Is it possible to get all that you want in life? Is it possible to get the body of your dreams?

I’m going to answer these questions and yes there is a part of it that relates to you getting the healthy body you’ve always dreamed of.

I recently bought a program I never (EVER) thought I’d buy in my life. The first time I heard about this program, I dismissed it as being fluff.

I’ve been on the path to personal growth for many years now and I’ve read so many books it’s almost insane.

I’ve made some progress in certain areas of my life (and I’m pretty proud of myself for that), but I still didn’t feel that I was achieving all of my life goals.

It’s not at all that I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to get to where I want to get in life, it’s more the fact that self-doubt, fear, worry and self-defeating talk can sometimes keep me stuck in a bad place.

I’ve read so many books, listened to countless self-development CDs and travelled several kilometres to personal growth conferences or weekend seminars that I could barely afford and I still felt like I was banging my head against the wall.

Yup, with all these efforts and all this money wasted, I still felt really stuck!

Get six free life visualization movies and visualize your perfect body weight!

I’ve known that visualization has been the way so many top performers get to where they need to get in life, but my attempt at visualization have been quite laughable.

I’ve bought binders and spent hours cutting out photos from magazines and I’ve taken the time to look all my dream photos (in the morning and before going to bed) but I still wasn’t getting to where I wanted to get in life.

At some point I got so frustrated with my lack of success in certain areas of my life that I decided to pull out some of the photos from what I used to call “my dream book” and I stuck them on my wall so I could see them ALL THE TIME. I quickly realized that unless I wanted my home to look like a big magazine, I couldn’t possibly keep posting magazine photos on my walls.

Get six free life visualization movies and visualize your perfect body weight!

At some point I thought of going out and buying huge painter’s canvases to post my photos but the logistics of getting those giant canvases home and the cost associated to buying them and then I’d needed to figure out a way to get them home made me quickly realize how off the mark I truly was.

As I was getting really discouraged, I got an email for that program I first thought was pure fluff and OH MY GOD was I ever wrong.

This system has allowed me to put all of the different aspects of my life where I’m looking for success and growth onto a sort of film track that I watch every single day.

I’ve also incorporated some affirmation sentences and I cannot tell you how much of a difference this has made on my way of seeing my life and for the first time in a long time, I have hope.

>>>> See your perfect body, get your perfect body!

When it comes to getting into better shape, losing weight, having a better relationship with your body or being happier … you really have to be clear about what you want and you have to be able to see the end results.

If you are like me and you’ve been running around in circles, I recommend you check out this program.

Get six free life visualization movies and visualize your perfect body weight!

Now it’s true that in my case I was dealing with success issues, but you can easily use this system to “talk yourself” into a better body.

Trust me, there is not one aspect of your life that you cannot ameliorate when you use daily visualization!

You can now get six free life visualization movies to help you reach the following life goals:

> Life visualization movies #1: Increase your health and lose excess weight.

> Life visualization movies #2: Increase your financial wellbeing and attract money into your life.

> Life visualization movies #3: Increase your spiritual fulfillment and become a more appreciative, humble and gracious person.

> Life visualization movies #4: Build strong enviable relationships with your family and loved ones.

> Life visualization movies #5: Find the man of your dreams.

> Life visualization movies #6: Find the women of your dreams.

Listen, don’t do what I did. I knew of this program one year ago, but I dismissed it because I was influenced by other people who were saying it’s a waste of time.

Trust me … you won’t waste your time with this visualization system because it will help you get to where you are finally happy with your body (and you’ll be happier with your life) and you’ll be able to more easily reach your weight goal because you’ll have a VERY CLEAR focus to “why” you really want to drop the weight and how your life (and body) will look like when you do!

The program is only $39 (the list of videos I talk about above are free, but you’ll need to pay to be able to create your own dreams) and I can assure you that it’s the best $39 I’ve spent.

Oh, before I forget, there are a lot of great extra bonuses to help you along the way. The support is really incredible.

>>>> Here’s the link: Get six free life visualization movies and visualize your perfect body weight!

Photo by milena mihaylova

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I’m not even going to go into Whitney’s crazy marriage with Bobby Brown or any of those times she made news because her strange behavior from the past!

When I was a teenager, I have to say that I never took to Whitney until the 1992 sound track to The Bodyguard. That song “I Will Always Love You” written by Dolly Parton was the song that really made me appreciate Whitney’s talent.

I always find it so heartbreaking to see people with so much talent have so many issues in life. I mean Whitney is the world’s “best-selling music artist) with over 170 million albums sold and yet, she’s had a very complicated, tumultuous and plain screwed last few years!

When she announced her divorced, I yelled Hallelujah and when Clive Davis from Arista Records declared in March 2007 that Whitney would be putting out a comeback album, I said “thank God”. Now with her second album (I Look to You was released on August 31, 2009) behind her, Whitney seems to be back on track to rebuilding a healthier life for herself.

When I found out that Whitney would be sitting down with Queen Oprah on September 14^th , 2009, I know this was huge since I doubt the Queen would have invited Whitney on her show during the “confusion years”.

I can tell you that I was sitting in front of my telly to catch as many nuggets of information on Whitney’s comeback. I wasn’t doing this to mock or make fun or her, but because Whitney, like so many of us, had to rebuild her life. She got a divorce in her 40s (she’s now 46, born August 9^th, 1963) and now she’s had to take one day at a time to get to a better place in her life and I wanted to use what she had to say as a lesson for a lot of women who might be in a place in their lives where they are making a big changes in their lives.

>>> Whitney Houston looked incredible!

Whitney looked flawless. She has been aging so well despite all the ups and downs of the past two decades.

The hour was a great comeback with Whitney Houston. She’s had a rocky life and like many other women, she’d had to pick herself up and start from scratch.

I won’t bore with the obvious since Whitney’s interview was what you would expect.

Oprah asked her about her beginnings as a singer, Clive Davis, the derailment with Bobby Brown, her rocky marriage, her daughter Bobby Christina, Whitney’s mother’s countless intervention attempts, the “crap is whack” interview, her drug use (cocaine and Marijuana) and her new outlook on life.

Oprah talked about a reporter (I didn’t catch the name) who compared Whitney’s voice as gift that she didn’t know how to treasure.

I was all over that sentence because I’ve been saying that for years. She had/has a voice that is so intense and in my view she had lost it all to her disturbed life with Bobby Brown.

Another thing that was a surprise was when Whitney said that the worst thing that happened in her marriage was when Bobby Brown spat in her face – WOW! Whitney had to live with this??? Thank God, she’s divorced now!!!

>>> If you missed the show, here a sneak peak: Whitney Houston on Oprah’s 24^th Season Premier

Here’s a cool video of Whitney in London promoting her new album “I Look to You”

Top Photo from Oprah’s Web site

You can imagine that I was less than impress with the comment and deleted it.

That said, it’s interesting to see how people are reacting to this middle aged woman who is now (FINALLY) focusing a bit more attention to the way she looks.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to Susan Boyle: 1) those who feel that talent should come in any “packaging” and 2) those who think that her talent would be showcased even better with a bit of a refreshed look.

From the photos that have been surfacing on the internet, it’s clear that Susan Boyle is not going for a dramatic transformation (thank God) and she’s opted for a really inexpensive, but well deserved makeover.

The simple fact that she did something with her hair and got her eyebrows under control have made a world of difference to her face.

She’s sporting a new wardrobe that might not have cost a lot, but it looks light-years ahead of what she wore on the night the whole world discovered her hidden talent.

It’s incredible, but it’s not her talent that is the focus of all the news report I’ve seen, but rather the fact that she doesn’t “look” like a star. Some commentators have even gone as far as saying that since she’s eyeing the career of a professional Opera singer, her looks don’t matter since most Opera singers aren’t very attractive and they aren’t selling “sexy” the same way The Pussy Cat Dolls are.

A recent headline on the Daily Mail’s web site suggest that Susan Boyle is the voice of the invisible woman – unfashionable, middle-aged, not very attractive, out of shape, loveless and lonely.

I found that statement a bit sad really, but then I also remember some of the comments that my readers left on the site when I had my February 2009 contest for the launch of my new book … a few readers did write that they were at an age where they felt invisible. It always saddens me when women view themselves that way.

You can read the comments here: You’re NOT getting any younger! Do you feel old with each passing birthday?

Last night while coming back from the gym, it hit me between the eyes:

Susan Boyle is only 47 and Madonna is 50 (going of 51) and the difference between the two is like night and day because Madonna looks 20 years younger than Susan Boyle. Would you call Madonna, Iman, Renee Russo, Christie Brinkley or Helen Mirren middle age??? I wouldn’t and these ladies on this list are older than Susan Boyle!!!

Regardless if she wins or she doesn’t win this ‘Britain Got Talent’ competition, Susan Boyle is a reminder that we rarely see “ordinary women” of a certain age with talent on the telly. Everyone dismissed her based on the way she looked and maybe to a certain extent … she might have done the same throughout her life and that’s way it took this competition and her reaching almost 48 years on this planet to finally shine!

Will all of this change Susan Boyle? I think it already has because from her recent mini-makeover it’s clear that she no longer wants to remain invisible being an unfashionable and unattractive look. You can also see from the recent photos that the expression on her face is a bit different because she looks more confident.

Stay tuned because there will surely be a lot more of Susan Boyle to cover.

Here are the recent articles about Susan Boyle’s makeover in the news:

1) The invisible women: Unfashionable, middle-aged women are ignored – but Susan Boyle has given them a voice

2) Susan Boyle’s Wearing Burberry Now

3) Yes, Looks Do Matter

4) Hairy angel no more: Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle gets a £100 makeover

Here’s my post which generated some heavy emotions on the part of a few readers:

Susan Boyle (Britain’s Got Talent) Makeover

Photo by deletem3

The 47-year-old unemployed women from West Lothian (Scotland) has become an overnight sensation and her life is soon to be an open book to the world (I hope she’s ready for the bumpy ride).

I think the reason why some many people (100 million downloads on You Tube and counting) are so fascinated by Susan Boyle is because she doesn’t “look” like your typical songstress. She’s like the underdog that everyone dismissed and now she’s come on top in her late 40s!!!

That said, if she is to win the competition on “Britain’s Got Talent” 2009 she’s going to have to step up her fashion and beauty game or else she’ll be fed to the (media and blogging community) wolves.

I have no doubt that Simon Cowell must have a few stylists ready and waiting to transform Miss Boyle into a new woman … a bit like the well-documented transformation of Sharon Osbourne (Ozzie Osbourne’s better half and a judge on the American version of “American’s Got Talent”).

In anticipation of this eventful day, I thought I take a stab at transforming Susan Boyle.

I’ve decided to give her two types of transformations: 1) a simple one that you would expect to see on those before and after shows with gifted stylists 2) one that would not as dramatic as “Extreme Makeover”, but there would be visits to cosmetic doctors.

Some readers might not agree with this post and may feel (like Rosie O’Donnell) that we should all leave her looking the way she looks now, but I disagree … Susan Boyle has a chance to look like a better version of herself … so why shouldn’t she???

Susan Boyle, you NEED to wear a bra!

Before I go into any type of makeup over tips for Susan Boyle, may I boldly say that no woman her age should be prancing around without a bra! That’s a crime against fashion and young children should not be subject by this kind of exposure. Not to mention that her not wearing a bra is not doing anything to fight gravity.

Here’s a photo of her that I found on TMZ showing her bra-less: Susan Boyle with no bra

>>>Simple Makeover<<<

This is more like a makeover you might see on “What Not to Wear” or “Style by Jury”.

1) Wardrobe: We need to burn that entire wardrobe and start fresh. Yes, she’s 47, but she’s dressing like she was 97. She’s still young and if she were to work with one of Britain’s top stylists, I’m 100 per cent certain Susan Boyle would look quite stylish. Someone also needs to introduce this woman to colour. Those beige shades she is wearing are doing NOTHING AT ALL for her.  She’s been seen recently in London wearing more stylish clothes, but there is still A LOT of room for improvement.

Here’s the photo here: And you said you wouldn’t change, Susan Boyle! Britain’s Got Talent star shows off her new look

2) Jewellery: Susan Boyle needs accessories that are more modern and more stylish. Now, I’m not saying that fakes cannot look great … trust me, I’ve got my share of fake jewellery and trust me they look as good as my real jewellery (aka jewellery with precious stones and precious metal). The thing with Susan Boyle is that her fakes look a bit dated … again a bit of colour would go a long way to enhance her complexion.

3) Shoes: When I watched the videos and saw her walk onto the stage, I gasped when I saw her shoes. I can understand if she were a 90-year-old grandmother (and even 90-year-old grandmothers are kicking it up a notch when it comes to fashion these days), I might be more accepting, but Susan Boyle has no reason for wearing such matronly shoes.  She lives in Europe and has access to some of the BEST shoe designers on the planet. She doesn’t have to learn to walk in 6 inch heels (a la Gwyneth Paltrow), but she can wear stylist flats or kitten heels that are still comfortable.

4) Facial/Manicure/Pedicure: YES TO ALL OF THOSE! A day at the spa will do a lot of good for Susan Boyle.

5) Eyebrows: They are so unruly that I needed a separate section for this. At the spa (which I recommend earlier), I’m 100 per cent certain that someone will advise her on proper eyebrow grooming. There is no doubt that Susan will be in a lot of pain because I don’t think she’s ever waxed or tweezed those eyebrows!

6) Hair: She needs an updated cut, she should get her hair coloured (and it doesn’t have to be permanent hair colour) and she needs to learn to use styling products. She might also need to buy a flat iron because I have a feeling she might be using old fashion rollers, but given her short hair and her lack of knowledge her hairstyle looks dated and ages her by 20 years.

7) Makeup: Susan Boyle should wear a foundation that can help even out her skin. She has a lot of redness and it’s dominating her face. She should also use a bit of eye colour and mascara to open her eyes. She seems that have quite thin lips and yes she could get fillers to plump up her lips (but it doesn’t work for everyone), but if she applies a bit of colour on her lips, then they will stand out more and will give her face a bit more definition.

>>>Cosmetic Rejuvenation Makeover<<<

I have watched Extreme Makeover a few times and every time it’s always been a shock to me how people can endure so much pain to look like a complete stranger. I will be far kinder to Susan Boyle and will not transform her in a way her own parents could not recognize, but I will follow the rules of Style by Jury where there is some cosmetic rejuvenation to enhance what she already has instead of transforming her into a person who doesn’t remotely look like her.

1) Cosmetic dentistry: From photos I’ve seen, Susan Boyle seems to have good teeth. I’d say a visit to a cosmetic dentist for some professional whitening should do the trick. Of course, while she’s there the dentist will make sure that her teeth and gums are healthy. Given that she’s approaching her 50s, if Susan Boyle had not taken care of her smile, there might be a lot more work involved. Gum disease is a concern for Baby Boomers and issues with your gum can permeate to other aspects of your health.

2) Cosmetic rejuvenation: From the colour of her skin, I suspect that Susan Boyle suffers from either rosacea or sun exposure or both. A cosmetic doctor would be able to even out her skin with lasers or peels. It is possible that some doctors might want to add volume and contouring to her face with some filler injections, but I think that as a singer no one should approach her face with Botox or else the emotion on her face will be lost and that’s just wrong if you are a singer. Injectable fillers are a better way to go for Susan Boyle. Given the severity of the redness on her face, I suspect that she’ll need a number of corrective treatments before starting a series of maintenance treatments.

3) Nutrition/fitness regime: I don’t think I’d expect Susan Boyle to transform her body à la Madonna, but I do believe that working with a personal trainer will help her body sustain the pressure of being on stage and possibly touring the world. She would also look a lot more toned in her clothes. I’m not talking about her losing 50 lbs, but if she does exercise she’ll replace the fat with muscle and her body will look completely different.

Given her age, I think Susan Boyle would find it beneficial to work with a nutritionist … because as she approaches menopause, her body will require certain essential foods, vitamins and antioxidants.

I would not subject Susan Boyle to liposuction or anything dramatic like that. I have noticed that she has a prominent double chin, but that’s something that can EASILY be fixed if she works with personal trainer and starts shedding a few pounds.

denise_robson_fastest_woman_canada

I’ve not had a 360º after 40 feature in a very long while and when I read this feature of  Canadian runner Denise Robson who made it to the Boston Marathon on her first try (it takes years to train for this) and who has been breaking running records after running records, I just had to talk about this 40-year-old mother of three girls from Eastern Canada.

For U.S. and international readers, I should place Nova Scotia on the Canadian map. Nova Scotia is near the Atlantic Ocean and it’s so low on the map that its southern point is actually very close to state of Maine.

You can find out more about this Canadian province here: Nova Scotia.

So back to Denise Robson! The single mother (she’s now divorced) had been a runner during university, but she gave up running for almost one-decade-and-one-half (14 years to be exact) to devote time to raising her babies and being a wife.

She got back into running because five years ago a co-worker invited her to a lunch-hour run and she’s not stopped running ever since. A mere five months after Denise started her lunch hour run, she entered her first marathon and she first that race and was crowned the fastest woman with a time of three hours and 13 minutes. This stellar performance automatically qualified her for the Boston Marathon.

She’s been jumping from one great achievement to another and she keeps breaking records.

In December 2008, Denise ran the California International Marathon in Sacramento in 2 hours 41 minutes and 12 seconds. She beat a 17-year-old record and her personal best time by more than three minutes!

Denise seems not be unable to stop breaking records and she cannot bring herself to stop running. She keeps in shape for her races by running/training whenever and wherever she can — she runs on her lunch breaks and she even runs from her office to her home after she’s done with her work day!

Her current goal is to finish a race with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes and she’s determined to break that time in 2009!

This is a truly incredible story because so many people think that they are too old to accomplish certain milestones that had set for themselves in their 20s or 30s and Denise is proof that you are never too old to go after your dreams.

I really like how she closed the interview:

“I’m living a dream at 40 that I should have been living at 20.

I missed that opportunity at 20, so now I’m going to run with it as far as I can”!

So which goals have you not accomplished in your 20s or 30s that you would like to accomplish in her life this year?

Photo by by Thomas Hawk

love_after_35_love_after_40

Ladies, why is dating again after a break-up so much harder as we age?

No one deals with heartbreaks the same way. Breaking up with someone you love is simply emotionally cruel and divorce in my opinion is synonymous with a word that rhymes with witch!

Some women get back on the saddle as fast as possible and they start on a road of endless serial dating in order to feel like they are never alone, but yet never allowing themselves to get close enough to anything else so they don’t have to go through all that pain and heartache ever again.

Some women get trapped in the uncertainty of a new relationship and having to get to know someone all over again (you know what I mean … knowing what he likes or dislikes, knowing his habits, knowing what he hates and loves, knowing his family history and drama … etc).

Once you’ve gone through the exercise a few times and if you’re not able to meet someone who is compatible with you or that completes you (yup, that line is straight out of Tom Cruise’s character mouth Jerry McGuire from the movie with the same name), you may be less and less inclined in making the effort to date again and you may start feeling quite comfortable in your new found singleton-state.

If you don’t want to date, then I think that’s perfectly legit and you have all the rights of wanting to spend the rest of your life alone, but if you are being held back by the fear of the unknown and not by the lack of interests in sharing your life with a man again, I think it’s important for you to really evaluate the question and if you do want to date again, but if it’s fear that’s holding you back, you need to “feel the fear and do it anyways”.

Dating in this new world is not easy at all and breaking up is becoming more faceless everyday with people breaking up on post it notes (yup, that’s from Sex and the City), via email or text message or worst via a mySpace or Facebook pages.

I don’t know any women who wants to put herself out there and risk getting hurt, but at the same time, if you don’t put yourself out there … how are you supposed to find the right guy?

I think that when it comes to dating over 35, women have to have a good understanding of a few key things in their lives. The following list in my own personal list of things women over 35 should keep in mind when seeking love in order to avoid mistakes they’ve made in their teens and 20s and to increase your chances of meeting a guy that really will treat you with kindness, respect and love.

My list of 7 tips to finding love after 35:

1) Make sure you know yourself: By the time we hit our mid-30s we should have a good idea of who we are and what we want in life. The more you know who you are and the more you know what you are not willing to settle for, the more you’ll increase your chances of find someone who’s really worth it.

2) Be patient! It’s going to take a number of date before you find THE guy … it won’t happen overnight.

3) Don’t compromise your values or your family: I think that many times some women get to a point in their lives where desperation sets in they sometimes compromise their values or what they believe in for a guy and they in some cases put their families in arms way in order not to be alone.

4) Who’d want to date me?: I’ve heard so many women say that. When you think like that, you aren’t putting yourself in a position to find anyone and you’re not putting yourself in a position to find someone of value.

5) Don’t let age be a factor: Don’t say or think things like: “at my age, this is as good as it gets because my choices are limited”. This is really should never come to mind because you are setting yourself to end up with a guy who is not worth it.

6) Do you want to be with him or do you not want to be alone: A person I know was dating this man who really wasn’t all that great. Everyone knew it and people around her had told her so much. I once asked her why at only 37 she was willing to be with someone unless she was 100% sure this was the right guy for her that she really loved him (everything about him) and she responded that she knew he wasn’t perfect and that there were things about him that drove her mad, but she was tired of being alone, cooking for one and going to movies by herself. She was willing to be with a man who wasn’t’ all that great in order to avoid being alone.

7) Don’t be afraid of getting some help: Since our lives are so much busier now than ever before, it means that we aren’t socializing in the same way we had in past generations. If the bar is not your scene and the idea of your aunt setting you on another blind date makes you cringe, you might consider hiring the services of a matchmaker. It’s true their services don’t come cheap, but they will match you with someone who is compatible to you. If matchmaking is too high of a financial commitment for you, consider online dating sites. Online dating sites have been quite successful for a number of people who have tried them and in some cases those hook ups ended in marriage and a family.

>>>>>> Other online dating resources for women over 35:

1) Free guide to successful online dating by Cupid Guide (this guide is offered to American, Canadian and British readers).

2) Find that special someone even if you are over 30

3) Over 40? Single? Still looking?

4) Seeking Marriage: for those who are ready to settle down and get married

5) Are you over 50 and looking for someone?

6) iSingles.co.uk

7) Big Beautiful Women Dating

#8) Single Christians in your area are looking for you

9) Christian Café (for Canadians and Americans)

10) Meet Single Christians

Photo by by HAMED MASOUMI

There are two events that made me want to write this post: 1) Tina Turner was on Oprah not long ago and Queen Oprah declared that at 68 Tina had been in a happy relationship for the past 20 years (which would mean that she stated dating her current man at 48) 2) The “Sex and the City” movie features Carrie Bradshaw who finally finds love and gets married after 40.

It occurred to me that when you end a relationship in your mid-to-late 30s and you’ve been on a bad string of dates and you’ve had to endure a few bad medium-length relationships, you start wondering if you will ever be able to find a meaningful relationship again.

I think it really doesn’t matter how incredible you look, when you hit your late 30s and you’re still single or you’re are newly single, you have that little voice in your head that whispers: “Am I going to be single forever?” or “Will anyone want to date me after 40″ and (my personal favourite) “Can you find guys at this point in your life that don’t carry too much baggage?”

I know “Sex and the City” is a movie (hence fantasy), but Tina Turner’s story is real … she did find love well after 40. As part of the laws of beauty at any age, a happy and healthy relationship is an important factor in helping us stay younger.

Many studies have shown and proven that as you age, you need to have that kind of high quality relationship in your life because it adds richness to your existence when compared to navigating life solo.

I think where I’m trying to go with this banter is simply remind us (and myself) that it’s very much possible to find true love after your 40^th birthday and since with each passing year we should have collected a few baskets of wisdom, the idea is to choose the next guy wisely.

Will looking for love in your late 30s and 40s be a LOT harder than in your 20s or early 30s? I have no doubt about that, but so many women around us do it every day. And hey, when in doubt we can take a cue from all these Hollywood celebrities who are over 40 and dating men who are younger than they are and a lot of them seem to be happier than ever before.

Photo by Hamed Masoumi Hamed Masoumi

This underground sound became popular in some of the coolest bars in the city and although I was underage, I was able to get into those bars because I was tall and looked 18 and not 16.

These assets allowed me to discover a sound that you didn’t hear on the radio because it never made the top 100 most played songs by radio DJs … and that’s what I loved about it.

As I got older, I still kept listening to house and variations of house music. Most of my music collection is from France and the UK … two countries where the house music movement is very prominent.

I remember as a teenager mixing different songs from different albums in order to create my own custom tracks and I quite enjoyed the long and tedious process, but I never (EVER) thought it was (or could be) a career. Now a days, most DJs I see spinning their tunes at parties or events are usually young men in their early-to-mid 20s. In a few rare occasions, I’ve seen a few women, but it’s very rare and they too are in their early-to-mid 20s.

I was recently flipping the pages of More Magazine when I noticed the story of DJ Sherri Hayden who is 50 (from her photo I would have given her 30-32). Sherri made the decision to leave a 28-year career in retail and venture in the music arena after watching a DJ groove a room full of people at her high school reunion. It’s never easy to start a new career (at any stage of your life), but when you are 30 (with kids), it cannot be easy to jump into a career that is notorious for attracting young men.

Twenty years after Sherry took out $14,000 of her family savings, she’s still deejaying weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties, corporate events while still having time to take care of her kids’ after school activities.

Sherry took a risk when she decided to pursue a career in a different field while raising a family, but twenty years later, her gamble paid off and she’s not only passionate about her career choice, she’s setting an example for women … there is no such thing as a gender-specific job or a age-specific job (okay … maybe there are certain athletic related careers that might not be suited for a 50 year old). I have no doubt that Sherry is a minority in a youth-centric profession and I have no doubt that her kids must be thrilled to say “my mom is a DJ”, but I think the best thing about this story is that Sherry didn’t let fear, uncertainty, family, kids or her gender stop her from going after what she really wanted in life.

It’s true that Sherry made the career switch in her 30s and that decade between 30 and 40 can make a world of difference in terms of ‘the good’ and ‘the bad’ life has to bring … that said many women over 40 take that turning point in their lives to revise their career choices and decide if this is a course they want to stick with or if it’s time to return to school or simply take that long time passion out of the basement and turn it into a viable career or business idea.

The truth is that we’re living longer because we’re healthier and many people choose not to retire at 65 (in fact many countries are considering raising the retirement age to 71). Even if you look at being forty today and retiring at 65 … that’s still 25 years of your life … will you keep the course of action or will you do a 360 after 40 and pursue what really gets you excited?

‘360° after 40′ is a celebration of your first monumental accomplishments after 40 (if you’ve passed 40) or your DESIRED ‘first monumental accomplishments after 40′ (if you’ve not yet added 40 candles on your birthday cake). Thanks for sharing!

Photo by Rodrigo Senna

Every time he’d utter those words, it would make my blood boil because at the time I had passed the 30 mark and I knew in my heart and I could see it in the mirror that my body was way better at that point in my life than in my teens or 20s. I never commented on his remarks because I simply didn’t want to make him think that he was important or that his comment had any importance. I simply looked at him with a half smile and thought to myself that a man with a gut that’s sticking out like a beach ball should not comment on the desirability of a woman’s body after she’s passed the age of 30 … because he was certainly no Brad Pitt.

I’ve always said that you can take your fitness level as far as you want at any age you’re at. No one can dictate that … it’s in your hands to control.

When I first heard of Rosie Stancer, I was immediately seduced by this woman’s incredible prowess, her strength and her determination. If you don’t know Rosie Stancer’s story than you are about to discover a woman who conquered the South Pole after he had placed 37 candles on her birthday cake and she then went on to conquer the North Pole on her own when she was 47!

I simply adore finding stories like this because this has less to do with your physical strength and everything to do with your mental ability … the power to believe that you can do anything at any point in your life (the mind comes before the body).

Rosie Stancer (born in 1960) became part of 20 amateur women who were selected for a place on the first all-women’s expedition to the North Pole, The McVities Penguin Polar Relay in 1997. This relay was very demanding. The women set in groups of five had to haul sleds of up to 331 kilograms (150 lbs) across 805 kilometres (500 miles) of shifting pack ice, surviving temperatures down to – 40ºc, disintegrating ice, pressure ridges and polar bears. Not only did Rosie and her teammates survive, they finished at the top of the North Pole after 73 days of gruelling battles with Mother Nature.

I’ll be honest, if I had to pass a geography test, I’d flunk miserably because I’ve got no immediate clue as to where the North Pole is located. I could place it vaguely, but not specifically. Just in case you’re also in my shoes, you’ll be happy to know that Canada is the closest country to the North Pole. Precisely, the North Pole is the axis of the earth’s rotation where all lines of longitude and time zones converge. It lies on floating packs of ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean 415 nautical miles from Canada.

In 1999, Rosie Stancer took on the challenge of the South Pole, but this time she did the journey solo (YES … on her own)! During her 43-day expedition she carried a sledge more than twice her body weight for over 1,126 kilometres (700 miles) because she decided to undertake the trip without re-supply to the South Pole … so she had no choice but to carry the supplies she’d need to survive during the expedition. In the end, Rosie not only successfully made the journey, but she also broke all previous years’ speed records by seven days (the average expedition duration is 60 days).

In March 2007, Rosie went back to the North Pole, but the second time around she did the gruelling journey on her own. This really gives a whole other definition to “man against nature”. When it comes to conquering her fears and conquering the unpredictable nature of a wild terrain, Rosie kicks butt!

If you have any fitness or life goals and if you’ll soon turn 40 or if you’ve already turned 40, remember that you are still entitled to go after your dreams. If you don’t think it’s possible for you, jut remember Rosie Stancer and remember that at 48, she’s the first and only woman to have reached the North and South Poles solo. Rosie Stancer is an inspiration to us all and she proves that any goal, however daunting, can be achieved and you CAN make your dreams come true!

You can track Rosie Stancer’s escapades on her Web site!

So my question to you is this: What are you wanting to achieve that you’ve not yet had to courage to do and when will you jump in and throw caution to the wind to achieve your goal?

‘360° after 40’ is a celebration of your first monumental accomplishments after 40 (if you’ve passed 40) or your DESIRED ‘first monumental accomplishments after 40’ (if you’ve not yet added 40 candles on your birthday cake). Thanks for sharing!

The article revealed some fascinating facts from a recent study about the emotional reality of hitting certain “big” birthdays:

“This week a massive American-British study of some two million souls throughout 80 countries confirms, empirically, that middle age immiserates us all without regard to income, culture, gender, marital status or previous experience. The study offers a new visual to illustrate the overarching mood swing of life: the U-Curve, in which mental stability and happiness bottoms out in our 40s and into our 50s. We then get more cheerful as we round the curve and head into the final stretch. In the U.S., women hit bottom at 40 and men at 50, according to the study.”

Although this British-American study does not tell us how to recognize those “big” birthday blues syndromes or how to deal with them it does seem that identifying and acknowledging them is important: aka admitting that you might be feeling very blue and melancholic because you’re about to turn 40 or 50 might help quite a lot.

Turning those big pivotal corners can affect your confidence to the core, but when you combine this with other changes that can range from turmoil with your job, career, marital status or the lost of friends and family members … it can really make for an unpleasant “big” birthday month or even “big” birthday year.

Another thing that I thought was quite thought-provoking about the New York Times article was when the author suggests that:

“One suspects that, with women and men both, midlife is a time when the mirage of life’s perfectibility and symmetry, as envisioned in one’s youth, comes back to trouble you like a conscience. In plain language, one might call it a last chance at happiness, or of “getting it right.”

Maybe that’s why these “big” birthdays seem so scary to some of us … maybe it’s the idea that 20 or 30 years have passed since we were in the prime of our youth and we still have so many things that we want to achieve and have not accomplished and maybe it might be a time where we’re not feeling as cocky and indestructible as we once did and we start questioning many of the decisions that got us to where we are at today.

These are all “guesstimates” on my part. That said, I found this to be a revealing study that I thought I needed to share with you. We all hear that voice of uncertainty when turning 30 and then 35 and I suspect that for some of us that voice might just be shouting a little louder as we turn 40, 45 or 55.

I think that’s why I’ve created 360° after 40 because I’ll be honest, I’m not certain what life will look like when you hit 40, but I figured that if I try to find positive role models than it might be easier to keep everything into perspective and it will prevent me from focusing on a number that really has nothing to do with your state of mind.

You can read the full New York Times story: The Midlife Blues

‘360° after 40’ is a celebration of your first monumental accomplishments after 40 (if you’ve passed 40) or your DESIRED ‘first monumental accomplishments after 40’ (if you’ve not yet added 40 candles on your birthday cake). Thanks for sharing!

Photo by Christiane Michaud

Moira Cameron who had spent 22 years as an army accountant decided that she had had enough of her career and needed a radical change. She got to a point where she would have chosen a career as either a plumber or an electrician, but luckily, she choose tourism and with that decision she singlehandedly turned British history upside down.

During my recent visit to London, I visited the Tower of London under the strong advisement of my good friend who’s been living in London for a few years now.

She said, you might spend a couple of hours … well I ended up spending half a day because I was so captivated by the wealth of historical facts and artefacts (after all this is where Anne Boleyn was executed).

The Tower of London has over 1,000 years of history and for about 1,000 years has been guarded by male Beefeaters. There are currently 34 Beefeater men and since 2007, one female … Moira Cameron.

Historically, The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, but in practice they act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction in their own right, a point the Yeoman Warders acknowledge. – source Wikipedia. Nowadays, Beefeaters act more like tour guides than guards.

Today, at 42, Moira Cameron definitely broke the “testosterone” glass ceiling … to put it mildly.

‘360° after 40’ is a celebration of your first monumental accomplishments after 40 (if you’ve passed 40) or your DESIRED ‘first monumental accomplishments after 40’ (if you’ve not yet added 40 candles on your birthday cake). Thanks for sharing!

Photo by CarlosMendoza

Beauty Match is all about celebrating beauty after the age of 35! We focus a lot of our skincare and body and mind tips on helping us look as young as we feel in our mid-to-late 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond.

Another very important aspect in feeling good and feeling beautiful is recognizing (and really believing) that life doesn’t have an expiry date marked “40”.

A few years ago, a friend of mine had a girlfriend who was turning 40 and she was completely devastated by the fact that her “life was over”. This story has stuck with me and I thought there has to be a way of showing women that 40 is just a new chapter … the story DOES continue it DOESN’T end.

Since Beauty Match is a journey and a sharing ground for women (and our male readers) to comment about what might work for them in their quest to remaining as youthful as they can, I thought that it might be important to add a new column.

‘360° after 40’ is for all of us women who have not yet turned 40, but one day will and for those women who have turned 40 and continue to reach new heights in their personal and professional lives. I strongly believe that by highlighting the accomplishments of women who are NOT letting a number dictate how far and how wide they choose to dream, it will influence other women who think that they are walking towards the finish line and for those who have crossed the 40 mark but feel like they don’t have the motivation to push their goals with more assertiveness.

‘360° after 40’ is going to be a mixture of women over 40 who have monumental changes in their lives or women who have simply attained extraordinary goals and others who have done very ordinary things (with a twist).

I hope you’ll like this new feature and I hope you’ll share your comments and your own ‘360° after 40’ (if you’ve passed 40) or your DESIRED ‘360° after 40’ (if you’ve not yet added 40 candles on your birthday cake) with our other readers.