I hope you’ve all had a lovely week. I’ve been to the seaside to meet a whole bunch of incredible women in Folkestone!
We had nearly 30 women at our special open-to-all NOON Circle in Folkestone. We met at Keppels Bar at the appropriately named Grand – a gracious Victorian hotel right on the Leas overlooking the sea. The ghosts of grand ladies in crinolines and Empire dandies sipping Champagne seem to rub shoulders with the current good burghers of Folkestone walking their dogs, looking out over the container ships and ferries chugging up the English Channel.
How to be practical about uncertainty
We held a NOON Circle with this month’s theme of leaning into uncertainty – talking about how we manage anxiety as we go through big life transformations. Some of the chat was practical; the women talked about the benefits of everything from singing to hot yoga, hot baths to sound baths, gardening and meditation – and of course my favourite, cold swimming – to bring themselves out of their overactive minds and into the moment.
We all agreed that being in the now, realising that in this moment everything is ok – the sun is warming our faces, the peonies are in bloom, the sky is blue, or we are held in the web of each other – is the antidote to painful rumination. It’s easy to be constantly worrying about the past or anxious about the future, particularly when everything is in flux. The truth is that right now is all we ever have, so the more we can be present in THIS moment, the happier we are likely to be.
It was wonderful to hear so many women speaking so wisely about challenging times. All the Queenager, Forged In Fire, horses of the midlife apocalypse had visited: Divorce, much bereavement (including spouses and beloved children), redundancy, illness, caring for the elderly and challenging Gen Z offspring.
There was a lot of talk about finally having some time for themselves and also about starting their own businesses – very much chiming with the Fearless and Thriving Report into Queenager entrepreneurship that we launched with HSBC and Trinny last week. (Watch my chat with Trinny on the NOON Instagram.)
But what was fascinating about this group was that only 2 of the nearly 30 women present had grown up in Folkestone. All the others had moved from London. They were drawn by the sea, the stunning Victorian architecture and beautiful houses – and the space and ease of coastal living, only a (expensive but quick 54-minute) train ride away from London.
Why a midlife move makes NOON even more essential
These Folkestone Circle women talked about how they had moved to create a more salubrious life for themselves or their children. (About a third of the group are childfree, in keeping with the statistics about our demographic: Between 25-30% of Queenagers don’t have kids, 40% of these by choice.)
All relished the joys of sea walks, a lot were sea-swimming, but for many, the act of starting again in a new town had left them somewhat dislocated from tribe, in need of new friends and with a desire to meet and be inspired by like-minded women.
As many of us know, it’s hard to make new friends in midlife, but that’s what you’ll find in the NOON community: A new cohort of women like you, doing fun activities and supporting each other through the toughest times.
It was so special for me to visit such a thriving Queenager Circle in what is a relatively new spot for NOON. I have to pinch myself as I go around the country visiting our new Circles – that this notion of creating a new, more positive story about midlife and bringing a Queenager sisterhood together is no longer just a dream but a manifest reality. The NOON movement is here!
Check out our new Circles
We’ve got several new Circles debuting in June, including Bath, Windsor and Winchester. See ALL our Circles here.
Whether you read my book Much More to Come, heard me on the Davina McCall podcast or have been here from the beginning, you can clearly see that the NOON message is resonating…and spreading. We are not done yet, we can support each other through these pinch points and move into a sunnier new chapter.
That there are so many of us who feel unrepresented in the wider culture, who abhor the anti-ageing message infecting the minds of our younger sisters, who agree that despite the negativity that actually 50 is when it all gets good. Being a Queenager is something to look forward to, not dread!
Time to try new things?
What I heard loud and clear earlier this week was the desire to keep moving forward, make new friends and try new things. Here a few things you can try with us:
- A painting class with world-class artist Margo McDaid on our NOON trip to Margate on June 7th. (I’m excited, despite being so bad at art that I couldn’t even draw a recognisable boiling tube in my A-level chemistry!)
- Pushing out of our comfort zones with a cold swim (we’ll be doing one of those in Margate too, as well as on our 1-day Wasing retreat and our 5-day Welsh retreat)
- Being brave and coming to a NOON Circle for the first time. (We now have them all over the UK – check out this map and the NOON website for more details of one near you. We also do a popular Online Circle if you can’t make it in person.)
And a final note…
I am so grateful to you all for being part of NOON, and I’m humbled by the speed of our expansion – we’re just about to launch our new-look website and have lots of exciting plans in the works. Come along and join us at an in-person or virtual event. It might just change your life…or at least support you through a big life change!
Thanks to everyone who came to Folkestone, particularly Sam and Domenica who run the Circle and put me up for the night! The next morning we had a great start to the day, walking in the sunshine, overlooking the sea. I kicked myself that in my haste to catch the train the day before that I forgot my cossie! I’ll come back and swim next time.
Lots of love to you all and do email me at Eleanor@noon.org.uk if you’ve got ideas for events we should be running or somewhere we should be starting a Circle.
Enjoy your Sunday
Eleanor
