14/12/2025
Yesterday I turned 65.
Today I am 65… and one day.
I recently read a wise piece written by a woman on her 65th birthday. I meant to save it. I didn’t.
And right there was the lesson.
Because the truth is — no one really marks the moment for you.
And no one is obliged to.
What I’m learning & loving, is this: the most important thing we must tend to is our inner world — and to lead with love.
I grew up shaped by deep social conditioning. Loving parents, yes — but also turbulence, drama & complexity. I followed passions that led to other passions. I lived through 2 marriages, profound family loss, the joy of 2 amazing sons, a long partnership, the running of a charity born from grief & love, and the building of my own solo business — now 17.5 years & counting.
Recently along the way, I realised I needed self-compassion. And radical awareness.
As a woman wired to make sure everyone is okay first plus spending so much of life trying to prove we are worthy, successful, enough - such an external existence. It’s an exhausting way to live.
No handbook exists for when we are thrown into a wild, prickly forest with no clear path. When we finally reach a clearing, we’re bruised, scratched, wounded but forget to pause & allow healing to start. Even when the path clears, healing takes time.
I now see — through vulnerability & courage — is how often I didn’t recognise the depth of those wounds. I kept moving. I didn’t pause. I often didn’t allow healing to begin.
At 65, and particularly this past year, I finally turned inward. I found compassion for myself. And allowed a healing that had been patiently waiting in the wings.
Late June, after an extraordinary adventure in Portugal & the UK, a new life arrived. A little girl. My first grandchild.
She opened my heart as wide as her beautiful, big round eyes 💗
Watching my son & his wife become parents has been a joy I didn’t anticipate, awakening memories of his childhood & my own.
This chapter is deeply precious to me.
And it’s also perfectly okay if it isn’t to you.
That’s the quiet freedom I feel at 65.
And the gratitude.
Thank you for the love, kindness & connection — past and present.
Andrea 🙏🏼♥️
