Turning 60 used to mean a one-way ticket to your bus pass and retirement slippers. But according to Australian author and comedian Kathy Lette, this decade in a woman’s life is the perfect time to kick off new adventures and go wild.
"I don’t think women come into themselves until they are in their 60s," Kathy, 67, said on HELLO!'s Second Act podcast. "Everything is more fun and more fabulous. And, you appreciate everything more, too.
"My message is adventure before dementia. Not that I'm making light of that terrible affliction, but you never know what's around the corner.
"For men, when they retire, they want to sit at home and nest - a woman has already nested. I've buttered 4,000 acres of toast, roasted 4 million flocks of chicken and cooked schools of salmon. We want to get going up Everest and down the Amazon.
"You've got more confidence. You don’t have the risk of pregnancy, you’ve got all the money you had to spend on period products to spend on yourself. You don't care what people think.
"You can cut the psychological umbilical cord that's kept you tethered to the kitchen by your heart and your apron strings, and put yourself first at this time in your life. It's been the best decade of my life so far. Without a doubt."
Time to take risks
One woman who wholeheartedly agrees with Kathy is communication and emotional intelligence specialist Penny Newton-Hurley. When Penny turned 60, she decided that celebrating her milestone birthday with a party just wasn’t going to cut it. So she jumped out of a plane instead and kicked off a personal challenge; to complete 60 bucket-list moments in 12 months to prove age is but a number.
"I've always been the kind of person to get up and go and do things," said Gloucester-based Penny, who was determined to push back against the stereotypes. "I don't let anything stop me, and now I’m 60, I wanted to prove my age wasn’t going to hold me back.
"I usually decide to do something and then think about it later, so I mentioned it to my children, who are in their early 20s, and they thought it was a great idea. I have one life, and this is a real chance to do lots of things I’ve been putting off."
After juggling children and career as boss of her own compassionate communication mentoring business, CommPassion, Penny is now embracing the freedom of an empty nest and being able to choose exactly what she wants to do. While climbing Everest is still up for debate, the challenges she has set herself have ranged from wing walking to ice baths.
"I also made a list of things I’ve wanted to do for years but just never got around to, like strawberry picking," she said. "I hadn’t been since I was a tiny child, and I couldn’t really remember it, so I was desperate to do that.
"It was just a lovely moment. Another time, my sister came with me on my paddleboarding challenge and we didn’t stop laughing. It's things like that, the sort of quieter moments that mean a lot and you can reflect, be present and share it with those that you love - as well as doing the crazy things."
Staying young
Penny admits that growing up, she also had a bleak view of what turning 60 meant. "When I was 20, I used to think that when you turned 60, you started wearing nylon dresses," she laughs. Now she calls herself 'non-ageist'. I do not subscribe to society's idea of what 60 is. I'll happily take the free bus pass, but I do not want to be pigeon-holed into being somebody who can't do something because of my age.
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"I can feel those thoughts being pushed my way already and I'm not going to have it. I'm really quite happy to sort of prove that you don't have to go down that route."
Her secret for keeping young in body and mind is: "Keep moving. The more you keep moving, the better it is for your mind and body. I do boot camp alongside 30, 40, 50-year-olds, and I always say I'm going to be doing this when I'm 90. I can't see any reason to stop.
"My physio says, you don't want to slow down, you want to speed up as you get older. Then it feeds your mind with positivity that I can do these things. You can create your life. I believe in the power of the mind, and you can do what you want to do.
"Don't succumb to feeling that we've got no choice because we have got a choice."
Is there anything she isn’t prepared to do at 60? "Scubadiving," she shudders. "I don’t mind being up in the air but not deep in the sea. I’ve been putting my adventures on Instagram and my son’s friends have said, 'Is that your mum?'. I was a bit reticent at first, but if I can inspire the younger generation, then it is so worth doing it just for that."
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