If you are confronting a midlife crisis, put up a fight – and take up boxing

At 50, I knew I was trapped in a gentle, terminal decline. But when I stumbled on boxing, I found the challenge I needed

Modern life has made us all so ill that we have been compelled to invent its polar opposite, "wellness". It is not enough just to be well, there is an additional demand to be seen to be well. Wellness is complicated and needs time, money and access to special food, travel and social media. By chance in middle age, I discovered a cheaper, simpler and more enjoyable alternative: I took up boxing.

Boxing is cheap, unpretentious, sociable and has transformative powers. On the outside I am an ordinary 56-year-old woman, but on the inside, after six years' boxing training, I have surpassed notions of "wellness". I can also skip for England and throw a great jab.