Words of affirmation are powerful tools for creating a positive headspace and manifesting the life you want to live. Saying a specific mantra at a set time each day or during challenging moments can help you stay grounded and true to who you are at your core and provide the encouragement you need to persevere through life’s ups and downs.
Why Women Over 40 Should Make Time for Daily Affirmations
Affirmations make you feel good, and there’s science to back up that they are good for your mental and physical health. Giving yourself the gift of self-love can lower your cortisol response to stress, make you feel more component and worthy, and even encourage you to be more physically active.
That’s important for everyone, particularly the 1 in 4 women in America who are over 40 whose lives can be full of changes physically and mentally. Women in their 40s may feel “sandwiched” by the demands of caring for both children and aging parents at the same time, and though building a career or raising a family can be wonderful and meaningful stages of life, the stress and exhaustion of your responsibilities may cause you to put your own well-being last. Sex drive can change, as well. For the better in some instances, thanks to increased confidence and better communication skills, while others find their interest in sex takes a hit due to stress, busy schedules, and fluxuating hormones. There are financial changes in your 40s and beyond, too. For example, women hit their peak earning potential at 44, and people age 39-53 make up 24% of recent home buyers.
During this time of deepenging wisdom, transitions, and challenges, using targeted words of affirmation that relate to the specificities of where you’re at can provide real benefits to your quality of life. To find the best daily affirmations specifically for women over 40, DailyOM consulted experts. Here’s what they advise
Choosing the Right Affirmations For Your 40s and Beyond
According to self-love coach Katie Lips, author of Love Yourself & Lose Weight: The Success Story of Self Love, the 40+ life stage is an exciting stage of life for women. “We have learned so much, whether we have nurtured long term relationships, developed careers, had children, launched businesses — women have done a lot by 40,” she tells DailyOM. “We have a wealth of power, knowledge, and insight.”
This is why, she says, that the best affirmation for a woman over 40 is likely to be different from an affirmation for a woman in her early twenties, simply because they’re dealing with different things. “Around this time, we often take time to evaluate our journeys,” she says. You may ask yourself questions like: Am I happy with where I am and where I am headed? Do I need to make some tweaks here and there to my life? Or perhaps more radical changes?
Selecting affirmations specific to your emotional goals or circumstances can help you become the best, most grounded version of yourself as you live your 40s and beyond.
The Difference Between Speaking Affirmations and Manifesting
Affirmations are positive statements that can help you stay grounded in the present, maintain a mindself of self-love and compassion, and allow you to mentally support yourself during challenging times. An affirmation practice is similar to a manifestation practice in that it helps you focus on the possibilities, rather than the limitations, in your life but it’s less focused on goal setting and more on creating a hopeful mindset.
How to Practice Daily Affirmation
When it comes to creating your daily affirmation practice, there aren’t any hard and fast rules, so explore to find what you’re most comfortable with to maintain your routine. The experts say it’s more important to commit to a daily practice than it is to quote-unquote “do it right.”
You can speak your affirmations, whisper them, or write them in any way that works for you. For instance, speaking your affirmation into a mirror while making eye contact with yourself can be extremely powerful, but it may also feel like too much for some people. You may prefer to speak your affirmation to yourself quietly while you lie in bed before you go to sleep at night or when you first wake up in the morning.
Affirmations can also become part of your existing practices. You could tack an affirmation on to the end of your meditation practice, or be used when you’re feeling overwhelmed or challenged. For example, if you’re having a tough moment at the office, you could duck outside and say your affirmation as you take a walk around the block. If you’re just starting out, you could even just think your affirmation silently or write it in a journal and then build up to saying the words out loud.
The Best Affirmations for Women Over 40
1. Affirmations for self love, appreciation and acceptance
“I love and accept myself.” “I appreciate myself.” “I am awesome!” “I take care of myself.”
Why these daily affirmations for women over 40 work: Lips says that women over 40 may benefit from self-love affirmations both to offer day-to-day self-love and happiness and to help with big shifts in confidence and self-worth.
“Many women at this age are embarking on radical transformation journeys,” she says, explaining that after building self-acceptance, it’s important to foster self-appreciation. “I want people to really know and feel why they’re so special.” To do this, start with a basic affirmation, like the examples above. Then, she encourages women to create longer, deeply personal, and specific affirmations that draw upon their gifts and the impact they have on themselves and on the world.
An example of this would be: “I love and accept myself today and every day. I’m utterly fabulous and bring joy to others. I love spending time each day with nature to refresh my mind, body and soul. The value I bring through my beautiful creations enables me to live in abundance."
Interested in learning more? Check out Positive Affirmations to Start Your Day
2. Affirmations for healing from trauma
“I am at peace. I am whole.” “I am happy and calm.”
Why these daily affirmations for women over 40 work: After experiencing loss or trauma, the act of repeating an affirmation tells your brain that you’re actively healing, Lips says. “Affirmations work well because they allow you a short amount of concentrated time to focus on healing,” she explains. She adds, “If someone wants to overcome loss, I would focus on the desired end state of feeling a sense of acceptance and calm.”
The expert suggests saying these positive affirmations in the present tense, even if you’re not actually in that state of mind yet, as it helps to imagine what it will feel like to be there and brings that trainstion about much more quickly.
3. Affirmations for dealing with stress and burnout
“I am doing my best and my best is enough.” “My self-worth is not tied to my productivity, my appearance, my weight, or my likability.” “I don’t have to be perfect.” “Rest is essential and not something that has to be earned.” “I can always begin again.”
Why these daily affirmations for women over 40 work: According to psychotherapist Liz Kelly, LICSW, affirmations are a powerful way to take control of your inner critic. When you feel overwhelmed, talking to yourself in a positive voice can help control the negative narrative of stress and encourage motivation instead.
“If you let that negative voice go unchecked, this can lead to feelings of anxiety, sadness, frustration, disappointment, and burnout,” Kelly tells DailyOM. “If you can shift a thought like ‘I never do anything right,’ to ‘I will do my best and learn from my mistakes,’ then you will likely feel hopeful and curious about taking on new challenges.”
4. Affirmations for self-compassion and empathy
“My emotions are valid and important.” “I will treat myself with the same kindness that I would show a loved one or a cherished friend.” “I am grateful for the ability to give and receive love.”
Why these daily affirmations for women over 40 work: When you get to your 40s, Kelly says, you have likely realized that everyone is fighting their own battle, and that no one has it all together all the time. You may find you’re more forgiving of others than when you were younger. However, many of us still need to work on extending this grace inward.
“Affirmations [are] reminders that it’s important to show empathy toward ourselves just like we would do for a friend,” Kelly says. Honoring your emotions and experiences without judgment allows you to foster self-compassion and continue to make your headspace positive and motivating, rather than self-defeating.
5. Affirmations for celebrating wisdom, growth and experience
“My life is running on my own timeline and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.” “I am so much wiser than I used to be.”
Why these daily affirmations for women over 40 work: At this stage of life, it’s easy to ruminate over where we think we “should” be in life or what we “should” have by now and compare our circumstances to others, says yoga, meditation, and mindfulness teacher Melaney Wolf, founder of Integrated Yoga Healing.
“In reality, our lives are playing out on our own timeline and things happen for us when we’re ready for them to come in,” she tells DailyOM. “Acceptance of this idea is a life-changer.” You can use affirmations like these to celebrate your own growth and experience, rather than fall into the comparison trap. Keeping your focus on your own timeline helps you live within your personal values and continue to build self-trust.
The Bottom Line
Affirmations are tools we all have access to that can help us deal with stress, feel our happiest, and handle the inevitable bumps along our journey with self-compassion, self-acceptance, and self-love. Repeat after us: I am doing the best I can, one step at a time.
