Beauty Tips

10 Women Get Real About Turning 40

Is it as bad as you think? Spoiler: It's so. much. better.

by Lindsay Tigar | COMMENT

PHOTO 3/11

"I was surprised life didn't end!" Educator, author and speaker Bria White turned 40 and took a look at her life, wondering, 'Is this all there is?' Recently divorced and a single mother of three, she was changing diapers and washing mounds of clothes. "I loved being a mother, but I was acutely aware that I had never lived alone. Other women were doing more things, like living on their own and waiting until 40 to have their first child. I dreamed of what my life would be like to not yet have children, to have lived on my own and to have a career before marriage," she said. "I wanted to be seen as a strong, beautiful, professional woman. I dreamed of becoming a best-selling author who traveled the world." As she made the shift from 39 to 40, she was pleasantly surprised that she hadn't ran out of time, but that more opportunities were awaiting in the decades to come. Her life, didn't, in fact, end at 40.

"I still wanted to grow, to learn, to change! I had more energy and clarity than I did in my 30s! I still felt, and perhaps looked, beautiful. I still had needs/wants/desires and I had the new found courage to pursue them. I saw endless possibilities for my future. Life was so far from being over! I felt reborn,'" she shared.

Image via Bria White

SEE NEXT PAGE: "I realized how much of my life I wasted trying to please other people."

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