For most of my life I have been vague when talking about my age. Not dishonest or deceitful, just vague. As a child I could not wait to turn 18 and escape to university. As a young woman I was ambitious and focused on a career so in work environments I tried to dress and act older than my age.

Over the most recent decade I have been extra vague as I didn’t really want to reveal that I was as old as 50, or 55 or 59. But I have now made the decision to go public so here it is - I have just turned 60 years of age. There, I’ve said it out loud and in print. Just don’t call me a Boomer – I am proudly Gen X, admittedly at the older end, but Generation X nonetheless.

I must say that my family and friends have been wonderful about celebrating this milestone with me and it underscores just how fortunate I am and how happy I am with my life. My lovely husband braces himself every ten years and has successfully spoiled me and made me feel fabulous about turning 30, 40, 50 and now 60. He sweetly insists that I will always be 28 to him (the age I was when we met, back when he seemed very mature at the age of 35!). To have good health, amazing people in my life, work I enjoy and can do well and a great team to do it with, is really a blessing.

Admittedly, I now have a few extra aches and pains when I overdo it which weren’t there in the past, and I seem to take a medicine cabinet full of supplements and some prescribed medication. But my husband still thinks I am attractive and nobody offers to get a wheelchair for me at airports so that is a bonus!

One of my co-workers recently asked me what the benefits are of “having so much experience”, which I think was a polite euphemism for being so very old and having seen so much change in the world and in the workplace. It certainly does give them a different perspective when I tell my young team about life before mobile phones and calling a place instead of a person, and when a TV show came on during a certain timeslot each week instead of all shows being streamed anytime and on-demand. I think back about how extensively we used faxes, and we got very excited when car and mobile phones became more affordable (if still huge and basic) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Going to the library and referring to encyclopedias, dictionaries and a thesaurus to research a story make me sound prehistoric to these 20 and 30 somethings, let alone how in London we used to send our urgent messages and “immediate release” press releases to newspaper editors via motorcycle couriers! So here I am, amazingly entering my seventh decade and although I miss the energy I had at 25, I am at peace with my age….. possibly for the first time ever. I have firmly decided that 60 is a milestone to celebrate and not dread.

I am content with my health and my attitude and the fact that, if I am lucky, I am about three quarters of the way through my life’s journey. But I refuse to mourn my lost youth because I truly believe that I have gained a lot more than I have lost including building two lives – one in the land of my birth and then one in the USA. I have fantastic people in my life and I no longer obsess about those people who have let me down. I do not worry unnecessarily about what others think of me. I know that in 99% of cases when things are tough that “this too shall pass”.

I have learned to put things in perspective. I have survived economic recessions, technical revolutions, a serious traffic accident, health scares and surgeries, bereavement, breakups, broken friendships, a pandemic and more. I am still here and I have faith in myself, my family, my friends and my God. I am far from perfect, but I try to be a little better every day. I am an optimist, and content with who and where I am. I count my blessings and I try to be more mindful of how precious every day is. Inside I don’t feel old, but instead I feel like a very experienced 39-year-old!

So how better to say goodbye this week than with this quote from the intelligent, beautiful and ageless Italian actress Sophia Loren, who is still going strong into her 90’s? “There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

God Bless America!

Lesley grew up in London, England and made Georgia her home in 2009. She can be contacted at lesley@lesleyfrancispr. com or via her PR and marketing agency at www.lesleyfrancispr. com.