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Long considered middle age, 40 is a birthday that many regard with dread. It has been seen as the point of no return from youth and youthfulness, the age after which you just get older, but never better. In the past, 40 meant having your career established, and being married with at least two children for whom you were saving for college. That and your retirement, of course, which was considered so much closer now. Your sex life was probably fading in favour of companionship and you were likely contemplating a mid-life crisis of some sort, which would involve a fast car, strange new fashion choices and an affair with your assistant or pool boy.

A lot of those expectations have changed, however. Our very active, healthy and attractive "graying" population has pushed the bar ahead for those of us in our middle years, meaning that we have several decades left to look forward to as being full of life, love and creativity. We're no longer expected to "slow down" at 40, rather, we're encouraged to enjoy life even more with the financial security we've hopefully gained and the maturity from having survived some of youth's lessons. We're expected to look good, be social, travel and generally have fun while balancing the responsibilities of work and family.

With improved health and health care, we can even start our families now in our 40s, and many choose to do this feeling overall better equipped now to provide for a child or children, both financially and psychologically. Career changes are also not the taboo they once were, and with private retirement savings plans, it's no longer necessary to work with a company until retirement in order to reap the benefit of one's pension.

Overall then, we're a more active, more mobile and more independent 40-something generation, free to choose rather than expected to accept. Is 30 the new 40? Yes, and 40 is the new 50, 50 the new 60 and so on. Youthfulness is encouraged, and desired in any age bracket of today's health-conscious, experience-valuing society. Or as Abraham Lincoln once said: "... it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

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