I know this isn’t the brightest of subjects but I’m 40 this year and getting ‘older’ is really bothering me.
I’ve been type1 for 24 years and I’ve got quite a few complications due to not looking after myself. All I can think about is I’m heading towards the other side sooner rather than later, I feel like there’s no point in life and I’ve got nothing to look forward to other than ill health
I'm trying to recall how I felt when I was your age -- 27 years ago!
One thing that has stuck with me through the years, since even before I turned 40, is something I have read written by many writers -- that life is about the search for the point in life. The point of life is the search for the point of life.
Different writers say it different ways, but basically that is the point being made by the writers I have read.
When I was 40 -- I'm just thinking about this right now -- I was sort of lost as far as work and a "career" went. I had just finished taking some updating courses as refreshers in my master's field of study, to help find a new job in that field. I didn't take a job in that field, but in another area for which I'd also had training. But all that did was pay the bills, basically.
It was several years later, when I was once again "in between jobs" and certainly following no real career path, that I found a life outside work, that brought me friends, and it didn't pay the bills but it certainly made my life worthwhile (to me).
And that ended 7 years ago, and I'm still here. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning (or afternoon or evening) it seems the point of my life is to feed my cat and prick my finger. Sometimes it's to take a shower. Usually the point is to log on to this website and "talk" with friends I've "met" here.
BTW, 40 is notorious for making people think they have turned a corner, or reached the crest of the hill.
By the time you hit 50, and 60, and even 45, you look back and may not even be able to see the peak you thought 40 was when you were 39 years and 364 days old.