Self-Reinvention?

When I was in Wal-Mart the other day, I was glad to see that on the exercise video shelf they had increased the proportion of regular compared to inappropriate selections (see previous post on this topic).

I picked up a couple of DVDs. When I finally got around to opening them, the Kathy Smith one had within it an offer for a free year's subscription to the magazine, More. This from their promo statements:

More is the only magazine that celebrates smart, sophisticated 40+ women's interests in fashion, health, beauty, travel, and self-reinvention.

What on earth is self-reinvention? And who does it? And what makes a new hobby or interest "self-reinvention" as opposed to just trying something new? If one is younger than 40 does one try new things, but after 40 one self-reinvents?

So perhaps my recent foray into contemporary literature is self-reinvention. After checking my "sent mail" folder, I see that I finished my first Stephanie Plum mystery seven days shy of my 40th birthday; and that book was really the beginning of the new reading direction for me. So I suppose I can say it is just a new hobby since it started prior to my birthday.

I guess my interest in fire-arms, which started in about September, must be self-reinvention. I was a 40+ woman at that time.

I also have been in the mood to shop lately. As anyone who knows me well probably know, I don't shop the way the stereotypical woman shops. I go to Wal-Mart and occasionally an alternate grocery store; periodically a hardware store or bookstore. Maybe twice a year, we plan a "family shopping day," which involves driving to either Grand Forks or Bemidji to hit the second hand stores. That's it. Since we moved to this area six years ago, I have been in a mall maybe four times, all with a specific purpose and an in-and-out mentality to get the one item I need and leave.

But suddenly, I want to shop. I want to spend a day wandering through a mall looking in the store windows, checking out clearance racks, and just spending money frivolously. I have been wondering about this "breech of personality." But now I know that it is because I am a 40+ woman. I am just engaging in self-reinvention.

About a year ago, Joe and I started to have a mixed drink when we went downstairs on Fridays to have "family movie night" with the kids. We have an Old Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartending Guide. And it has been fun to try some interesting adult beverages. But since that started before my birthday, I guess that, too is just a new interest.

Although, probably, we started that about the time of Joe's 40th birthday, so maybe men engage in self-reinvention when they are 40+ also. I wonder if there is a magazine just suited to their needs. Something like:

More, for Men is the only magazine that celebrates intelligent, suave, 40+ men's interests in technology, sports, prostate health, and self-reinvention.