Empty Nest, or… Full Inhabitant of Life? I’ve been a mother for nearly 32 years now. I have 3 grown up children and 3 grandchildren. Although my youngest son is still at home, he has 1 foot out the door and to be honest, even though we share a house, I barely see him. The concept of ‘empty nest’ previously had me filled with absolute dread and with each child leaving the family home, that ‘fear’ seemed to get even more profound. Being a mum, is all I’ve ever known and although filled with the expected strains and stresses of parenting, I love being a mum (….actually, I should say ‘mam’, being from the north east of England)!! However, my mindset on this has altered dramatically over the past year or so. What I was not expecting with my children leaving, was the new lease of life that I have embraced. This has not been by conscious design nor by accident. As my children became less dependent on me, I gradually filled my time with new hobbies, making time for friends and sp...

Daily Niggles Lets get straight to it…..every day, there’s a new ache or pain. Often in the most random places. Sometimes, these little joys just suddenly appear at anytime of the day, with no rhyme or reason to why! Some of these niggles can be explained away by my perimenopausal symptoms. For instance joint pain, which I seem to predominantly experience in my fingers and toes (weird I know)! The generalised pain Then there’s the more unusual pains!! In the past year, I’ve had random pains in my, neck, collar bones, ribs and in my sternum…I can only associate these pains with previous fractures but that was 25 years ago and I’ve never had any issues with these areas until now! The Cyst There’s also been the sudden development of a ganglion cyst on the outside of my knee. I know this is not directly related to middle age but it does feel like just another deteriorating aspect of general wear and tear on my body. I must admit, this cyst is giving me the most awful pains and discomfort a...

My midlife journey to the wonderful tribe of grey My hair is one of the most significant changes I've experienced to date (amongst the multitude of other CHANGES that is going on in my midlife). Around 3 years ago, I decided I was no longer going to dye my hair and just embrace my au natural, grey fox vibes. Let me tell you this decision was met with some fierce objections that I don’t think I was prepared for. Less than supportive….many people tried to talk me out of it, telling me it would age me and ‘you will look like an OLD lady’ and ‘you're making a mistake…don’t do it’. Well….anyone who knows me well, will know that these type of comments just add fuel to my fiery feminist values and would result in the total opposite to their “friendly” advice. I had started to see grey in my hair in my 20s but had always dyed it, so wasn’t sure how it would look coming through…but I felt confident, that by now….it would be totally grey. I was not wrong. Although, there's stil...

Midlife skin care Ohh were to start…. Dryness, redness, wrinkles, jowls, sagging, age spots, eye bags. Fun, fun fun!!  It’s all going on. Today, I want to share with you, what I have experienced in regards to changes with my skin and what I’ve done about it. Some of it standard and what you’d expect….and some a bit more ‘out there’! We are all uniquely different and what I have experienced and found works for me, does not necessarily mean, it will be the same for you. What I will say though, is that you’ve got to experiment a little until you find what’s best for you…..and then be prepared to experiment again, as new changes start to appear! It's well recognised that diet, lifestyle and hydration can impact on our skin health. I will be covering these topics in other posts. Effects of alcohol in midlife Rosacea I’ve had redness and facial flushing for many years. What I now know, is that I have rosacea. This started in my 30’s and has progressively got worse as I aged. It’s o...

Midlife sobriety  So todays post is all about 1 major changes I’ve made to my diet and lifestyle. In the last year, I decided to give up alcohol. Main reason is the physical effects it has on my body. More so now but this has always been the case. You’d think after 47 years, I would instinctively know what my body can and cannot tolerate. Although to some extent this is true, the difference now is that I’m actually more inclined to listen to my body and do something about it, rather than ignore it. Effects of alcohol in midlife I’ve known from the very start of drinking anything alcoholic in my late teens, that my body was very sensitive to it. Not just in regards to getting drunk ridiculously quick but the wider, physiological changes that occur as a result.  For example, terrible tummy upset, palpitations, redness, flushing, dehydration, fatigue, irritable dry skin – Im not talking hangover stuff here and all of these symptoms had become exacerbated and more intense as I...