Kotb reflected on turning 59 and looking forward to her 60s during Tuesday's episode of 'Today.'
Hoda Kotb is excited about aging!
The Today show co-anchor reflected on celebrating her 59th birthday with her family last week and what she's most excited about as she prepares to enter her 60s.
"I had a great birthday celebration. I had my mom, my sister, my brother, my nieces, my sister-in-law -- everybody came. We had cakes and parties, and we celebrated, and it was great," Kotb shared.
Kotb opened up about the special celebration on Tuesday's Today show, where she said amid all the fun and family time, is what she's realized about getting older.
"Here's the great thing I realized, is I turned 59 this year, and I am so happy to be 59 this year. I feel so good about it," she gushed. "If you're worried about aging, and I know that aging's a thing, 59 is amazing. It's an amazing year."
Kotb continued. "And when I woke up and I thought about it, I was like, I closed my eyes, and imagined and I pictured what I have around me, and I was thinking to myself, 'I'm 59-years-old. I have two incredible kids. I have my mom here and my sister, and my brother and my sister-in-law and my nieces,' and I kept thinking to myself, 'I'm smiling. I'm closing my eyes and I'm smiling.'" And if you do that, you know that -- it's like, there's a lot of good things ahead."
The change in perspective has allowed Kotb to re-examine how she looks at aging and how she looks at the future, telling co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager that she's focusing on the present moment instead of looking too far ahead.
"Look, life is a blink," Kotb stressed. "Turn around. Watch what's happening. Watch the news. You're here and then you're not. Life is like that, so you have to be in it. You can't be regretting."
It's made her excited to enter her 60s, with Kotb adding that she can see a full and fulfilled decade ahead.
"Sometimes I close my eyes, and I picture my life, like how do I see myself in my 60s, and I actually feel so full," she said. "I can see what my 60s are gonna feel like, and I like that feeling. And I want to think like, 'What's my life gonna be ahead?' I don't want to sit here like, 'Oh god. Oh. Bleh.' Who cares?!"
Kotb continued, "59 is glorious. Glorious. glorious. Thank you to be 59."
"I'm excited about all the birthdays," she added. "I'm not like, 'Ugh, God, how old are you? Ugh.' No. Say it. Say it."
59 also promises some exciting ventures for the mother of two, whose new children's book, Hope Is a Rainbow, comes out March 5, 2024.
Inspired by her 4-year-old daughter, Hope Catherine, Kotb shared the inspiration for the uplifting book.
"It was based on my daughter, who, of course, I dreamt of her and hoped for her and her name just fell in. And it just reminds me, and she reminds me that hope's around every corner," Kotb shared earlier this month. No matter what you go through, no matter what hardship you endure."
The book is all about the importance of optimism and having a positive outlook -- something the now 59-year-old clearly has!
Kotb adopted Hope in 2019 with her now ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman. The pair are also parents to Haley Joy, 6, who they adopted two years prior.
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