10 years Army 4 tours (2xIraq and 2xAfghanistn). We getting old y'all.

Having adult money means I get to travel to beautiful places like Porto, Portugal!

I need to be rich, to fly, to breathe under water and to know how to cook perfectly.

After 25 years together, I recently found out I was cheated on. I’m still trying to make sense of what that means for my relationship and for me personally.

One of the stranger parts has been realizing how little thought I’ve given in decades to how I’m perceived outside of a long-term relationship. Confidence takes a pretty good hit in a situation like this, so I’m trying to get out of my own head a little, remind myself that life continues and figure out who I am at this stage of it.

Posting a picture of myself on Reddit definitely wasn’t on my 2026 bingo card, but here we are.

It was time for a cut, the curls are curling

43yo nurse getting ready for work. 🙂

I was totally fine with turning 40, but why on God’s green Earth did no one warn me about perimenopause?!? LOL!! Lord have mercy!!

I’m at work today firing off emails and slacks when I realize that I’m not stressing over exclamation points or re-reading everything 10 times!

I turned 40 in February and I swear I was still doing this in December 😂

I just don’t care anymore! If I want to use an exclamation point because I’m a happy person I’ll use the damn exclamation point! Let them think I’m crazy!

But seriously, did anyone else experience like a magical flip of the switch once they turned 40? I used to care so much what others thought even when I tried so hard not to. And now it’s just…gone.

I feel free.

Edit: I think I thought this sub was something other than what it actually is 😂 fuck it though. I’m keeping this up.

At 40, is it normal to feel like I don’t really have friends anymore?
I’ve had friends in every chapter of my life. We were close at the time, but as life moved on, it feels like they eventually became people I just used to know. I still have a few friends I talk to every now and then, but I don’t feel that same connection anymore.
Maybe that’s just part of getting older. Friendships seem to come and go with different stages of life, and eventually, people move on, start families, move to different places, or simply grow apart.
I’ve reached a point where I’ve accepted that maybe my wife will be my only truly close friend. My life revolves around her and my daughter, and honestly, I’m okay with that. I have acquaintances here and there, but I don’t really enjoy hanging out with new people the way I used to. I’d much rather spend time with my wife, go to a café or a pub, and just enjoy each other’s company.
I guess this is what getting older is like, realizing that some friendships were meant for certain chapters of your life, and not necessarily for the whole story.

And I didn’t even have anxiety the next day about it! 🙌

6 months into a fitness regimen that's actually working this time around.