Dear Queenagers.
You know, sometimes life is the boring stuff.
Well I’ve just come back from a round trip to Heathrow including 90 minutes in a queue in Terminal 5; sometimes parenting is the boring stuff – sitting in a traffic jam, waiting in line to sort out a ticket, being there; steady, supportive, solid – to pack the offspring off to exotic climes. So apologies for the tardiness of this missive!
It has been a week full of love; at the launch of my book on Thursday at the Groucho Club in Soho, London, it was so wonderful to see lots of you there. It makes me emotional just to think of how much support and help and enthusiasm I have been given by so many during writing my book about midlife reinvention Much More to Come and during the aftermath of the painful redundancy which made my own midlife pivot necessary. On Thursday night the Groucho was full of the people who have really been there for me over the last few years. My co-founder of NOON, my family, my amazing advisory board, my publishing team, my Noon crew – so many friends old and new, many of whom had journeyed so far to make it. Every face at the book launch was someone I love. It really felt like a celebration; not just of the book but the culmination of a massive effort and a huge shift in my life.
It was one of those heady landmarks where we realise just how far we have come! I know lots of you reading this today are new to this newsletter and our Queenager community. If that is you, then welcome. I started writing this weekly letter and set up noon.org.uk (the website which is the mothership, I call it the ‘home of the Queenager’), to help you start a new chapter in midlife. I did it because when I was whacked and looking for the kind of inspirational guide I needed to reboot my life I couldn’t find anything out there. This movement began with a newsletter to a few people, a post on Instagram… and it has grown to a community of about 40k. When I first asked if anyone would like to join me for a midlife NOON Circle, I wasn’t sure if anyone would show up. Now we have them all over the UK every month and we are growing fast (go to the website to find one near you). The next piece of the jigsaw is to spread the word about the book…I feel like even nature is trying to help me do that. I just came back from swimming in the pond and I saw the kingfisher. The kingfisher signifies joy to me, that fleeting moment of special bliss when I see those azure feathers flash past is like a promise of all the good things in life (it is why the Kingfisher is on the cover of my new book about midlife reinvention Much More to Come). If you buy it on that link from Waterstones.com and use the code Muchmore50 you can get it half price.
Today, I also saw my friend the heron, perching on a branch. The heron has been my companion on dark days. He signifies something more resilient; the capacity to endure, to stand by myself, to balance, to carve my own path. The toughness to not give in to the anxiety about the uncertainty that all change brings with it. A kind of trust that I am on the right path, even when things feel rocky. Of course it all feels inevitable now that there is a book and NOON, and all of you lovely Queenagers reading this newsletter. But it didn’t three years ago when I was sitting in bed shaking with Covid, redundant, on the scrap heap, so anxious I couldn’t sleep, terrified about what the future might bring.
Everything we are doing with Queenagers and NOON.org.uk is about helping you all through the big changes of midlife and onto the sunny uplands that come afterwards if we do the work. I know it is hard and scary and painful to shed huge chunks of what we were. But it is also inevitable. What we see at NOON in our research and in the Circles is that for most of us, whatever has been central to us in the last twenty five years will fall away and have to be replaced. It’s like life is giving us a really drastic prune in midlife. Of course, lopping off the tendrils we have grown over so many years is painful and sad – but it does get us back to a place where the green shoots of new growth can spurt through. I have become very fond of my bright green neon shiny nails – they signify for me renewal, the fresh growth, they are a constant reminder of green shoots! (They are also apparently rather trendy, a signal of what the youth call the BRAT summer, it’s a new album by Charle XCS and the sound of 2024 and its colour is my favourite green).
What I am finding most magical now that the book is finally out in the world is how many of you have emailed or DM’d me saying how much you are enjoying it. These are just a few messages from today.
“Just finished reading your book. It is an awesome read. Just recommended it to my sister and several friends”
“Loving your book, changed my life!”
“Loving hearing you read to me as I do the garden today, enjoying your lovely soothing voice and insightful ‘secrets’’
I’m so glad it resonates (the audiobook seems to be working for lots of you, making you laugh, or shed the odd tear while making lunch or walking the dog). I am so glad; every piece of wisdom I have ever had is in that book. Writing it was like being wrung out. My big ask to you all is to buy the book (if you are thinking you might) before this Wednesday evening; first week sales are crucial for the publishing industry. If we can get to 800 copies sold in the first seven days then we have a good chance of making the bestseller list which will mean the book will be stocked in supermarkets etc and we can spread its positive story about the later stages of women’s lives. I believe Queenagerhood is when it all gets good: when we become the women we always wanted to be. I want all the women coming up behind us to look forward to being 50 not dread it. That is what the newsletter, book and NOON are all about. So if you share my passion please buy the book. And if you get it from waterstones.comand use the code Muchmore50 you can get it half price. If everyone who regularly reads this email buys the book we can smash it… so please, if you resonate with what I have to say, buy it. This week if poss…online sales, audiobook and bookshops all count… if you want a taster here is a link to the first chapter.
Oh and a massive thank you to all your wonderful Queenagers who came to the Warwickshire Walk last Sunday (can’t believe it was only a week ago). Big gratitude to Rebecca who hosted us all on her beautiful farm.. sun, cake, walks, swimming in the lake, a reading from the book (of course). Here are some pics. We can’t wait to come back Rebecca!
Lots of love
Eleanor
By Eleanor Mills
