KRISTINA CASSAR DOWLING talks to JONATHAN SHAW about his new book #Forty in what turns out to be the intriguing back story to a life lesson. 

Age. It’s only a matter of time till we all blow out our next birthday cake candles; close our eyes tightly, hold our breath just a little and make that cliché wish we always make. This story works in two, maybe three ways… you’re either still young enough to enjoy blowing out those candles; embarrassed at the amount of candles taking up all the space on the cake; or possibly you’re grateful for every candle on your cake.

Age. It’s a tough one to put your finger on; are you as old as you feel or as old as you look? Every age has its hang ups. Jonathan Shaw, author of #Forty gives the stages in our life a meaning. He states that “every decade has a purpose” and, with his newly-launched book, explains the lessons he’s learnt on turning 40.

Jonathan Shaw

Jonathan is motivated by change. Now, seeing that change is inevitable, Jonathan’s challenge is to drive himself to “make things happen”. Finding solutions, making connections and transforming fluttering thoughts into great ideas is what helps him wake up with a positive mindset every morning.

During his recent sabbatical – a break away from the structures of society and the expectations life demands of us – Jonathan started to jot some of his thoughts down on a notepad, old school journaling style. As he travelled and he had time and space to reflect, his thoughts gained some sort of clarity, his pen scribbled down what his mind was experiencing and the pages started to fill up.

Back on the rock, Jonathan mentioned this therapeutic system of putting pen to paper and discussed the text on his notepad with Jo Caruana and Chris Peregin – two big names in Malta’s content industry. Impressed and excited by the thought process within the notepad, Jo and Chris urged Jonathan to sort out the contents, give his writing structure and wrap a cover around it.

This journal needed to be published. Together, they sieved through the thinking process, narrowed the 70 original concepts down to 30 and voila: #Forty was created. His catalyst in this process was Mikela Fenech Pace, a friend who edited his transcript. Her familiarity with his mindset helped to retain the authenticity of the book.

Before understanding the message of this book, Jonathan tells me that readers need to be on the same wavelength about the purpose of its contents and the reason for which it was created. #Forty is a book of reflection, a book to help create a sort of resurgence in the mind, body and soul. Jonathan does not wish for it to be considered a self-help book as, he believes that every book has a take home message.

With his story it’s all about taking time for yourself, discovering something new about your life and channelling your reflections to be the change.

In his Introduction, Jonathan compares life to a book. This reminded me of St Augustine of Hippo’s famous quote : “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”. Now, seeing as travel is what motivated him in the first place to write a collection of anecdotes that were not intended to be published, I’d say the philosopher from Hippo and our local entrepreneur are onto something. He urges his readers to take time off from their regular routine to exploit their ‘current’ – a concept mentioned in his first chapter. His choice of words instills a clarity in his creative process, using phrases like “invest time in yourself” as opposed to “waste time on yourself”, to drill in the importance of change.

Jonathan’s notebook of life lessons were translated into an inward looking manuscript featuring 30 concepts, each illustrated with three scenarios and additional exercises to envisage each session with a different perspective. There is no order to the book, each session adds value to life just by reading it, should thinking time be allocated of course. Thinking, processing and then acting is what helps instigate change, and #Forty is there to help.

“The process of writing was a journey in itself,” Jonathan explains, as he delves into the creative process adopted when scribing away. “There’s an energy connected to the way we write stuff down, putting pen to paper is an investment in the way we think, the way we look at things and suss them out.”

This change that Jonathan felt when he hit 40 evoked a purpose and curiosity in his life; there are lessons within his book that he himself still admits to struggling with, but here’s to hoping his next 40 will be as clear, concise and inspiring as his first #Forty.

#Forty - be the change is published by Midsea books and is available from WHSmith and Agenda bookshops.

This feature was first published in September's edition of Circle magazine.