Recently I received an email from my publisher.
My next book, Career Coaching for Midlife and Beyond, is now live on Amazon and their website, ready for release on 28 October.
I read through the description. It covers my background: decades of work in career psychology, retirement coaching, and my PhD at 64. Then I reached the line:
“Now in her late 60s…”
It caught me off guard.
Not because it’s inaccurate, I’m approaching 68, but because it landed with a kind of quiet finality. There’s a difference between thinking of yourself as “mid-60s” and recognising that you are now firmly in your late 60s.
I’m still fit. I still go to music festivals. I’m active. But I also notice I get more tired, and I need more time and space. I no longer feel the pull to chase the next big thing. Instead, I’m drawn to consolidate, to make space for what matters most now.
There’s a phase of life where we’ve done a lot. We’ve built, achieved, experimented, stretched ourselves. And then comes a time to slow the pace; not out of resignation, but out of choice. To be the person we are now, not the person we were five, ten, or even three years ago.
For me, this means leaning into spaciousness and depth rather than expansion. It means shaping the next chapter of life with care, so it fits who I am now. And it means accepting, even embracing, that I am ageing, and that my priorities are changing with me.
The book coming out this autumn feels like part of that. It’s the culmination of decades of work, and perhaps a marker that now is the right time to let some things settle. I’ll still be exploring new ideas, but with a different kind of energy. One that’s less about striving, and more about living in step with myself.
A few questions for you:
- Have you had a moment recently when a description of you, perhaps on paper, or in someone else’s words, made you pause and see yourself differently?
- Do you feel a shift from striving to settling, or from expansion to consolidation?
- How are you shaping your own next chapter so it fits who you are now?
I’d love to hear how this lands with you. What changes are you noticing in yourself as you move into your own next chapter?
