Life Begins at 40?

I remember reading a book in my 30s (this would be during the 1980s) that was written during the 1930s and it was called "Life Begins at 40".

The point of view was sort of like this: "Yes. Your life can begin at 40 if your finances are in order and your family and your health is in order."

But, if you don't have all your ducks in a row you are kind of screwed.

That was the point of view of this book then.

However, then you have to look at how long people lived back then. For example, when Social Security first started the average person did NOT live until 60 or 65 back then in the 1930s. So, giving people a retirement at 62 or 65 was sort of cruel for most people because they just didn't live that long.

Their mental and emotional and physical states were generally terrible. In fact, when I grew up in the 1950s most people had lost most or all of their teeth by 40 to 45 because they ate too much sugar and meat which always makes your teeth fall out if you are a real meat eater along with too much white sugar. The Native Americans in Alaska found this out the hard way when white sugar was introduced into their all meat and fish diets way back when too.

In the 1950s I watched Building Contractor after building contractor die usually from heart attacks or strokes in their late 30s to late 50s too.

So, as you can see the education and self discipline regarding diet and exercise has changed a lot here in the U.S. since then.

Also, things like Wikipedia and other online resources to self diagnose illnesses were not there either. So, many people died just from medical ignorance in the 1930s to 1950s too.

Also, people tended to think of medical doctors sort of as God then. (Which really wasn't always in their best interests either. Much better people learn enough about health and preventative medicine to not get ill in the first place in regard to mental and physical health and diet and exercise.

So, now, in the same way "Life begins at 40" in the 1930s, I would say that Life can also begin as late as 70 now because if you make it to 30 likely you will also see 90 or more.

Life Begins at 40?

Life Begins at 40? Around 10 to 20 years ago I found a book by the same title. I believe it was written between 1925 and 1935. It also has the biases and the zeitgeist of that generation. It basically says: If you have your financial, family, health and religion together by 40 then life can really begin at 40 for you. I suppose this is true but I believe there is a lot more to it than that.

I think the one ingredient one needs for life to begin at 40 is "attitude". In other words one must think for themself and have stopped giving up their free will to others directly or indirectly. For me, the best way to do this is either to be self employed by 40 or to at least own a part-time business that one does on the side if your main job fails or if your corporation has major layoffs or something like that.

Physical health, is important, though and I find if I don't walk at least every other day quite a ways now at almost 60, I find my muscles want to seize up on me. I also find that if I'm ill with a cold or flu in the winter I continue my workouts on an exercycle so I keep my stamina up and don't have to wait 2 to 3 months to get back in physical shape. Also, diet is more important after 40, so going to Whole Foods and eating things like organic Milk or no milk and carrot juice or whatever organic stuff you like is a good idea. (However, there are people who have lived to over 100 who only ate things like milk toast and nothing else) go figure?

For me, the most important thing for my own longevity is knowing how to die each night. For me, sleep is like death and I treat it that way. I accept that I'm dying to this world each night and being reborn in my dreams in another and then being reborn again in the morning therefore living the saying, "Hope springs eternal if we die daily".

The lyrics "and you can survive to a hundred and five if you're young at heart" I try to live by laughing a lot and being kind and as fun loving as I can be to those around me that day. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't but I always try to be kind and fun loving and to always be able to laugh at myself.

I was a very serious child and in some ways I still am a very serious adult. When I realized that to become enlightened one needed to not only be able to laugh at oneself but also to find a way to laugh at ones existence itself I found this very hard. However, when God came to me and said, "There are only two sins in the universe: "Taking life too seriously and not taking it seriously enough" I began to understand God's design of the universe and this permanently changed me into someone who could laugh at his own existence under the right circumstances.

My wife has two bachelor's degrees and an MBA and one of the reasons our relationship works with her brain on all the time is that at a certain point I just start laughing. When we first got together this would make her hysterical until she realized I was just being grounded with both feet on the ground and she was just being too intellectual for either of us to survive. Our relationship is great now. Since our skillsets are complimentary we seem to be able to solve any problem together and the things she is afraid of I laugh at and the things I'm afraid of she laughs at and that's just fine with me!