STARTING MY 60'S FEELING FABULOUS

cresting the hill

IT'S TIME TO CHOOSE MY #WOTY

Every January I choose a Word Of The Year (#WOTY) instead of making resolutions that I never bother keeping. I love finding a word that resonates with me and motivates me for the direction I want to head in for the rest of the year. Last year I chose "Cultivate" and that inspired me to proactively grow the areas of my life that needed some attention. It was a great word and felt very "intentional". This year I felt that I wanted to choose one that was a bit more fun, and one that would give me an energy boost when I thought of it.

So, after mullling it over for several weeks, I decided to go with my heart and chose my word from a post I wrote for my 60th birthday....
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CULTIVATING A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS SEASON

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CULTIVATING A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS SEASON

My Word of the Year for 2021 was "Cultivate" and it feels good to come full circle with some tips for cultivating a joyous Christmas/New Year. This is my last post for 2021 and to be honest, I'm pretty okay with that. I'm ready to have a break and focus my attention on Christmas and family - because family is what makes Christmas even more special. 

For those of us who celebrate Christmas as a reminder of the birth of Jesus, it's a time to reflect and to be grateful, and it's also a time to celebrate and to enjoy each other's company while we eat, listen to Christmas carols, share gifts, and generally bask in some Christmas joy.

I thought today I'd share three suggestions for helping to make it a joyous Christmas season...
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WHAT DOES SLOW AND UNBUSY LIVING REALLY LOOK LIKE?

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WHAT IS SLOW / UNBUSY LIVING?

Some of my most popular posts have been about choosing to be Unbusy now that I'm in the second half of life. Retirement gave me even more opportunities to slow down the pace of how I was living each day and to be more intentional about how I use my time. I've become a huge advocate of the Slow Living and Unbusy movements, but what does it really look like in my actual day to day living?
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING AN EXPAT LIFE IN EUROPE

One woman's story of leaving the USA to settle in Ecuador and then moving further to settle in Europe where she is buying and renovating an apartment.

INTRO

Today I have the last guest in my series on Cultivating Wholehearted Living - thriving in the second half of life. Christina is an American expat living in Europe. Today she's sharing her story about how this came about and the lessons she learned along the way. Christina has a youtube channel where she posts updates on the renovation of her lovely unit in Chiatura, Georgia and it's fascinating watching the process. 

I'll hand it over to Christina from here....
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LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY UPDATE #4

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LIVING LIFE WITH A SMILE EVERY DAY

It's catch up time on the blog today - all that's been happening here over Spring. This is the BIG birthday edition where it's been all about a little sunshine, a little rain, a little bit of family, and a lot about my 60th birthday. There's plenty of other happenings, but these are a few of the happy moments that have popped up over the last few months in my life.

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LEARNING TO BELIEVE I'M WORTHY OF THE LIFE I HAVE NOW

cresting the hill

WHY DID I STRUGGLE WITH EARLY RETIREMENT? 

After I left work and started to recover my resilience, I noticed that I had an underlying sense of.....I guess it was guilt(?) about being home all day and not being part of the 9-5 daily grind of going off each day to a job. I puzzled over why I had this internal unsettledness with the idea of not earning my way anymore. Was it because it was what I had always done and had thought I would be doing for several more years to come? Part of me felt like I didn't deserve this lovely life I was living - that it was too pleasant and too easy - and there had to be a "catch"....
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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PAINT BY NUMBERS

Have you wondered what a paint by numbers kit would be like and whether it would be fun and/or easy to do? Here's all the inside information.

SHOULD YOU EVEN ATTEMPT A PAINT BY NUMBERS?

I started my first ever paint-by-numbers project recently and thought I’d write an honest post about what it’s like and how to begin one successfully. This isn't a sponsored post, it's just me sharing the sort of information I was looking for when I was thinking about trying my hand at one of the paint by numbers projects that were popping up in my Facebook feed.

First of all, I would definitely advise that you don’t bother starting one if:
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"THE GREAT RESIGNATION" AND EARLY RETIREMENT

cresting the hill

THE GREAT RESIGNATION

Recently I read an article on how the pandemic has affected the way people perceive their work/life balance and it's instigating fundamental changes. Facing mortality means thinking about your priorities, and for those who are unhappy in their workplace, it's bringing about a change, and that change is resulting in a surge in people quitting their jobs. This new phenomenon is being called "The Great Resignation" - a term that originated with Anthony Klotz, a Texan psychologist. Millions of people around the world are quitting their jobs - or reassessing what they want from their work environment.

All of this is interesting to me because the pandemic played a part in my decision to step away from the paid workforce and into early retirement. Lockdown gave me time to reassess - and like many others, that meant a big change in mindset....
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TURNING 60 AND DECIDING WHAT REALLY MATTERS

cresting the hill

TURNING 60 AND DECIDING WHAT MATTERS

On Thursday I turn sixty - and I still can't quite get my head around it. I'm not even sure I can claim to be "Cresting the Hill" anymore.....because sixty is a whole new decade and it feels like the gateway to the next season of life. Maybe it's because I think of my Mum as being sixty and then get this "Wow!" moment when I realize that it's me that's reached that vast age - and I'm not 35 anymore.

Hitting a new decade has always felt a bit daunting for me, but this one feels different in some ways. Maybe it's because my fifties were all about discovering myself again (or for the first time?) and now I get to see how that plays out in this new stage? One thing that really hit me is a quote that I saved a while ago (I actually saved it twice without realizing it was the same quote - so it must have had a big impact on me). It really sums up how I want to approach this next phase....
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IF MY 50'S WERE A GARDEN...THIS IS WHAT I'VE CULTIVATED

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COMING TO THE CLOSE OF MY 50'S

In a little over a week's time, I won't be in my 50's anymore. A new decade looms and I'm a little bit daunted, a little bit excited, and a little bit nostalgic for what I'm leaving behind. When I hit 50 I was in a completely different frame of mind. I was in a job that was 'wash/rinse/repeat' and I could do it in my sleep, my kids had flown the coop and were happily doing their own thing, my marriage was heading towards a hurdle, and I felt a little lost.

Fast forward ten years and I can't believe how much that decade taught me. I feel like a completely new person, I'm more confident in who I am, I'm no longer working, I've watched my kids make great choices, I'm a grandmother, my marriage survived its crisis and is going well, and I'm much more "me" than I've ever been. Looking back, I'm grateful I put the time and energy of my 50's into cultivating a life that feels authentic, and one that I love. Today's post is all about the garden I've made my life into...
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