I am enjoying my forties. I have a better sense of who I am – both my assets and my foibles. I am kinder to me, more accepting of myself, and I take better care of body and soul than I did in previous decades.
I like this trend and think I’ll keep it as I move into my fifties.
I still have the same character, but I am more comfortable being me. Oh – I just realized, I have become that favorite pair of jeans we all hang onto – ripped a little, frayed bottoms, faded, but so comfortable they just slip right on.
And like those jeans, it would have been impossible for me to start out that way. Sure at first, they were desirable for being new and fancy. They fit well and looked good. But over time, the look changed, became more worn, but also more beloved. The fit and shape remained reasonably the same, but they softened, they feel good, they feel like me.
I like being me.
And like the jeans, I couldn’t have felt this way in my twenties…because it’s my twenties that helped me break those jeans in.
laura-jeanne.com 
Love the comparison.
Hi Laura-Jeanne:
You have me beat by a couple of decades on this topic. I’m in my 60’s and feel that this is the best decade of my life so far. It took being diagnosed with cancer at age 50 for me to do a deep dive into who I was and who I wanted to be. It was only after getting through the cancer journey and figuring a lot of stuff out that I was then comfortable in my own skin. Previous decades were struggles on so many levels but I learned a lot from it all and I’ve made peace with it. I now use this knowledge to help others. I now like the new post cancer me and plan to keep her. As for the jean analogy I think I must have been wearing a pair of very tough raw hide chaps over my jeans and it just took longer to break them in.