Happy New Year to each and every one of you. I feel truly honoured to be connected with such remarkable people, and I hope this year brings you everything you dare to dream of.
Earlier today, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Carla Delaney on MarlowFM. We covered everything from my upcoming wetsuit challenge in the Galapagos (more on that later) to my thoughts on ageing, transformation, and why I believe so many people defeat themselves before they even begin.
As we spoke, I found myself reflecting on what really matters as we step into this new year. So I wanted to share some of those reflections with you here.
The Choice We All Face
I’m someone who believes that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Strip away all the complicated theories and fancy frameworks, and here’s what I know after 85 years on this planet:
You’ve got two options when change is going on:
- Embrace it
- Fight it
But it’s going to happen either way. There’s no stopping it.
Don’t kid yourself, because change is inevitable.
So the real question isn’t whether change will come. The question is this:
🔥 Are you ready to jump or are you waiting to be pushed?
Nobody Should Be Limited by What Others Once Said
I was told I was stupid when I was just seven years old because I couldn’t read. Those words stayed with me for decades. They became part of my internal dialogue, that voice that whispered I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t clever enough, would never amount to much.
Yet I went on to:
- Be responsible for the development of about 4,000 plus staff members
- Create systems for major organisations
- Confront my biggest fear and write my book later in life
Why am I telling you this? Because nobody should be judged unless they’ve had the opportunity to learn. And nobody should be limited by what others once said about them.
Not a teacher. Not a parent. Not a colleague. Not society’s expectations about what someone your age, your background, your circumstances should or shouldn’t do.
💭 Here’s what I want to ask you today: whose voice is setting your measure? Is it yours, or have external voices taken up too much space in your thinking?
Life Isn’t Linear, It’s Circular
One of the biggest lies we’re told is that life follows a straight path. Birth, school, work, retirement, decline. Tick the boxes. Mark off the years. Stay in your lane.
Rubbish. Complete rubbish.
Life isn’t about marking time and ticking boxes. Having the right mindset is everything. Yes, people get into ruts, going round and round making the same mistakes. I see it all the time in my work. But here’s what I’ve learned:
- It’s not life that defeats them. It’s their own thinking.
The moment you recognise that, you recognise your power to change it.
🌳 Think about the grandmother tree in a forest. Her roots spread deep and wide, and the wisdom she’s accumulated over decades is passed out to the rest of the forest through those interconnected root systems. It’s just a beautiful concept, really. Each of us has wisdom to share, experiences that matter, knowledge that could help someone else navigate their own journey.
We’re meant to:
- Grow
- Evolve
- Share what we’ve learned
Not shrink into smaller and smaller versions of ourselves as the years pass.
The Right Questions Change Everything
When I’m working with groups, I’ve learned that everybody sees the world through their own eyes, their own experience, their own interpretation. You can’t flick a switch to make people change. Sometimes it takes time and a bit of tough love. But mostly, it takes asking the right questions.
Here are mine for you as we begin this year:
1. How do you feel about what you want to do? Not what others think you should do. What do you actually want?
2. What’s stopping you? Write it down. Look at it. Really examine it.
3. Is it real, or is it just your thinking? This is the crucial one. Because most of the time, the barriers are in our minds, not in our circumstances.
Energy, Passion, and Strutting Your Stuff
I’m a little bit like a firecracker, bouncing all over the place when lit. I know this about myself. And when I’m down, when that energy flags, I think of Tina Turner.
Here was a woman who went to hell and back. Abuse, poverty, loss, setbacks that would have destroyed most people. Yet she came out the other side and strutted her stuff with such energy and passion that you couldn’t look away. She exuded life force. She refused to be diminished.
✨ That’s what I want for all of us. That energy. That refusal to be defeated. That determination to keep strutting our stuff, whatever our age, whatever our circumstances.
The Only Measures That Matter
Life is for living. Age, status, background, past mistakes are all artificial measures. Society often likes to categorise us, box us in, tell us what we should be doing at any given stage.
☞ The real measure is this: How do you feel? What do you want to do?
Then go do it. Live every day on your terms.
Take back control of your own narrative:
- Ask yourself what truly matters to you, not what others expect
- Have the courage to act on it
- Trust your own judgement
My Jump into 2026
This year is a blank page for all of us. You can embrace what comes or fight it, but either way, it’s coming. So why not jump? Why not say yes to the possibilities? Why not trust that when you take that leap, you’ll find your footing?
I’m jumping into my 86th year with:
🐢 A wetsuit challenge in the Galapagos Islands (yes, it’s happening this year!)
👗 A fashion show for mature models at London Fashion Week (hopefully)
📖 Another book to write, this time on Later Life’s Choices 50+
Not because I have to. Because I choose to. Because life is for living, and I refuse to let a number on my birthday card determine what I can or cannot do.
So I’m asking you: what will you choose in 2026?
- What jump have you been putting off?
- What voice have you been listening to that isn’t your own?
- What dream have you relegated to “too late, too old, too risky”?
💯 I wish you all a year of courage, clarity, and the wisdom to know that the only limits are the ones you choose to accept.
Whether you’re ready to jump or still gathering courage, know that I’m cheering you on 🎯
