I’m a very different person in my 40s than I was in my 30s.

I’m not sure if it’s because my standards have slipped - or is it that my priorities are clearer? I think it’s a mix of both.

Yes, I’ve done the usual ‘growing up’ stuff. I’ve gone from buying clothes as soon as they're released to waiting until they're in the outlet at least 20 per cent off the sale price.

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I don’t get my hair coloured religiously every four weeks in terror of one white hair showing.

I’ve learnt never to buy a pair of sunnies you can't easily afford to replace - a finance lesson and a mum pro tip, because sunnies are apparently delicious when you don't have teeth.

But it’s more than that. It’s deeper. I’m - dare I say it - wiser. And that’s made me realise I made some major life mistakes in my 30s. For example:

1. My views on marriage.

When I announced to a friend that I was leaving my husband, 12 years ago, she was very "concerned" for me.

“But what about the status of being married,” she asked, worried my reputation was about to take a battering becoming the dreaded ‘single mum’.

I dismissed her concerns… but, secretly, a seed was planted in my mind – and in my 30s, sometimes I was self-conscious when I had to explain to people I was a single mum.

Thanks, society’s expectations and prioritisation of couples.

I would also sometimes doubt myself - was I going to be enough as a parent and a person on my own?

But in my 40s, looking at how far I’ve come since the divorce, looking at my greatest achievement – my incredible son – I know I’m enough as a person, and enough as a mother, too.

2. Age is a state of mind.

In my 30s, I felt time was slipping away as I was in the trenches with motherhood. Had I become enough, done enough? I turned 40 knowing I was hungry for more. I was not ‘done’ with life. But could I do it? Could I go after my dreams at middle-age?

At lot of people said no.

In fact, one man said to me at my farewell dinner, “I give you six months and then you’ll be back. You’re 41, you’re too used to Adelaide, you won’t make it in Sydney.”

I know it’s not common for single mums to do this, but thanks to Mia Freedman who took a chance on me, I packed us up and moved to Sydney to start a different career and life. It was a dream come true, and I’ve never looked back.

But no matter how much I wanted it, I would never have had the confidence in my 30s to move states as a single parent without any family or established network waiting for me on the other side. I would have listened to that dude at my dinner.

In my 40s, I know myself much better. I knew I’d survived a lot and could totally back myself.

3. Wear the bodycon dress.