Sure, your life’s half over, but 40 isn’t all bad

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This article was published 27/11/2004 (7905 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — For those in their 30s, the prospect of turning 40 is anticipated with roughly the same enthusiasm reserved for the advent of male pattern baldness or menopause. The 40s conjure up ominous images of mid-life crises, sagging appendages and going to bed at 9:30. It’s an easier transition than the nasty slap of turning 30, if only because so many of the dreams of youth have already perished.

For those on the abyss of middle-age, however, all is not lost.

A form of comfort is available in The Big 40! The Best Age Ever (Results May Vary). The book is filled with reams of helpful information about the fifth decade of life that, while not necessarily positive, will at least assure readers they’re not alone.

“For the most part, it’s a reassurance thing,” said co-author Jonathan Van Gieson from New York City. “There’s always someone out there who was doing worse than you did or are doing, and sometimes they go on to do much better than you are doing.”

Cases in point: Carol Shields wrote her first novel, Small Ceremonies, when she turned 40. She won the Pulitzer Prize for The Stone Diaries 20 years later. Gordie Howe had his best season at age 41, tallying 44 goals and 59 assists. And Genghis Khan had barely begun looting and pillaging before his 40th birthday.

One’s outlook on reaching 40 depends largely on where one stands at that point in life, said Germain Dulac, a sociologist at Montreal’s McGill University.

“Many men at 40 are married and have a good job, living in the suburbs, two cars, two TVs, etc.,” he said. “But for many, working conditions are uncertain, and they may not necessarily be as organized, or installed, in life.

Nearly 50 per cent of men age 25-40 living in Canadian urban centres are single, Dulac noted. Life trajectories have become less linear, with an increase in divorces and layoffs throwing many 40-somethings a life-wrenching curve.

Or as the Big 40! bluntly puts it: “While some people can sit back at 40 to reflect on all they’ve accomplished — the great job, the happy marriage, the overflowing bank account — others can only wonder where it all went so terribly, terribly wrong.”

If it’s any consolation, the age of existential soul-searching is also getting older. Extended educations, longer waits to get established in a career and a general trend towards putting off marriage and children has pushed the average age of the mid-life crisis to around 47 or 48, Dulac said.

On the good part of hitting 40: “I think you’re more settled into who you are — there’s less specific soul-searching,” Van Gieson said. “You’re not trying to figure out what you’re doing, you’re not trying to figure out who you are as much as you are at 30 or younger.”

And on the downside, there are the indignities of nature.

“Well, physically, you’re not going to get any better than you are now,” Gieson said. “If you haven’t run a marathon yet, probably you’re not going to end up doing it.”

The Big 40!, Crown Publishers, 192 pages, $21, is available at Chapters and Indigo, or online at www.bookofages.com/40/.

— CanWest News Service