About me

Welcome to Shaping Sixty. A blog for women who want to make the most of their post sixty years.

So, who am I?

If you asked any one of my five sisters, I’m sure that they would tell you that I am the last person they would expect to start a blog. I’m a sixty-something introvert who eschews social media, hates being the centre of attention and avoids being photographed at all costs. So, for me, writing this ‘About’ section and putting my photo out there is scary stuff! 

So why am I doing it?

I’m doing it because, two years after the death of my husband, my life is in a bit of a rut, and I need to get myself going again. This blog is my way of holding myself to account, re-engaging with the world and hopefully helping others to find the motivation to live a more interesting and fulfilling life.

A quick Backstory

I grew up in London, one of six sisters, in a busy and slightly chaotic Victorian terrace. On my twenty-second birthday I went out on a first date with a guy called Tim who was going to turn out to be my best friend and the love of my life. We married nine months later, and our son Sam was born eleven years after that.

Fast forward to 2008, and there we were living a seemingly perfect life. I had a successful career working in the City and Tim was a respected land surveyor.  We had a happy and affluent lifestyle; nice house, good clothes, two cars, exotic holidays etc. etc. But all that came to a sudden halt when Tim was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease at the age of fifty. 

I gave up my career to take care of Tim and became focused on two things: Firstly, ensuring Tim’s happiness, comfort and safety for as long as he had left to live and equally importantly, making sure that Sam’s life was as unaffected as I could possibly make it. To be clear, this was very much my choice and one about which I have no regrets.

During the thirteen years of Tim’s illness, he ceased first to be able to speak, then to feed himself, to walk, to sit up and eventually to recognise me. He died in his sleep in April 2021. 

I’ve focused here on the past fifteen years of my back story because they inform the starting point for this blog. They don’t define me however. I’m not a victim. I am, and always have been a fighter and a survivor. True, it’s taken me a bit of time to get back up on my feet, but I believe that there are exciting times ahead for me and I’m looking forward to exploring them.

So what can you expect?

To be honest I’m not yet sure. I am going to be writing about things that interest me; things that I read about, experience and investigate as I try to work out the opportunities of this new phase of life. I’m not an expert, a life coach, or a therapist. I’m very much a ‘work in progress’. I have no authority to tell you how to live your best life, but only an interest in sharing what I am learning on my journey with the hope that it will be of interest. 

Join the list

After visiting I hope that you feel motivated and inspired to try something new in your own life. I would love to hear from you, so feel free to comment on the posts or to contact me directly via the contact form. You can also subscribe to my email list using the subscription form on the home page or side bar.

Thanks for reading, Sian.