Life & Lessons

What Life Has Taught Me

By the time you reach 60, you have collected more than birthdays. You have collected stories, mistakes, memories, disappointments, successes and lessons — some learned gently and others learned the hard way.

I certainly haven’t got everything right.

There are decisions I would make differently if I could go back. There are things I worried about that turned out not to matter, and things I took for granted that I now realise mattered enormously.

But that’s life. We live, we learn, and hopefully we become a little wiser along the way.

I Don’t Want to Live in the Past

Looking back can teach us something, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wishing I had done things differently.

I can’t change yesterday.

What I can change is what I do with today.

At this stage of my life, I’m learning that peace is precious. I don’t want unnecessary drama. I don’t want to spend my energy trying to please everybody or explaining myself to people determined to misunderstand me.

I’m learning that sometimes it’s perfectly fine to say no.

And sometimes it’s perfectly fine to choose yourself.

Family Changes as We Get Older

Family has always been a huge part of my life.

But something interesting happens as the years pass. Children grow up. They build lives of their own. Relationships change. Parents get older. Then suddenly you find yourself becoming the older generation.

And then, if you’re lucky, grandchildren arrive.

Becoming a grandmother has brought a completely different kind of joy into my life. There’s something wonderful about seeing the world again through the eyes of a little person.

It has also reminded me that life keeps moving forward.

There are still new memories to make.

Ageing Doesn’t Make Us Invisible

One thing I want to challenge on this blog is the idea that women somehow become invisible as they get older.

No, thank you.

I still care about how I look. I still want to dress up. I still want to travel, laugh, meet interesting people, try new things and occasionally do something that makes my children wonder what I’m up to.

I’m still me.

Perhaps I’m actually more myself now than I’ve ever been.

There is freedom in reaching an age where you begin to realise that everybody else’s opinion doesn’t have to control your life.

I’m Still Learning

The funny thing about getting older is that you realise you never actually finish learning.

I’m learning about myself.

I’m learning about relationships.

I’m learning about technology — although some days technology and I are definitely not friends!

I’m learning what deserves my energy and what doesn’t.

Most importantly, I’m learning that starting again doesn’t always mean you’ve failed.

Sometimes starting again simply means you’ve grown.

The Lessons Continue

This part of Love, Life & Lessons: My Next Chapter will be about those lessons — family, friendship, confidence, mistakes, ageing, happiness, difficult days and the ordinary moments that unexpectedly teach us something.

Some conversations will be serious.

Some will probably make us laugh.

And some might make us look at life a little differently.

At 60, I don’t have all the answers.

But I have plenty of stories — and I’m still writing new ones.