I am, for the first time in years, feeling genuinely excited about the future. Things are shifting into place that mean I am feeling as though the change I have been trying to bring about is actually starting to happen. And it’s exciting.
The first thing that has me really excited about the future is the joint venture I am working on with my friend, Claire. She’s a phenomenal woman who I connected with as soon as I saw her on her YouTube channel. I knew I knew her somehow. I knew she lived in the same corner of the world as me and as it has transpired, we know many of the same places and share many of the same beliefs. I have coached her from a business perspective, and she has helped me through some of the most challenging moments of my life. She doesn’t judge, she provides unstinting support and says what you need to hear not what you want to hear. So, when she suggested we go into business together I didn’t hesitate to say yes.
The business will be based on Skool and we are currently creating the content for it. We will be providing a number of different courses based around coaching and spirituality, and in the exchange of skills and knowledge I have been really inspired. I’m not going to say more than that except that it is focused purely on helping people to realise their best lives. Most specifically middle-aged women, but I do think everyone can take something from what we are offering.
This is exciting for me because, as a woman of a certain age, I have been following recent social media discussions about ageism. I have read the heartbreaking stories of people who have been in their careers for years, who have significant skills and experience, having been made redundant and now feeling they have been consigned to the scrap heap. They can’t get another job and the implication in all the stories is that their age is certainly going against them. And I don’t disagree. In the UK public sector, when someone hits 55 their pension kicks in and the costs of making them redundant goes through the roof. My budgets in previous roles have had to bear that burden, and I know that the public sector will be reluctant to employ me for the same reason. I also feel that older staff are a threat to younger managers who may feel that they will be judged. Maybe they will, but if leads to them doing their jobs better isn’t that a bonus? Though they’re more like to be worried that their jobs will be stolen. An oft-repeated underlying fear for people with or without the imposter syndrome.
When I read these stories, my heart goes out to these people. But I do wonder why they keep banging their head against the same brick wall. The definition of madness is, after all, doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. Which is why I have chosen to start this business with Claire and to continue with my writing. To become the driver of my own destiny. If corporates and others don’t want you, want yourself. Put yourself out there even if it means doing some retraining which is what I am also doing.
There are other aspects to my life that are really exciting but which I am not prepared to talk about on here just yet. I have plans for my private life which are daunting, but the potential around them is exciting. The freedom in my future. And there is another element, a nostalgic one in a way, that is incredibly exciting. The chance to experience again a connection that was always powerful. In many ways it, too, is daunting but in both instances I am up for the challenge.
As 2025 starts to draw to a close, I am looking towards 2026. And I think it could, finally, be the year when the transition I have been wanting in my life, the transition I have been working towards for so long, finally happens.
I just have (another) little health hurdle to overcome first…
Louisa Simpson 