‘A call to action to love ourselves’: how women in their 50s can leave the shadows

As roles and circumstances change, women in their 50s can look inwards and find a deep acceptance of themselves

It happened to me the other day when I was on holiday on my own. I was sitting on a beach, sun hat on, book in hand, and I found myself watching the young families around me and realising I no longer fitted in. More than that, I didn't really know where I actually did fit in. I imagined them looking at me and thinking - if they thought anything at all - that I was some sort of remaindered woman, husband-less, child-less, sitting reading like a washed-up former heroine of a novel.

It was a moment". But, then again, over the last six years since I turned 50, I've been experiencing so many moments" that it now feels pretty much like a constant buzz of dis-ease within me. I have, over the years, turned from someone who is generally prone to happiness and a sort of sustaining optimism, to someone who feels somewhat irrelevant.