I am 59 and 42 seems young to me now. Since I was 42, many wonderful things have happened to me in my life, and I wish you the same good life. My message to you “LIFE IS GOOD.”
This doesn’t mean that you throw away your honor or integrity, or buy a sports car or get divorced or what.
What you can do is what the book “Passages” suggests, is look back on your life and take stock. Learn from your mistakes, everyone makes them, remind yourself of the good and press on to the greater future.
Your life may be different, but these past 17 years have had my children grown up, finished college, I got promoted twice. During my 50s I was able to save a good deal of my income and my Wife and I built our dream retirement home. I am retiring in six months to that home, and will try to work part-time, ride my road bike 120 miles a week, and enjoy my loved ones.
Since I was 42, I have read about 500 books, including some of the best fiction and nonfiction in my life. I recommend:
Anna Karena
War and Peace (I like Tolstoy)
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (actually six books)
Living in America (by de Tocqueville)
W. Churchill’s “The Second World War”
Anything by Michael Crichton (some light reading is fun)
Also, get medical checkups every couple of years, you want to keep living.
Last but not least, make sure your loved ones know that you love them.
Heck yeah, life is good! I know how good I've got it, brother. I see the wrecks that people make of themselves by trying to self-medicate, drink, stone, or otherwise chemically-alter their brains just to get a temporary shift in their perceptions of reality. I see this misery every day, day in, and day out. I thank God for blessing me every day I get up, and I thank God for letting me be a part of His plan when I lay down.
No way will I lament being a mere 42! Not when I know that my life doesn't end even when my body's warranty does. How cool is that?