About My 40th Birthday…What Really Happened

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So…I never wrote about my 40 birthday or turning 40 on my blog. And while you may think that’s “no big deal”. That’s what blogger do. We write. We write about our birthdays. Our kids birthday. Our dog’s birthdays. The school janitor’s birthday…It’s what we do. And big birthdays like 40th birthdays usually get a post of their own.

But I wanted some time to feel this out a bit. Check out the new digs on the new decade to see what I thought and how I felt. As a matter of fact, I’ve been celebrating turning 40 for almost a whole year now. I figured that it was a big one so I wanted to go big. At the same time, I didn’t want to make a whole public announcement about what I was doing as the journey was a personal one.

But it’s been a year so here we go. This is what I did to celebrate turning 40.

I came up with a theme of one thing that I wanted to work on and I kept at it. So forty was my “year of stretch“. I did things like hosted a live event, spoke at functions, launched an ebook.

If you want to know more about my year of stretch you can read more about it here. I recommend that everyone have at least one year of “stretch”. It’s so good for personal growth.

As part of this year of stretch I got professional photos taken at a luxury resort on my actual birthday. My groom was the one that set everything up.

Best gift ever.

Some of the other things I did were say “yes” to more events and attended more “solo”…without a social crutch.

That’s huge especially for an introvert like myself.

I finally visited South America (Buenos Aires), touched down in Banff, Canada and tried a few new other things too. I watched more movies than I’ve done in a long time, met up with girlfriends, did more double dates and luxuriated at the spa every chance I got.

I tried new fitness experiences like hot yoga and hip hop kickboxing. Both were so worth the try and kept me interested to
“keep moving”. I realized that’s it’s quite alright to let people go while loving them from afar.

I stopped lying to myself and telling myself the stories that’s holding me back from going to the next level. And you know what? I moved. Things shifted. And I grew. The stretch was about breaking self-limiting beliefs. The stretch was about embracing challenge to allow growth. The stretch was about me.

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Closing my eyes. Approaching the end of chapter 4️⃣0️⃣ and here’s what I can say. I still enjoy going bare-faced on most days… I’m healthier than I’ve ever been. I’m in this space of “go hard on life” or go home. You know…wear the two piece bikini ?. Pick the red pumps ? . Dance ?? to your favorite song (even if you’re the only person on the dance floor). Take the trip with kids and take one without them.. Rock the curly fro! Take chances. Bet on you. Ohh and…contrary to what you’ve heard, forty is not the “new thirty”. I know this MAN! You can lie about it or be about it. Forty is “fabulosity” wrapped in intention. I wish someone would tell me, “I’m getting old”. Shoot…I’m just getting started.

A post shared by Dr. Lisa Leslie-Williams (@lisalesliewilliams) on

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