Looking for 40th Birthday Ideas? Bear Hug it with Your Stories!

NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Approaching the Big 4-0? Creaking knees, thinning hair, and the struggle for balance are inevitable, but with the right attitude, life just keeps getting better! Kari Loya embodies Charles Bukowski's famous words: "We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."

Loya boldly embraced his fortieth birthday in unique fashion by writing an anecdotal memoir, My Top 40 at 40: Making the First Half Count, A Modern Man's Story Collection (www.MyTop40at40.com, XK Productions). "This gave me a chance to take stock of the first half of my life in a fun way," Loya explains, "and get fired up for the second half!" The humorous, inspiring collection of short stories, which spans six continents and two decades, gives readers a sense that anything is possible with the right mindset.

"Story by story by story, Kari Loya's My Top 40 at 40 becomes a primer on the alchemy of adventure," writes Gary Smith, senior writer for Sports Illustrated and four-time National Magazine Award-winner. "After he's carried you up mountains crawling with tarantulas, plunged you in mud volcanoes and man-eating Cuban potholes, taken you on a sleep-over atop a Guatemalan pyramid, introduced you to frightening Serbian giants and Japanese sumo wrestlers and taught you how to transform an Argentinean beauty into a wife, it dawns on you: the tarantulas and mud volcanoes and pyramids and giants are all just wonderful props. The magic all occurs in the spirit and imagination of one human being...who could be you."

So what makes up that spirit and imagination? Three things, Loya says:

1. Approach life with a story paradigm. "When you realize you're the hero of your own adventure, that you're in the middle of your own story, you start to pay more attention and you think, 'Well, how do I want this story to go?' That simple thought nudges you forward with a boost of energy to get the stories you want to get!"
2. Write your life report card, akin to Stephen Covey's principle-based mission statement. "Mine includes radiating positive energy, being responsible, being real (telling it like it is), being adventurous (taking risks, trying new things, loving challenges), and so on—if it were tied to a full head of hair, I'd be in trouble!" Loya laughs.
3. Never lose sight of the basics: eat well, sleep well, exercise, and have fun. "You can cut corners in the short-term, but it ALWAYS comes back to bite folks over time. Success in one area often brings with it years of therapy, rehab, etc. trying simply to restore a basic lifestyle foundation."

Loya is an Emmy-winning voice-over artist who has voiced everything from Olympic promos to in-flight videos for many Fortune 500 companies including NBC, Delta, and L'Oreal. He records regularly in both English and Spanish. Since 2003, he has also served as the Director of Institutional Advancement for The Dwight School Foundation, the development arm of a prestigious international school in New York City with campuses in London, Vancouver Island, Beijing, and Seoul. When asked how he managed to find time to complete his book project, Loya replied with a smile, "I make every minute count!" He wrote the majority of the book during his daily commute.

Loya holds an MBA from Columbia University and graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a BA in History. Loya lives outside New York City with his wife and daughter. The book is available at Amazon (amzn.to/MTclRr) and Barnes & Noble (bit.ly/MukxnQ) as a Hardcover ($24.95, 252 pages, ISBN: 978-0-9847637-0-2) and as a Kindle e-book in English ($9.95, ISBN: 978-0-9847637-2-6). You can learn more at YouTube (bit.ly/LBWuRC), Facebook (on.fb.me/Knr1X6), and Pinterest (bit.ly/TKyNPo).  Reach Kari directly at [email protected] or Twitter @Kari_Loya.

SOURCE XK Productions, LLC