This Friday I turn 35, an age which has always felt like a milestone, despite being arbitrary.
Working on HELLO!'s Second Act content, I speak to inspiring women in midlife every day, with each of them sharing motivational stories of living their best lives in perimenopause and beyond. Yet still, 35 felt daunting.
However, midlife reassurance came from an unlikely source this week, while I was listening to Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast. Iconic singer Nelly Furtado was the latest guest, and at 45, she reframed midlife in the best way.
© Instagram"I'll be 46 soon and it's a new beginning for me," the Maneater singer said, adding: "It's a very fun time in my life."
Sharing the positive side of midlife, Nelly continued: "I feel most confident now, I had the forties glow-up. I just feel like me, I had time to work on my inner life, the things you don't have time to do when you're busy, like journaling and go to therapy."
A forties glow-up is definitely something I could get on board with!
Confidence in midlife
Nelly, who is a mother to 21-year-old Nevis Gahunia, says she's discovered a newfound confidence since hitting her forties, adding: "I feel super happy with myself, even when I get criticised," sharing that she can let other people's opinions of her fade into the background.
"You know yourself [in your forties], even my thirties seem a lifetime ago," she added.
© InstagramFellow midlife powerhouse Anna Richards agrees with Nelly's point of view on midlife confidence, telling HELLO!: "I worry less about what people think.
"I am far more relaxed knowing that people will always judge and comment, but equally many more will be supportive. I am more in tune with believing we are only here for a short time, so make it count and enjoy the journey."
READ: 7 genuine reasons my fifties are my best decade yet
Even Victoria Beckham echoed the sentiments of freedom in midlife, saying: "I woke up at 50, and I gave a s**t less."
© ShutterstockHELLO!'s Second Act columnist Rosie Green agreed, noting that in midlife, "you've got to the age and stage where you are rejecting people pleasing and perfectionism. I'm here too and it's excellent."
While I've not approached 50 just yet, 40 does feel just around the corner, and I'll be following Nelly, Rosie and Victoria's lead, with Rosie's advice fresh in my mind: "People's response to you will often come from their own life experiences. They see you through their prism, and this means sometimes they get it wrong. It's not up to you to change their perception.
"It truly is one of the gifts of getting older that you get much more comfortable with who you are. And that's well worth the crow's feet and creaky knees. "
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