Being in your mid forties is not for the faint of heart.
By this age, the bubble has been popped, the lustre of naivety dulled and the blissful state of ignorance a faint memory.
By this age, you have experienced things you would never have wrapped your mind around before.
But you get to your mid forties and barely anything surprises you anymore.

You know the burden of death,
the adjustments you make every day to deal with the absence someone you loved has left in your daily.
You know the spontaneity and unforgiving brutality of sickness,
the way your world can flip upside down with one stupid return visit to the Doctor’s office.
You know the unkindness and persistence of aging,
especially when you become the primary caregiver of someone you can’t stop from fading away.
You know the betrayal of love,
and that “forever” love isn’t always forever.
You now the sting of real rejection,
realizing that human beings, while doing the best for themselves,
can mean the worst for ourselves.

In your forties, you bear firsthand witness to generational dysfunction.
We see our own dysfunctions cycle and reincarnate themselves in the generations that follow us, desperately hoping we can fix in them the things we couldn’t fix in ourselves.

When we were younger, unknowns and transitionary periods were dreamy, chalk full of potential and wild imagination,
In your mid-forties, unknowns are scary AF since the safety net of youth and time become thin and worn.

In my twenties, I knew what I was striving for, my goals were crystal clear.
In my mid-forties, that purpose feels foggier while that energy wanes.
And after all of this time has passed, these twenty some years;
I ask myself,
Can I still trust the world to be gentle and kind with me?
Can love still pour into and fill the places fear and loss has emptied out?

In your mid forties you know you have to hustle,
because we all know and occasionally visit the places we laid our childhood dreams to rest.

By this age we know that time is fleeting,
and there isn’t the same space for procrastination or apathy.

Being in your mid forties isn’t for the faint of heart,
Because it takes courage and resilience to find hope and new purpose for your next 40

These past couple of years have been tough.
But may we regroup, hold on to the ones that we love and brace ourselves as we create new beginnings from these endings.
May the next 40 be fruitful and kind.
Maybe the journey is messy and challenging, but may life be rewarding and full.
May the next 40 be full of everything the strong of heart fight for.
May we meet these next transitions with the same hope and tenacity we met these first forty years,
most importantly with,
and God willing still,
open and strong hearts. <3