Today, I turn 40.
There is something about this age that invites reflection. Not in a heavy or melancholy way, but in a quieter, steadier sense — as if reaching 40 encourages you to pause for a moment, look back at the road behind you, and then look ahead with renewed curiosity.
Forty feels less like a conclusion than a checkpoint. A moment to take stock of where life has led, what it has revealed, and what still remains unknown. And perhaps that is what I value most today: not certainty, but curiosity. The feeling that there is still so much to discover, so much to understand, so much to experience more deeply.
If my earlier years were about motion, ambition, and reaching outward, then this stage of life feels more reflective. I find myself paying closer attention — to places, to people, to stories, to details I might once have rushed past. I am still drawn to the horizon, still fascinated by the world in all its complexity, but I am perhaps more aware now that meaning often lives in nuance rather than spectacle.
Turning 40 does not make me feel finished. It makes me feel layered.
Layered by journeys taken, by conversations remembered, by cities walked through, by lessons learned slowly rather than all at once. It makes me think about how many versions of ourselves we carry with us over time — the younger self who wanted to go everywhere as quickly as possible, and the present self who still wants to go, but also wants to understand, to observe, to reflect.
I think that is one of the gifts of growing older: the ability to remain curious while becoming more thoughtful. To keep asking questions, but perhaps better ones. To keep moving through the world, but with greater attentiveness. To realize that travel, life, and identity are not simply about accumulation, but about interpretation.
Today, on my 40th birthday, I feel grateful for that.
Grateful for the people who have shaped my path, for the places that have left their mark on me, for the unexpected moments that became meaningful in retrospect. Grateful for the world’s vastness, and for the fact that even after all these years, it still surprises me. There are still new landscapes to see, new ideas to explore, new perspectives to encounter. There are still unanswered questions — and I am glad there are.
Because perhaps that is the best way to enter 40: not with the illusion of having figured everything out, but with the willingness to keep learning.
Curious.
Reflective.
Open.
If this new decade means anything to me, I hope it means continuing to look closely at the world and at life itself. To keep noticing. To keep wondering. To keep following both the map and the detours beyond it.
Today, I am 40.
And I do not feel like I am arriving at an end.
I feel like I am arriving at a deeper way of seeing.
— Maarten
Leave a Reply