As you already know, I’m all about offering up tips to create more health, wealth and freedom in your life- the simple way. I have realized that what many people need to hear is truth, pain, struggle, and REALNESS.  So I’m going to share some realness with you today and put myself out there in the hopes that it offers some insight into another source of Freedom.

For many people, the freedom to be themselves is something that seems impossible.  I remember wondering, “will I just one day know who I am?”  “Will I just wake up one day and not care what people think of me?”  “Will I ever have the courage to walk away from situations, people etc who no longer serve me or my life?”

The “word on the street” is that it “HITS YOU” when you turn 40, and it might seem a little “woo-woo,” but it did for me, and it’s a freedom that it almost impossible to describe, but I’m going to do my best because I want you to all know, that it is REAL, and it WILL happen, and your life will TRULY begin when it does!

For those that haven’t yet had this freedom-revelation, I’m going to do my best to explain what you will one day experience, but first, understand that this is not something that is taught.  Although many of us spend years reading self-help books almost willing ourselves into this carefree attitude, It IS something that truly just “happens” one day and it’s usually around the age of 40.   I’m honestly not sure what the science is behind it.  Perhaps it is a culmination of experiences that make us one day simply “not care” about bullshit anymore and finally start living our own lives.  Maybe it’s hitting the magic number “40” and knowing that we are half-way through life and no longer want to spend it being someone we are not to please people that don’t really care about us.  Maybe it’s a combination of the two…along with the years of self-help books, but what I CAN say is this, it is real…and it is AWESOME.

Let me first warn you that when the “40-freedom feeling” happens, it is NOT always easy to understand.  For me, it happened over time, and there were times that I wondered if something was wrong with me.  Why was I all of a sudden not interested in the activities that I used to LOVE to do and be a part of? Why did I just get up and walk away from a “friend” because she was gossiping about another “friend” when this was something she always did before?  Why did I suddenly not want to be a part of it and not care what she thought when I walked away?  Weird shit, guys!  WEIRD!

I also started to notice myself no longer NEEDING to be liked by everyone to be happy.  I noticed myself no longer feeling guilty if I said “no” to a social function where I was expected to be, but didn’t want to be.  I noticed myself wanting to spend more time with those that show their love for me than with people who I was TRYING to get that love from.  This next one  was the game-changer…. I started to not care about killing myself at the gym for the perfect body, and instead started practicing yoga because “I LIKED IT and I HATE THE GYM.”  OMG.   So FREEING, guys!  40 is AMAZING!

The truth is, that you won’t even know that you are doing the things above TO YOURSELF, until the day you realize you would be happier if you weren’t and start to change…whether you think you need to or not!  Then one day it hits you when you realize that you would rather be your true self and allow people to love you for who you are, than work so hard to “win” love, attention, happiness etc.  You find it EASY to walk away from people, situations, conversations etc that you were “afraid” to walk away from before.

Am I making sense yet?  I bet I am to the 40-somethings who have had this epiphany.  That’s the word for it!  “Epiphany!”

For those of you who want this freedom, and think it will never happen, trust me-It will be here for you before you know it.  Follow your gut when you start to change your thoughts about things.  Don’t hesitate even though you will be making new choices that seem foreign to you at the time.  It’s part of your evolution into the person that you were born to be…and trust me when I say that YOUR life truly begins the day it does.