Why Is It So Hard to Know When to Stop?

I was talking on BBC Radio 5 Live today about retirement in professional sport. Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football. Novak Djokovic, now 39, is once again prompting questions about how long he will continue playing. Serena Williams has returned to competitive tennis after several years away, while Venus Williams is still […]

Turning 65, Four Years On

Facebook gave me a memory today. Four years ago, on the day before my 65th birthday, I recorded a short video from Bluebell Wood. I had decided not to have a traditional birthday celebration. No balloons. No party. No big gathering. Instead, I was going to spend the day alone in the wood, in quiet […]

July Reflections

July was a month of writing, reflection and beginning to question the pace. For several months now, I’ve been publishing on Substack four times a week. By July, that rhythm had become almost normal. A Monday article, a paid reflection on Tuesday, another piece later in the week, and usually something more cultural or personal […]

Living With the Book: June Reflections

June was a month of arrival. After years of research, writing, and reflection, ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now was finally published. The launch itself was only one moment. What followed was something quieter and more interesting: conversations with readers, media interviews, reviews, reflections, and the gradual process of watching the book make its […]

Bringing ThriveSpan Into the World: May Reflections

May was a month of thresholds. After years of writing and several months of intensive preparation, ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now moved from being a manuscript and publishing project into a book ready to meet its readers. Much of the month was spent preparing for publication. Final adjustments, launch planning, advance copies, website […]

What Marks the End?

Last summer, I stepped away from career coaching. At least, that’s what I told people. I stopped taking on new clients. I closed down parts of my website. I began talking less about career development and more about ageing, meaning and later life. On paper, it looked as though the transition had already happened. But […]

Therapy After 60: It’s Not Too Late

There’s a quiet assumption that runs through a lot of conversations about getting older: that by the time you reach 60, you’ve already figured yourself out. You’ve raised the kids, built the career, weathered the losses. Whatever’s left, the thinking goes, you simply manage on your own. It’s a comforting story. It’s also wrong; and […]

Notes from April: Bringing ThriveSpan Into the World

April has been one of the busiest months I can remember. After years of thinking, writing, researching, revising, and refining, I finally signed off the manuscript for ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now. Reaching that point felt significant, though perhaps not in the dramatic way people sometimes imagine. More than anything, it brought a […]

Notes from March: Olderhood, Ideas, and Spring Reflections

Much of my writing this month explored themes that sit alongside my forthcoming book, ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now. Through a series of essays and reflections, I examined some of the assumptions that often shape discussions about ageing, particularly the tendency to view later life through the narrow lenses of work, productivity, and […]

Something Shifts: Rethinking Later Life Through the ThriveSpan Framework

There are moments when a piece of work arrives not as a sudden idea, but as something that has been quietly forming over many years. I’m pleased to share that my peer reviewed paper, Reframing later life: The ThriveSpan framework for ages 60–80, has now been published in the Journal of the National Institute for […]