​As I have lived for eighty-three or so years I should be able to write about ageing.  However, I am not quite sure what that is! I know that there are perceptions in society about ageing, particularly for women. There is the perception that a woman past her child-bearing years is not fully a woman any more. How mad is that in reality? ​

​I remember the time when I thought that thirty was too old to ride a horse, forty was too old to play cricket, fifty was too old to make love and sixty was the end. In a way I’d given up on all the activities that I valued before I’d even started because I saw age as a barrier to the joy of activity. Paradoxically youth was also a barrier for me because I had this belief that ageing was essential for me to be able to stand out and lead and change the world – and, as they say ‘have the courage of my own convictions’. 

When I look back at photos of myself in my early fifties, I see a gorgeous woman but I know this is not how I remember my body. My recollection is of feeling insecure, that I was getting to the age of being ‘past it’. I could no longer pretend I was young anymore. My periods had finished and I thought I was going to shrivel and dry up in every sense. My skin was starting to become wrinkly, whereas up until then, I had been in the illusion that the wrinkles didn’t show or I could hide them with makeup.

Build rituals from the menu below to create a rhythm in your life so that it flows:
-  Walking
-  Food 
-  Exercise
-  What you love to do
-  Home
-  Connecting with people
​-  Meditation