Can You Ask A Flower Her Age?

  • Life has taught me that your forties represent a period of intellectual, mental and emotional completion, during which experiences mature and crystallize, and paths become clearer. We are more capable of facing challenges, attaining psychological security, and achieving both happiness and success.
  • As a forty-something, I am wiser, more sophisticated, rational and calm, not to mention more generous. I cling carefully and consciously to all the opportunities I have wasted in the past and am determined to fulfil my ambitions.
  • Who created that grim term of internment, the ‘Autumn’ of life? What audacity – to determine the ‘seasons’ of life and tell us our ‘Spring has passed.’ Why have women complied with this myth and allowed their petals to wilt?
  • It is a wise woman who accepts the challenges and changes of her forties, and comes to terms with the reality that life is shaped by one’s mindset and experience. We should view our years as a positive by recalling our emotions and experiences to achieve new successes and secure a life of joy and pleasure.
  • The physical and psychological changes women experience in their forties are immovable and undeniable, but they should not signal an end to ambition. Positive thinking is vital if we are to ultimately achieve our dreams and aspirations.
  • Some women greet their forties by abandoning erstwhile obsessions and establishing a new lifestyle, embodied in a goal, project or even a new pastime they have always been too busy to adopt. It is the pursuit of the objective, rather than the goal itself, that is important.
  • Enjoyment after forty nevertheless requires that we remain steadfast in the face of the pitfalls of ‘midlife crisis’ and avoid the dangers associated with our changing psychological identity and self-confidence.
  • Let us plant roses within us every day of our lives, for they should not be measured in days or years; rather, they should be judged by their purpose, feelings, intentions and deeds. Let us all learn, then, how to be reborn at forty – for ourselves first and then for those we love.

Dedicated to my mother, a flower who refuses to wilt with age.