I didn’t plan to publish my first novel at 73. But someone younger needed to see it happen.
A reader, Savitree Kaur, commented on my Note about women openly sharing their ages here on Substack.
Savitree said that when she was younger, she imagined the “magical decades” would be women’s 50s and 60s. Not because of appearance. Because freedom seemed to begin there.
That stopped me for a minute.
Something is happening on Substack right now that I don’t think is happening in quite the same way anywhere else. Younger women are watching older women here for proof of what aging actually looks like. Not the version sold to us everywhere else. Not “how to look younger.” Not disappearing politely into the background. But women still building things, wanting more from life, including new beginnings.
I didn’t start my gardening business until I was 46. I sold it at 60. I published gardening books at 64 and 71, and my first novel at 73.
None of that followed the timeline I imagined when I was younger. I was going to retire at 55 and go to the beach. The life I actually built looked nothing like the one I planned — and it turned out to be more interesting than anything I could have designed in advance.
Many women spent decades building lives around responsibility, caregiving, or survival. Then somewhere later, they begin asking: what do I actually want now?
That question sounds simple. It isn’t. For some women it arrives like a quiet relief. For others it’s disorienting, even frightening, to want something again after so long spent making sure everyone else had what they needed. But we remind each other — it’s never too late.
I hear more and more women here saying and doing the things that make them feel visible again. Powerful. Alive.
And openly sharing their age matters, because younger women are watching for evidence that life does not narrow into irrelevance.
I’m still building. Still asking. And I think that’s the most honest thing I can offer anyone watching.
I hope women at 50, 60, 70, and 80+ keep shouting out their age and leading by example.
With what you know now, what would you tell your younger self or say to younger women of today?
Amen sister! Thank you for putting these thoughts to “paper” beautifully. I’m 55 and I feel what you are saying! I find myself wanting to cheer on every young woman and young mom on here. I never had the energy or headspace to truly start my writing while in my 33-year “corporate era” - not for not trying- but for the last decade I knew I wanted more and I made a plan to get here!
I’m still in the younger crowd (nearing 58) and still very much part of the work-a-day crowd—albeit, from home, which is ah-mazing!! I feel so fortunate to have found you and a few others here on Substack who are 70+ and still creating and living life to the fullest. I so appreciate that inspiration. And now that we’ve finally stayed in one place for 2.5 years and I feel that I can safely start putting down roots, I find myself venturing out and starting to create a community of women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. I love being around these older women and witnessing their vitality and soaking in their wisdom. It’s such a privilege. ❤️