My friend and fellow copywriter Kevin Rogers was born one day after I was, on Feb. 23rd.

He sent me a funny happy birthday message that said, “40… is the new 39.”

Now, Kevin’s a riot – and he oughta be. Like many of the best storytellers and wordsmiths, he was a professional stand-up comic in a previous life.

But something struck me about what he said.

It was the way the numbers LOOKED to me…

40 versus 39…

FORTY versus Thirty-Nine…

SIDEBAR: There’s a sub-modal lesson hiding in here somewhere about the implications of pricing and the psychological effect that certain numbers create in the mind of your readers…

There’s just something about the number “40″ as it pertains to age.

The big four “Oh….”

It’s a milestone… like 30 – but more “serious.”

A few days ago, I was in my “thirties”… but now I’m officially middle-aged. Forty.

39 still has a toe clinging to distant former youth. 39 is still a cool “Dude.” 40 is more like “Dad.”

Of course, I’ve been both for a decade, but still.

It’s even more ego-crushing than the cute girl at the checkout counter you think is checking you out – until she calls you, “Sir…”

Or for the ladies, that muscularly yummy stock clerk who smiles and calls you, “Ma’am…”

Ouch. Just like that… we realize that our shell no longer represents the mind that controls it.

I still FEEL like I did when I was 20, just a little grumpier some days and a bit rusty in some of the moving parts. You should hear my feet and ankles crackle when I get up in the morning!

Granted, there’s those wrinkles in the corners of my eyes and some extra bulges in places I never used to “bulge” before…

Surely we can all agree there’s not much that’s particularly compelling about arriving at that personal inevitablity.

Too young to relate? Just don’t die… and watch what happens!

But all that said… something transformative has happened to me as I ponder all that’s transpired in my life thus far. And consider what’s yet to come…

I realize I’ve all but detached from any sense of needing to prove anything to anybody – including myself. The good opinion of others has so little importance to me these days that sometimes I have to WORK at internalizing what others say.

You might call it confidence or certainty… you wouldn’t be wrong.

But you wouldn’t be exactly right, either…

You might call it clarity or experience… those labels certainly apply.

But they don’t encapsulate the feeling either.

It’s more a feeling of having finally dialed in the frequency of “knowing” on an internal tuner.

The signal to noise ratio has never been better.

As I write this, my wife and child are asleep. The house is quiet… there’s only the gentle clicking of my keyboard as I type and these words magically appearing on the screen in a stream of consciousness.

I guess that’s the other gift you receive at 40…

A deeper sense of appreciation for what you already have and less concern about what you don’t…

Sold! : )

I want you to know that I appreciate YOU as well and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Please don’t be shy… hit “Reply”.

All my best,

Brian “Old Fart” McLeod

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