Seasoned Voices
Last spring, I got together with four women who, like me, are exploring this aging journey through their passions, interests, and reflections. We got together for support, tips, and friendship. But we soon decided we also wanted to work together to offer you something different. Seasoned Voices was born.
Painting by Pearl Richard.
Seasoned Voices. Five women writers, each coming to writing along differing paths. Five women eager to speak the truth about growing older.
Flavoured with insight and infused with heart, our words carry the simple belief that stories matter. Stories that bubble up as we reflect on the unexpected freedoms and surprising adventures of this time of life. Stories that break through the surface when we refuse to shrink into aging’s tired stereotypes. Together we draw inspiration from retirement’s blank canvas, filling it with broad strokes of wonder, truths told a little raw, and the vibrancy of possibilities cracked wide open.
Let me introduce you to the four women who I will be joining as we embark on this journey.
The Pits and Pieces by Pearl Richard
My blog, The Pits and Pieces, is where I can practice being a writer. It is a little corner on the internet where I articulate my thoughts, opinions, comment on books I’ve read, show my attempts at art (and even poetry). It is where I ponder this aging journey as a woman, and hopefully, connect with other women on a similar path of reflection and discovery. Some people create scrapbooks and photo albums, I journal and write and blog.
Blogging can be a vulnerable thing, in that you allow others a glimpse into your interior life. And that interior may be messy and chaotic, sometimes unpredictable, sometimes rich and meandering. You are allowing others to form opinions and judgements on that interior life. Writing is a solitary pursuit. But once you launch your words, not knowing where they may land, you expose yourself. You throw out thoughts and words, reach out a hand, inviting people to simply read, or read and engage, not knowing what may return to you. My hope is that I find myself in a network, perhaps an unseen community but a community nonetheless, that helps us thrive in this stage of life. Read Pearl’s blog posts HERE.
Travel Bug Tonic by Tracy Smyth
I never set out to be a writer. But somewhere along the way, I realised that writing was a surprisingly effective way to make sense of our beautiful, bewildering world. Travel Bug Tonic emerged from that impulse, as a space to explore how travel and wellbeing braid together, especially as I navigate this unfolding season of midlife where everything seems to be shifting… including me.
Writing is how I slow down enough to hear myself think. It is how I collect the threads of meaning that would otherwise slip past. It is also how I turn experience into something that feels like an invitation rather than advice. On my blog, I experiment with weaving wellbeing into the way I travel, play with awe as a daily practice, and tell the truth about the missteps, detours, and the inevitable misadventures that often leave the deepest impressions and the most useful lessons.
Mine is not a blog about chasing countries or conquering bucket lists. Instead, I write to uncover curiosity, playfulness, and gratitude for the ‘tonic’ travel offers us, whether it’s across the globe or five minutes from home.
My hope is that readers will laugh, nod along, and maybe feel nudged to create their own small or big adventures, just as I’m learning to do in this season of life. Read Tracy’s blog HERE.
The Precious Days by Linda Keating
There was a joke going around social media:
Them: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Me: “Retired.”
Ba dum dum. In my case, pretty accurate.
Retiring. That was the door that would open up space to consciously live the challenges and triumphs of later life. Retirement is a fresh, clean page, an expansive landscape on which to center the everyday fears, longings, musings, and choices that I believe I have in common with so many women of a certain age.
Writing. That would be my medium. I have flirted with being a writer since middle school. It started with a few poems, then pieces published in the high school newspaper. As a college English major, my passion for writing essays took top priority. Then the work world took over, and my love of writing took a backseat to the tasks of my profession. When I retire, I thought, I’ll have time to write.
Blogging. My first retirement goal was to set up my blog, The Precious Days. I write about my retirement as a journey to discovering new meaning in later life, exploring a self free from work identity, hustle culture, and pressure. It’s a blog about slowing down, examining life - past, present, and future, and living those precious days with curiosity, reflection, and gratitude.
Read Linda’s blog HERE.
W.I.S.E.R. Women by Joan Ridsdel
I haven’t always thought of myself as a writer. I journaled off and on for decades until 2016(ish) when I began my blog. It was only then that writing became a meaningful and regular part of my life.
Although writing was and is an act of self-expression, it quickly became more than that, a way to explore my own growth, to help make sense of being a woman in midlife, and to offer reflections that I hope support others walking alongside me.
In my work as a life coach, I support women in midlife and beyond to navigate change with more ease and compassion. I created The Tap and Write Studio, a safe space for women navigating transitions, ready to release outdated beliefs, connect deeply within, find clarity and inner wisdom through a unique combination of EFT tapping and therapeutic/reflective writing.
I joined Seasoned Voices, an amazing group of writers, because connection, community and supporting one another reflects my personal and professional values. I look forward to adding my voice and reflections to the rich tapestry of experiences we all bring to the page. Read Joan’s blog HERE.
We will be using the seasons to guide our shared blogging adventure, bringing our individual perspectives to common themes. Our hope is that our collaboration will feel like a conversation among women of a certain age – gritty and real in some places, lit by reflection in others. Prior to embarking on each blog post, I will be meeting with these women for our own conversation about the theme we have chosen - sharing insights, stories, laughter, and possibly some tears.
We know there are many of you out there who feel the way we do, and we hope that our cross-pollinated blogging inspires a deep connection. So if you’re interested in the company of women willing to go there, join us back here mid-February when we’ll launch the first instalment of Seasoned Voices.
