tried a diet recently that promised to help give me extra energy, but it didn't deliver on that promise.

I mean, seriously God, why do things have to start falling apart just as we women actually feel really comfortable in our skin?  And I'm one of the very lucky ones.  I know lots of people with chronic conditions that actually have the right to complain, while I don't.

I am grateful at this point that I've taken decent care of this body that's starting to wear out.  How much worse could it be if I hadn't?  I seriously don't want to know!