Why we Gave up When we Turned 40

This is what we mean when we say turning 40 changes everything! It's why we gave up when we turned 40 and we're glad we did. Did you have these aha moments too?

We remember hearing in our 30's “40 is great, you'll see”, and we didn't get it, until our birthday rolled around. “They” were so right! We don't know what it is about that monumental 40th birthday but it is fabulous and this is why we're happy we gave up when we turned 40. Let us tell you what we mean by this. Special thanks goes out to Oil of Olay for sponsoring this post so we could share our “forty-wisdom” with you.

What Turning 40 Means to a Woman

40 was definitely a turning point for us! Everyone's life definitely comes with a list of stresses (some have more than others). Growing up as an only child with divorced parents and not much family to speak of, we have had to rely on myself and friends' love throughout our life.

Through the years you definitely crave simplicity, honesty, and narrow all those pennies down to a few who are “your quarters in life”. What matters comes to you like a lightbulb….well, at least it happened for us around this time.

What we gave up when we turned 40

• We gave up investing on friends who weren't our cheerleaders in life – You know the girlfriends who are always in competition with you, and instead of cheering on your successes they become envious and more distant…yeah, those.
  • We want to be successful in our life, who doesn't. We've decided that nothing or nobody, is going to distract us from our forward momentum and what makes us happy. We chose to give up on anyone who wasn't genuinely cheering us on.
  • Although that meant our core group of friends would diminish greatly we're so happy we gave up investing in those “friends. Instead focused on those who wanted the best for us.
• Stopped looking at the glass as half empty – Especially if you're a working mom there's always a time or two (or a lot more often than that) that you've looked at a friend who doesn't want for anything, doesn't need to work, and wish you could switch spots.

If we looked around there were always lots of things we wish we had in our life but when we hit 40 we realized the most important thing was our health and the health of our family. As long as we had that and did our best at keeping it that way, that is what mattered…the rest would figure itself out!

• Realized people would not change – We all know as grown adults that it won't work but don't tell us you haven't tried. Tried to change your spouse's annoying habits, tried to change your parents, or tried to change the inaccurate perception people have of you.
  • We gave up. We know we are a kind, thoughtful, hard working mom who only wants to make good contributions to the world around us and that is all that matters.
  • We all could improve (myself included) but when you realize you can only change yourself and focus on that, you find a bit more peace.
• Gave up on the idea of being the solid mom – Ok, not that we ever thought we could be solid, but we all have this illusion that we can work, teach, clean, cook, parent, exercise. That we can do it all simultaneously while staying sane.
  • When you look at a mom who's totally put together with a huge smile on her face you may think she has no problems. Though inside she might be crying inside for help but doesn't know how to ask for it. Who knows! All we know is we're all a hot mess and do the best we can, some hide it better than others our friends.
  • The years we was a single parent raising our daughter we thought we was doing it all wrong. Looking back we did the best we could and in the end she came out good.
• We gave up trying to “look solid” every day – That meant, away with wearing make up every day. We don't like it! Let's be honest. We want to be able to shower, moisturize our skin, brush a bit of powder on our face and GO! With three kids and working full time we don't have time for all that other stuff. We like the natural look anyway. With this change our skin actually looked better without all that gunk on! Who knew?

If you're looking for a simple solution in your busy life that is not only an anti-aging but moisturizing too, this is it.

• You saw the results after week one. Now after week two we are to expected to see our skin become firmer and improve it's elasticity too (so stay tuned).

40 is good. It changed our life. This age is all the things we heard others say it would be and more. We're truer to myself. We realized who the true cheerleaders in our life were and would do anything for them.

We're comfortable in our own skin (no makeup required thanks to some great products and added self confidence). If you haven't reached the big 4-0 you wait. If you're already there welcome to the club. It's the best right??!!

This is a sponsored conversation written by us on behalf of Olay. The opinions and text are all mine.