Cresting The Hill

LOVING BEING A LATE BLOOMER

Friday 29 January 2016

LATE BLOOMING

I've recently come to the conclusion that I am a late bloomer. It explains a lot of things about my life and all the discoveries I've been making in the last year or so. Often when I blog about something I've discovered about myself or about life, I get comments from other lovely bloggers who had reached the same point - except they are in their 30's and 40's while I was further down life's path before I worked it out.

A VALUABLE LESSON ABOUT BLOGGING

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Success is not a competition with the world, it's a competition with yourself. When you truly feel amazing about yourself, you've won.

IT'S ABOUT BALANCE

Blogging has taken over my heart and my life in a way that I never expected it to. It amazes me how many people I have connected with and all the possibilities that have opened up before me. But one big thing that I have learnt recently is that there is a need for balance in all things - especially in blogging!

Happy Australia Day!

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Well, it's the 26th of January and here in The Land Down Under that means it's Australia Day and we get to go a little bit nationalistic and wave the Australian flag and set off lots of firework displays all over the country. I thought I'd start my post with this lovely picture of Busselton, which is a short drive from our home and a popular spot with tourists visiting the south west of Western Australia......and yes, our beaches are beautiful!

when you are let down - rise above it

Friday 22 January 2016

I'm sure we all have "that friend" who turned out to be not quite the person we had hoped they would be. To have a good friend let you down, or betray your trust, or just not be there when you expected they would be, is one of life's biggest disappointments. Investing in friendships is what humanity is all about and when they go pear shaped it kills us a little bit inside.

walking together at the same pace

Wednesday 20 January 2016

I wrote a blog post in July last year about married life and how it isn't necessarily all bells and whistles, but what is rewarding is the shared love, and commitment, and history, and the connection that 30+ years together gives us. It was one of my most viewed posts - I guess because so many of us are finding that balance in a world where lust and hot sex are worshiped and where depth and commitment to the long haul come a poor second.

you don't have to eat your crusts

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Being over 50 lends itself to the occasional epiphany - mine this week (as I ate my toast) was that I don't have to eat the stale crusts just because I was told to when I was a child. I don't really like the crusts all that much but I'm a good girl and I eat them 90% of the time, but you know what......I don't have to if I don't want to!

slowing down a little

Friday 15 January 2016

After a busy year with lots of changes, I had three blissful weeks off over the Christmas/New Year break. It has been a time of recharging my batteries - especially after the added stress of looking after my mum for a month while she recovered from knee surgery. My calling in life is definitely not in the area of hospice care or nursing!

HOW TO SIMPLY HIDE A PINTEREST IMAGE

Wednesday 13 January 2016

SECRET PINTEREST IMAGES

I've seen a lot of blog posts that have "hidden" vertical Pin images in them - all very elusive and interesting and when I've gone to find out how to do it my poor little brain has shut down with all the information on offer. The idea has hung around in the back of my mind and I finally found a solution.

FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS

Tuesday 12 January 2016

WHEN BUSHFIRES BECOME REAL

If you follow my Facebook page at all (and if you don't then please take two seconds to click here - I promise to only post once or twice a day at the most!) then you would know that we have been in the front line of a huge bushfire. In Australia bushfires are fairly common occurrences but this one was a doozy!

CONFIDENCE AND MIDLIFE DISCLAIMERS

Saturday 9 January 2016

“I think the best role models for women are people who are fruitfully and confidently themselves, who bring light into the world.”

This weekend I'm writing for the Millers Seeing Me Project blog about the ever present use of the midlife disclaimer "she looks good for her age". I've been guilty of saying it and I know I've heard it used time and time again in response to midlife women on the red carpet or in magazine articles.

When did we start adding that disclaimer? And why do we do it? An even more important question is - What do we do about it? I think it all boils down to confidence in yourself and your choices. At midlife we've earned the right to ignore the judgments and opinions others want to foist onto us and we can be truly ourselves.

do you ever stop to wonder "what if?"

Friday 8 January 2016

Sometimes we ask the big questions of ourselves and many of them start with "What If?"

I'm wondering though whether we are looking in the right direction when we ask those questions? Are we asking the right "What Ifs?" or should we be considering them from a different angle. Here's a few that have come to mind for me in the not too distant past:

CASTING ASIDE MY FICTITIOUS SELF

Wednesday 6 January 2016

Casting off the garment of other people's expectations and replacing it with being true to ourselves is what authenticity is all about. #midlife #authenticity

A WONDERFUL QUOTE

My daughter is one of the few family members or friends who actually read my blog and because she knows what I like to write about, she sent me this quote and thought it suited my blog - and she was right.

MY WORD FOR 2016 - EMBRACE!

Tuesday 5 January 2016

MY WORD FOR 2016

This time last year I wrote a post about choosing a word for 2015. The word that covered what I wanted for the year was "Release" - and I wrote about it here. There were a lot of areas in my life where I was holding on too tightly and I needed to let them go and see where life took me. Looking back I can see so much transformation and that has led to me choosing a new word for 2016 that is almost the opposite to Release - and that's ~ Embrace ~.

THE SEEING ME PROJECT - EMBRACING LIFE

Saturday 2 January 2016

This week I've connected up with the Millers Seeing Me Project with a post about choosing a word for 2016. My word this year is ~ Embrace ~ and I'm looking forward to seeing where embracing life takes me in the year ahead.

Please pop over to the Millers site and read my post and if you have a moment it would be great if you could leave a comment to show them how important the blogging community is to midlife women. Those who don't blog are often unaware of the encouragement and love that an online tribe provides.

I'll be writing more about my Word for 2016 next week and linking up with some other bloggers who also choose a word each year to focus on. I'd love you to pop back then and share your word if you have one.

If you want to keep track of my posts in 2016 feel free to like my facebook page and follow along with what I update there. Thanks so much and Happy New Year!

WELCOME TO CRESTING THE HILL

Friday 1 January 2016

WHO AM I?

Hi I'm Leanne,

When I turned 50 I realized that I had the choice of sinking into middle age or celebrating it. I chose to celebrate and I started Cresting the Hill at the end of 2014.

I used to define my life by saying I was a wife, or a mother, or by what I did as my profession. Now I define myself on my own terms - as a woman in my own right. I'm discovering who I am, and I'm really liking that person! I've reached the "crest of the hill" in life, the climb is behind me and the view stretches out in front.

WELCOME 2016

I can't believe it's already 2016! Another year lies all fresh and waiting to see what we will do with it. I intend to live it with joy and gusto. There is so much to look forward to and I'm a big believer in focusing on all the good stuff that the future will bring, rather than worrying about what disasters might befall us (I'll cope with them if and when they appear on the horizon - worrying about them doesn't help at all.)