18 Things Women Over 40 Leave Behind

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By Darryl Henderson

Age brings with it a higher sense of self-worth, leaving many women looking back on their younger selves, wondering why they spent their time worrying about unnecessary things. To avoid having these regrets for yourself, here are 18 things women over 40 no longer care about.

Fear of Missing Out

The fear of missing out, known as FOMO, fades away with age as you realize that attending every event doesn’t necessarily correlate with a fulfilled social life. Picking and choosing which events to attend, depending on your lifestyle and responsibilities, is much easier to manage. This is pretty easy when you’re 40!

Fad Diets

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Fad diets are appealing as they ‘promise’ to help you get into perfect shape quickly. The Independent shockingly suggests that the average person will try 126 fad diets in their lifetime, yet this isn’t the case for those over 40; we know that being in shape means simple exercise and a balanced diet!

Gossip

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Gossip runs rife in the friendship groups of young girls, sometimes turning from gossip into malicious rumor spreading. As you get older and more mature, you realize that gossip doesn’t add any value to your life, with the lives of others being none of your business. It’s just nasty all around.

Keeping the Home Completely Spotless

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Whereas you would have once been scanning the house for specks of dust, destroying them as though they were a personal attack on your character, age helps you realize that there’s more to life than a spotless home. While you won’t let things drift into disrepair, you can allow for a little mess.

Drinking Alcohol

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The effects of alcohol consumption get harder to cope with as you head into middle age, with hangovers lasting longer and feeling more brutal. The negatives of alcohol begin to outweigh the short-term positives the further into your 40s you get, and the earlier you stop, the better.

Impressing People

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As you age, you become more comfortable within your own skin and less inclined to want to impress everyone around you. You stop feeling the need to show your best side at all times, a habit that can be exhausting and unfulfilling. Just be yourself!

Bad Jobs

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When you’re young, you are far more willing to commit yourself to a job where you’re not treated with the respect you deserve just to get your foot in the working door. Once you have more experience, poor work environments become intolerable, leading to events such as the Great Resignation, as reported by CNBC.

Striving for Perfection

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Despite being told numerous times throughout life that there is no such thing as perfection, it doesn’t stop most people from trying to attain it. However, once you get a little older, you begin to realize that the perfection you were once striving for doesn’t really matter at all.

Reaching a Certain Dress Size

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The desperate push when you’re younger to fit into a certain dress size as though it revealed anything about your character is, unsurprisingly, unhealthy. Thankfully, this way of thinking disappears with age, as you focus more on how you feel in the clothing rather than its size.

Being Right

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Maturity comes with the realization that you might not always be correct and the fact there is no shame in admitting it. Learning is a major part of life, and different perspectives and reasoning help you become a much more rounded person.

Trying to Win People’s Attention

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There’s a point in most women’s lives where they find themselves trying to gain the attention of other people, romantically and socially, despite not getting much back. Eventually, you realize that people who don’t return the same effort levels back to you aren’t worth your time or energy. Life is much easier without them.

Social Media

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Social media grips the minds of young people, causing them to feel inadequate and lacking despite the obvious fabricated nature of large swathes of online posts. Once you hit 40, it all seems so much easier to see through the shallowness of it all, and you may even ditch it completely. 

Other People’s Opinions

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One of the most liberating aspects of aging is that you naturally care a lot less about what other people think of you. You no longer care about pleasing everyone, instead looking to further cement your relationships with those closest to you.

Birthdays

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Many women would prefer to ignore the fact that they’ve got an impending birthday in order to avoid answering questions such as, “How old are you?” According to the BBC, many women lie about their age for a multitude of reasons, often claiming (with some humor) that they’re only turning 25!

Fashion Trends

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Over time, your mindset will likely change from wanting to keep up with all the latest fashion trends to wearing things that make you feel comfortable. It’s hard to match up every new fashion item with an ever-changing body type, but thankfully, you now have a more liberated, self-assured mindset.

Changing People

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As much as you would like to change the mindsets and behavioral traits of some people, once you get to 40, you begin to realize that some women will always be stuck in their ways. It becomes easier with age to embrace people’s flaws and appreciate them for who they are.

Clothes Shopping

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Before the internet age, clothes shopping used to be an all-day event where people would browse slowly to try and find a diamond in the rough. Age brings forward a more militant approach, going into the store with a purpose, knowing what you’re looking for, and not wasting time sifting through the racks.

Lateness

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Last on our list, being late is more common than you may think, with a CBS News survey suggesting that 30% of Americans frequently show up late for work. This lack of punctuality becomes increasingly intolerable with age, going from an innocent mistake to a rude, personal insult. Don’t waste our time!

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