Regular readers in this United Plandom will know that from time to time, this Philosopher-In-Residence likes to run a themed blog series. As the big 4-0 approaches, my latest series is a sequence of letters to my younger self, framed around some Make Me A Plan-style motivational advice and guidance.

In the final fortnightly instalment of this series,  I’m reminiscing about the ten years over which my life changed completely, with a letter about the fourth decade of my time on this mortal coil, reflecting on Anna Pascoe aged 30-39.

Dear Anna,

One of your guiding principles has always been to never have any regrets. To do things differently in future, perhaps, from lessons learned. But not to beat yourself up about choices that cannot be changed, rather try to have an improved response if that scenario came round another time.

This was a big flavour of this fourth decade of your life. You’ll remember weighing up the experiences of concentrating your earlier years on developing your professional and political career, and noticing that this had yielded a negative impact on your health. Ever the individual who liked to weigh up costs and benefits, as you turned 30, you made the assessment that if you carried on with the 7 day a week working, endless hours of volunteering, always prioritising others over yourself, you would be dead from stress by the age of forty.

So well done, Anna, on the biggest change you made to date, by deciding to invest as much energy in your own health as you had done in all those other projects to date. Beginning with a three month sabbatical from work, it took gritty dedication on a daily basis, but within a few years you had practised the power of no and completely changed your focus and educated yourself about health. You became empowered by the awesomeness of making decisions for you, and seeing the dangerous levels of body fat being replaced by a much leaner and fitter you.

You realised that incredible things can be achieved with planning and determination, as stress blotches disappeared from your skin and you started doing things the little girl who was never rated much in PE would have dreamed were possible, attending Crossfit and spinning classes, competing in short races and ultramarathons, even winning some of these and setting many personal bests, which of course is the most important thing. As Baz Luhrmann said, regardless of whether you are donning lycra or not, the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

As you’d talked about in your stump speech when standing for Parliament, younger Anna, sometimes life isn’t fair. Amongst this personal transformation, and incredibly special moments seeing your beloved sister get married and the birth of your baby niece, there were some really hard times too, where things didn’t work out how you wanted, no matter how hard you tried. You had to dig ever so deep to prevent those bumps in the road from breaking you Anna.

And that’s the thing about the road of life, Anna. When you took the plunge and set up your own business at the age of 36, life was good. You were at your peak, personally and professionally and you believed, as someone had told you many years ago, that as long as you were doing better than this time last year, that was a great benchmark.

Then you would find out that life can be harder than you would ever imagine, Anna. The change from being at the high-flying end of life to being a frequent flyer in hospital and endless appointments trying to cope with the after-effects of meningitis would wipe out years of progress and leave you struggling to do so many things that had previously come naturally. This will test your belief that everything happens for a reason like nothing else has.

But as someone who once described themselves as a Hobbesian Kantian, Anna, even in a world that seems bleak, you can always hope for the best. Giving up is clearly not the best way to deal with getting down. After all, can so many people really be wrong that life begins at forty?

Lots of Love, from, 39 year old Anna. xx

Next fortnight, as we continue the countdown to this Philosopher-In-Residence’s fortieth birthday, I’ll be musing On Forty. Join me and reflect, in true Make Me A Plan style, on where you are and where you want to be.

Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this topic you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning

PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Penny Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here: makemeaplan.com/news/the-season-of-goodwill/