The Change Corporation, NLP Training & Coaching, Life Coaching
It doesn't matter how you have lived your life until this moment. All that matters is what your dreams are. The only moment is NOW. Change happens in an instant once you have made a decision to go for it. You're probably feeling that your life is OK and yet you have a yearning for something else. Perhaps there is a dream you have always wanted to pursue or an area of your life that is not right yet. That's where our life coaching courses using NLP can help. Our mission is to inspire you to create new choices for your future. To encourage you via NLP life coaching to take a chance and do something different. If you are coached by us we guarantee your life will never be the same again. We run a range of NLP training courses such as our NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner programmes for those of you who want to get a formal qualification or shorter personal empowerment coaching programmes such as Change Your Life with NLP and Re-Vitalise Your Life.
Blog
23rd July 2010
Do you earn more than your partner?
The woman and work survey 2010 commissioned by Grazia Magazine has shown that a third of women are now breadwinners.
Of those 2,000 females questioned almost half were either out-earning their partners (30%) or earning as much (19%), and one in 10 already had a house husband. The results also showed that only 11% of those questioned wanted to stop work completely.
These results are very interesting and shows a definite switch in attitudes towards women in the workplace and household. Gone are the days when a woman's role was to stay at home and look after the family. They understand that it is possible to both work and raise a family and so many remain in their highly paid jobs, now sharing the role of parenthood with their partners.
The same can be said for mid-life women who are again finding their identity. They are challenging the stereotypes laid out in the media and are showing that mid-life women are valuable members of any organisation. Their experience and knowledge is helping them to compete with younger competitors and enables them to progress and earn a salary that can compete with their partners.
For top tips on returning to the work place in mid-life and re-gaining that lost confidence, read my latest book ‘Still 25 Inside' which is packed with handy tips and exercises. You can download a free chapter from the book from my Age with Attitude website (www.agewithattitude.co.uk <http://www.agewithattitude.co.uk/> ) and it is available to buy from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk <http://www.amazon.co.uk/> ).
According to findings from the US, a couple are 75 per cent more likely to separate if their friends have split up. I think the finding certainly reflect of number of ‘mid-life' couples. We spend so much of our time devoted to raising our children and working that we neglect ourselves and our relationships.
When we reach mid-life, often the children have grown-up and are no-longer dependent on us. We are financially stable and no-longer need to work all hours just to survive. We start to spend more time alone with our partners and if there are any problems within the relationship, this is when it starts to show.
When a friend divorces it makes us re-evaluate our own lives. We question whether we are truly happy, if our needs are being fulfilled and if the spark has in fact fizzled out? Gone are the days when marriages meant for life whether you were happy or not. Midlife is a time when women in particular start to focus on what makes them truly happy.
Another fun packed weekend of work, delving into ourselves with a large dose of openness and honesty thrown in! Even the coaches were drained this month! It may have had something to do with having bedrooms being situated over a late night disco in the Hythe Imperial Hotel however!
This module was called ‘Be You' as it focuses on learning more about who we are at our core and what's most important to us. Day 1 was all about the Attitude ‘I know who I am'. We looked at how we spend our time, we learnt about our personalities as represented by six different goddesses and we worked on our personal mission statements. All totally amazing!
It began with the team coming together again, having not seen each other since Feb, but it could have been yesterday. We are close, we are honest and we are raring to go; what could Lindsey have in store for us this time? Well, she delved deeper into our thoughts and behaviours, making us work to be clear and precise about what we want, what we don't want in our lives and how we are going to get it! Attitude pours from this team, and we all want to put the effort in so we can go home revived, yet exhausted at the same time! NLP techniques are used and explored and it really helps to understand why we use the language we do.
We scored our responses and fine tuned our thoughts and came out knowing what's important to us...each time is a refining or defining moment, we all agree. We all know our Goddess type now and what a revelation, the archetypes show us where we need to increase or decrease our behaviours in order to get what we want. Going to have fun discovering that! I'm Hera, typical of a business woman (or another term for bossy!!).
Day 2 was all about finding out more about ourselves when we are truly authentic. Fascinating stuff. We worked on our values in different areas of our life and we all learnt what was most important to each of us. At the end of the last day the usual Goddess council reconvened and the usual suspects went through the usual motions of pouring out our wishes, concerns and potential changes that could be made...and lovingly we send the goddess out so we can talk about her behind her back!! However, we do this for the sole purpose of feeding back to her positive and helpful remarks with homework, if required, to be completed before the next course. We all had our share and mine always comes back to cooking properly!!!! I guess my Easter meal with Easter eggs as dessert didn't quite count as learning to cook!
The Goddesses had everything from getting ones' mojo back to dancing sexily ....looking for new business, to my cooking obviously (no fun there!) and journaling once more. We have this off pat now the girls' are wheeled in and out with precision, timing and finesse, all taken well and we are very good at completing the tasks set.
We are looking forward to the final 3 days in Sept in Ashford Kent, what will be in store then I wonder? One thing is for sure, we will stay friends and stay connected, after all, we are the original Goddesses!
To some this may seem odd but to many midlife women, this is common practice. Why do they do this? Because society does not recognise their value anymore. They fear they'll be passed over for younger women both in their career and in life and unfortunately often age rules over experience.
A recent study conducted by Age with Attitude and Durham Business School backs up this claim with their results showing that of those questioned, 82% of midlife women believe they are passed over for younger women in the workplace whilst 54% felt they are treated differently by society. With the media constantly telling us that anyone over the age of 40 has passed their prime, is it any wonder!!
A recent survey of 3,000 women conducted by Florette Fruit found that of those studied, two thirds were completely bored with their lives with a massive 90% believing they would be less bored if they could be more spontaneous.
This is what I call women in the Grey Zone, the comfortable yet uncomfortable place. Women in the Grey Zone need to take responsibility for their own lives and move out towards the brilliant zone!
They key thing to remember is that the mind and body are inextricably connected, so when we change on the inside, we change on the outside. In the past when feeling low or unhappy we may have undertaken some ‘retail therapy'. The problem is that the feeling of pleasure is normally short lived. In order to make change, we need to first tackle the root problem.
Think about what you really want from life and what you feel is lacking. Maybe you feel the fizzle has gone from your relationship, maybe you feel that being a stay-at-home mother isn't enough, maybe it's getting that dream job. Once you are aware of which areas you feel are lacking, then you can begin to take the first steps to getting out of the Grey Zone!
How many of us listen in awe as our friends tell us how wonderful their partner is? How they are treated with lavish gifts, flowers and romantic dinners. How many of us wish we had that in our relationship?
Although this may sound like the perfect relationship, for many it is not truly what they are after.
What's essential is that men and women work out what's most important to them about their relationship ie their relationship values. For some truth and honesty are important, for others it's romance and flowers. The question to ask is ‘what's most important to me about my relationship'. This isn't the one you are in now unless it's perfect! But the one you'd like to have.
In my latest book ‘Still 25 Inside' I offer tips and advice on how to be true to yourself along with an interesting exercise to help you determine your relationship values. You can download a free chapter from the book from my Age with Attitude website and it is available to buy from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk <http://www.amazon.co.uk/> ).
This is not surprising as couples work hardest at their relationships when they first meet. They compromise and make sacrifices. Once they have their partner these things become less important and couples get complacent. It's really important for couples to:
- Continue to put each other at the top of their list of priorities even when the children come along
- Give each other time together and apart
- Find out what's important to the other one in terms of the relationship
So many people do what they think is important. For example, they might tell the other person that they love them regularly yet their partner wants to be taken out and bought flowers. Over time, resentments build. Couples need to be honest with each other for a long-time relationship to grow in the right way. I was on holiday last week and people watched around the pool. One thing that still amazed me. Young mums running around frantically looking after young children whilst Dads laid in the sun and read their latest best-seller....come on Dads this is not a good way to build long-term harmony! If you want to still have a happy marriage in mid-life then tell each other what you want and the other person needs to listen and take some action!
In my latest book ‘Still 25 Inside' I offer advice on how to find your focus in life. By recording how long you spend on various tasks e.g work, family time and relationship time you will be able to see which areas need further attention. You can download a free chapter from the book from my Age with Attitude website and it is available to buy from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).
24th May 2010
Finally, proof that mid life women have more fun
I was very interested to read a survey published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (May 17-21 online edition) which found that those over 50 are less stressed then their younger counterparts.
The conclusions were reached after examining a 2008 Gallup phone survey of more than 340,000 people who live in the United States. Study author Arthur A. Stone, vice chair of the department of psychiatry at New York's Stony Brook University said "In general, people were more stressed and angry in their 20s, and their levels of stress and anger declined all the way through their 80s".
These results are very different to the mid life that is often portrayed by the media as being ‘over the hill'. For a lot of women in their 50's, this is a time of great anxiety and often leaves them wondering where their youth went.
Many women who attend my Age with Attitude course feel that life has slipped past them, leaving them feeling like the invisible generation. They feel that in work they are often overlooked for promotion despite their extensive experience, they feel less sexy and cannot see a way in which they can compete with younger models.
At 51, I am certainly happier now then I have ever been. Like the women I coach, I have learned to be comfortable in my own skin. I have the confidence to compete in a world where youth rules and am not afraid to make my mark.
My latest book ‘Still 25 Inside' offers tips and advice on how to be happy, no matter what your age! You can download a free chapter from the book from my Age with Attitude website and it is available to buy from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).
I'm sure this is the attitude of many, even those divorced only one. They believe marriage has not worked in the past and so is best to stay well clear of in the future. Even worse, some believe they are too old to re-marry but remember, never say never!!
The important thing is to learn from each relationship to ensure that the next one is better.
Ask yourself what's really important to me about a relationship to find out your relationship values. Find out your deep love strategy too, ask yourself what your partner needs to do to show you that you are deeply loved. Is it the words your lover says to you, their touch or the way that they look at you and take to you to special places? If your deep love strategy isn't aligned to your partners you will have challenges. For example, if you need to be touched but he needs to be told it's important that you both know that so you can continue to fulfill each other for years to come.
My new book ‘Still 25 Inside' explains this is more detail and gives you exercises to show you how! You can download a free chapter from the book from my Age with Attitude website and it is available to buy from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).
7th May 2010
IF YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR AGE, CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE! Still 25 Inside - Official release 7th May
There's still time to Make it Happen for you! Focus on new beginnings not endings.
In my new book ‘Still 25 Inside,' which is officially released today, I'm going to show you how you can make every phase of your life as good, or indeed better, than what's gone before. Whatever it is that you desire, ‘Still 25 Inside' reveals how changing the way you think and act is the key to living the life you want. You will discover the 8 Attitudes of happy, successful women, find out what makes you truly happy and learn how to implement lasting change. The book takes you on a journey through these Attitudes and uses practical exercises to show you how to make the changes.
‘Still 25 Inside' is a book written for midlife women everywhere - women who believe in beginnings, not endings. In our image and age obsessed society, it is high time that attention was paid to women in the middle phases of their lives. For the record, ‘middle' can mean anything from late 30s through to late 50s, depending upon when things have happened to you. The important point is that if you feel as if you are in this new phase, then you probably are.
We are not an invisible generation and we are far from done. We want to be vibrant and alive, and embrace the changes that we are experiencing as opposed to mourning them. ‘Still 25 Inside' will show you that ageing is simply an ‘attitude' of mind. You can choose to feel good about yourself and enjoy life, or you can choose to withdraw into the shadows and worry about the ageing process. Which is it to be for you?
If you're serious about making your mid-life your best time yet you'll want to buy this book on Amazon today - www.amazon.co.uk
12th April 2010
You don't have to be in crisis to make a change
It was great to see another story like this one (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1265235/Drinking-Feeling-worthless-Obsessively-shopping-You-having-FEMALE-midlife-crisis.html) addressing the issues of midlife crises in women and particularly noting that many women are able to turn their frustrations into positive experiences, as they move from putting everyone else before them, to realising that they do need some ‘me time' to find themselves again and learn about who they really are and what they want from the rest of their lives.
I must admit that a couple of years ago I too was stuck in this stereotype of thinking that all women had to go through this ‘midlife crisis' before they were able to make changes in their lives and embark on personal development programmes to help them achieve these goals. But creating the ‘Age with Attitude' programme has introduced me to so many women for which this isn't the case at all and has highlighted that sometimes we forget that it doesn't always take a crisis to put out lives on a different track and make positive steps towards happiness and fulfilment.
Most of the women on the current Age with Attitude programme aren't depressed, or stuck in a rut, or experiencing a midlife crisis. Most are in fact, in senior positions at work or run their own business and are very happy with their current relationship status, whether single or in a relationship. They were very happy with where their lives were and wanted to develop themselves further and stretch themselves. Some saw it as a way of creating some valuable and much needed ‘me time', where they could just focus on themselves and on making new friends.
When speaking to these women, some really despised the tags of ‘midlife women', ‘midlife crisis' etc as they felt that it in some way took away some of their power, energy and inherent happiness with their lives to date. It suggested that women of a certain age can't be happy and fulfilled without therapy! They much preferred to be called ‘women in their forties' and wanted the media to portray the brilliance of this time of life, when they kids are grown up, financial burdens are likely to be less, life experiences are plentiful and the future is a blank canvas.
Whilst personal development courses are very good for overcoming blockages and helping those feeling stuck in a rut to move onto the next stage in their lives, it is important to remember that they aren't just for those feeling trapped and that there are a huge army of positive thinking, confident and happy women in their forties and fifties for whom these courses just serve to empower them further!
8th April 2010
I'm proud to be a Swoftie (Single Women Over Fifty!)
I was very honoured to be invited to a photo shoot for Woman's Own recently to celebrate the rise of the ‘Swoftie', single women over fifty. The magazine is out this week (12 April issue) and I'm, so thrilled with the outcome. According to new research there are more of us in the UK than ever before and at the photoshoot I was joined two of these very inspiring ‘Swoftie' women.
52 year old Dawn Pollard was a former air stewardess who loved travelling the world with her job, but the constant time apart put too much strain on her marriage and sadly it ended in divorce. She was in her late forties when that happened and decided to embark on a new career in property development and has never been happier. She believes that during her marriage she put off doing things because they didn't have the time.
Do you dedicate any time to yourself or are you constantly in overdrive as a ‘wife', ‘mother', ‘employee', ‘daughter', ‘sister' with no time for yourself?
54 year old Karen Rhoder felt that she needed to inject some fun into her life and find herself again after she experienced the breakdown to two consecutive long term relationships. She decided to try something completely different and embarked on the Age With Attitude course, which involves a spot of ‘firewalking!' Karen is now a much stronger person as a result of experiences like these and says she has realised how important it is to keep and open mind and try new experiences.
Are you perhaps holding yourself back from trying new experiences because of fear or lack of confidence?
And finally there was my story. I ended my marriage because it had fizzled out, even though I tried very hard to make it work, but there was no going back. I was in my early forties when that happened and I shared custody of my two children with my ex-husband. When they were staying with him it gave me time to think about my life and I realised something was missing from my career. So I took a leap of faith at 45 and left my consultancy job to retain as a coach in neuro-linguistic programming, teaching people how to maximise their potential in life. Starting out was tough by the long hours paid off and I now run a very successful company.
At 47, I fulfilled another long-standing ambition - to write. My first self-help book Change Your Life With NLP has sold over 25,000 copies and my second book Still 25 Inside £12.99, Rodale), aimed at women in their 40s and 50s is due out next month.
If you ask most women of my age how they feel, they'll tell you that they still think of themselves as young. Why should we feel our lives are on the scrap heap just because we've hit 50? My life is so much more fulfilling now than it was when I was young. I hope that by sharing these experiences, we will help inspire other women to believe in themselves and know that absolutely anything is possible.
7th April 2010
Is age your greatest asset?
Having recently watched Joan Collins on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, she touched on something that is happening through both the showbiz world but also through business and life in general. Joan described how Hollywood was incredibly ageist. To play a mother/grandmother in a film, you have to be under 40!!! That is so sad but unfortunately this kind of behavior toward 40+ women is happening every day. How can we forget the sacking of Arlene Phillips from the BBC!
Age with Attitude have been asked to be involved with an academic study ran by Durham University on this very subject. The research will focus on mid life women (40-60 years old) in business, either running their own company or working for one.
The research paper will be published and seek to answer questions along the lines of 'What status do mid-life women have in the business world'. The results will be very interesting to see and may also lay proof to the fact that Hollywood isn't the only place where youthfulness is your greatest asset.
We need recruits who will simply be asked to fill in a questionnaire and I'd really appreciate your help in getting as many women to complete this questionnaire as possible to validate the findings.
It should only take 10 minutes of your time.
If you are not in the target age group/gender but know people who are please could you send them this link on my behalf.
A successful best-selling female author and entrepreneur who started a business at 47 and wrote her first book less than a year later will be helping other women to succeed in midlife with her latest Age with Attitude course starting in May.
The first session will be held at a venue in Central London from 21st to the 23rd May. Lindsey Agness, founder of The Change Corporation, author of ‘Change Your Life with NLP' and the soon to be released ‘Still 25 Inside', will be helping a group of positive 40+ women to achieve success and fulfillment by following her ‘8 Attitudes of the Successful Mid Life Woman'.
Age with Attitude is a 10-day programme spread over 10 months, which focuses on bringing about long-term, sustainable change over a 10-month period, rather than trying to find a ‘quick fix' in just one session.
The programme helps to challenge some of the common myths associated with women approaching mid-life including ‘I'm too old to have what I want', ‘I'm not good enough to compete with younger models' and ‘I need surgery to feel good about myself'.
The first Age with Attitude programme started last December and is due to finish in September this year. The women on the programme are seeing dramatic changes in their lives already, six months before the course finishes!
Audra Lamoon, 43 co-founder of Your Impact and co-author of ‘Blondes in Business' is currently enrolled on the Age with Attitude programme and has just completed the second module. She says;
"Lindsey, Karen and Janice were amazing, as before and really got involved and each know personal things about us and so they really know how to help and respond and encourage us at crucial times. They are absolutely the right people to be leading such a life changing course, my thanks to them!"
After years of prioritising husbands and families, many women want more out of their lives as they approach mid-life and sometimes, the urge to find personal fulfilment is overwhelming, says Lindsey.
"This is a time which can be surprisingly liberating for women if you are prepared to search out and take the opportunities," explains Lindsey, who is a Certified Trainer of NLP.
The reason Age with Attitude works so well is because Lindsey has personally experienced the challenges facing women as they age and has come out on top! She decided to leave her successful consultancy career in 2005 to build a new business giving others more choices about how to lead their lives and it was through experiencing the challenges of mid-life herself that she felt compelled to encourage a new movement of women wanting to challenge current cultural norms about growing older and gain inspiration from others on a similar path.
"I made four life changing decisions during my 40's, to leave my marriage, leave my job, start The Change Corporation and embark on my first writing project and I've never looked back. My ‘Age with Attitude' course is dedicated to mid-life women everywhere realising their true potential in a seemingly youth-orientated world. It is for women who believe in beginnings not endings," says Lindsey.
For more information or to book your place visit www.agewithattitude.co.uk or call 01304 621735
8th March 2010
The Mathematical equation for a successful marriage?!
I was bemused to see a story in the paper last week which claimed that scientists have announced a mathematical formula to increase the chances of a long and happy marriage by a fifth. According to the Geneva School of Business, a bride should be five years younger than her groom, should come from the same cultural background, and be the more intelligent of the pair if couples are to have a successful marriage.
Now I'm sure that you know many happily married couples who challenge this theory, and many unhappy ones that match the criteria above and still didn't work out! I really do think that it is a little too easy to suggest that these factors will contribute to a happy and successful relationship as first and foremost, it is about the attitudes and feelings of the individuals involved.
The woman may have the right age difference, she may have a degree when he doesn't and be of the same cultural background, but if she is feeling like she isn't emotionally supported by her husband, if she feels like she has to compete with younger models at work to gain recognition and if she is feeling like she doesn't really know who she is anymore after years of being just ‘a mum', then its highly likely that her relationship is going to suffer as result.
I've found that many women on the Age With Attitude programme have seen it as much needed ‘Me Time'. Often in life, women tend to become quite invisible when it comes to their own needs, when juggling family and work, and so this programme gives them the opportunity to find out who they really are again.
There are several key attitudes to being successful in midlife that are particularly relevant to this story and these include ‘I am true to myself', ‘ I know who I am' and ‘I like myself' and I think it is variables like these that will affect the likelihood of a long and successful relationship.
I believe that its only when you are happy with yourself and like who you are, can you even begin to look at what makes a happy relationship.
4th March 2010
The key to happiness doesn't lie in Beauty Treatments
To say I was concerned at the recent story of a mother injecting her 16 year old daughter with Botox is perhaps an under statement to say the least. It does make me wonder what kind of world we are bringing our children into if those as young as 16 are concerned about fine lines and wrinkles, but having said that it does look like this is probably going to be the next teen fad, like the obsession with the super skinny look of the catwalk models a few years ago.
As a mother with a twenty year old daughter, I am all too aware of the messages that I continue to send her as a mid life woman and I know the way that I deal with how my looks change with age will influence the way she views her own ageing too. When looking at the story of Sarah Burge and her daughter Hannah, I wondered how much of the insecurities of 49 year old Sarah have already affected her daughter to the point where at such a young age, she believes that cosmetic surgery is an absolute necessity to feel and look good about yourself.
This desire that ‘I need cosmetic surgery to feel good about myself' is one of the myths of midlife that I challenge in my Age with Attitude course as it is something that the women in our AWA community admit is a big pressure as they age. Sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in the belief that in order to be happy, successful, in love, have a great career, you need to look young.
The reality is that you will only ever manifest what you believe, and so if you feel that you won't be successful or you won't get that promotion because you are a certain age, changes are you probably won't!
That's why on the Age with Attitude course, I teaches women to believe in the 8 attitudes of successful midlife women which are:
I live my life on purpose
I create what I want
I know who I am
I am true to myself
I am good enough
I like myself
I take time for me
I'm certain of my success
If any of this rings true with you, why not take our AWA Questionnaire on the Age with Attitude website and find out what AWA rating you are? Then you can take positive steps to move on to the next stage in your AWA journey and learn to love yourself just the way you are.
11th February 2010
Honey, don’t forget about YOU!
I saw an interesting story on the Telegraph website about a new book that claims the key to a happy family is devoting less time to the children and more to the marriage. As expected, this story has already generated some interesting comments from people arguing whether it is really wise to advise people to spend less time with their children!
I do think that this story actually misses a very important point, which is that everyone needs a little ‘me’ time or ultimately, both the children and marriage will suffer in the long run.
As a divorced mum of two I am only too aware of the difficulty of juggling the pressures of work, being a couple and raising children, so on my Age with Attitude programme, one of the first things I tell the women is that they must learn to enjoy their own company first.
The first step is to enjoy every moment of our lives not only when we are with a man. Being present means fully engaging with whatever is going on in our lives and having FUN! So whatever you are doing, whether it’s working, shopping or taking the kids out, give that task your full attention and really focus your energy on what’s going on. This is the secret to achieving a truly harmonious balance individually, as a couple and as a family.
Work out how much time you took just for “you” over the last week. If it was less than 7 hours you have some changes to make. It’s easy to allow our jobs to dominate our lives. I know I’ve done it. Yet, there is so much more out there for you even if you use the time reflecting on where you are in your life and what else you want to achieve. Think about one thing you are going to do differently next week to make more time for you.
9th February 2010
Age discrimination at the BBC in the spotlight yet again
I wasn’t surprised to see a story in the Mail recently that Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly is sueing the BBC for age discrimination after she was axed from the BBC show. There’s been a number of similar criticisms aimed at the broadcaster in recent years including the high profile departure of Arlene Phillips from Strictly Come Dancing after she was replaced by younger model Alesha Dixon. It’s sad but this is far from an isolated incident.
My Age with Attitude programme focuses on the ‘8 Attitudes of the Successful Mid Life Woman’ revealing some of the common myths associated with women approaching mid-life including ‘I’m too old to have what I want’, ‘I’m not good enough to compete with younger models’ and ‘I need surgery to feel good about myself’. I’ve come across many women who have been in Miriam’s position and they especially benefit from a module which focuses on the ‘I am good enough’ attitude, where we provide the tools to work on their self-esteem and feeling of self worth. After this, women will feel more empowered to compete against their younger counterparts and come out on top.
What I really want to achieve with my programmes is to empower women to take a stand and be more confident in challenging their employers if they feel their age is being used against them. One such delegate was 66 year old Margaret Caiger-Watson who wanted to stay on in her job beyond 65 and subsequently secured an extension at her workplace after attending the Age with Attitude pilot programme last year.
Afterwards, Margaret said, “I was so much more confident after the programme that I felt I could take on anything that was presented to me.”
What has happened to Miriam is one of the reasons why I was inspired to develop this programme. I want to challenge the image obsessed media like the BBC to take a different perspective on their midlife workers, who I know still have so much to offer.
6th February 2010
Faithful at 50? The rise of the ‘She-Vorce’?!
I was interested to read this story on the Telegraph website. The feature focuses on the recent release of ‘It’s Complicated’ starring Meryl Streep and examines the change in culture in mid-life women. Once seen to be something that men did, women are now having more affairs and age is no restriction! Along side this is ever increasing divorce rates. Did you know that some 65 per cent of divorces in people over 50 are now initiated by women?
I believe one of the main reasons for this rising trend of the ‘She-Vorce” is that more women are now waking up to their feelings. They have became bored, the relationship has gone stale and they are left feeling like something is missing in their lives. And of course mixed in to this is the dreaded menopause!! Once the menopause hits, women’s hormones go mad and they no longer feel the need to make a ‘nest’. They become more liberated and it is often at this time that they decide to make changes in their lives and sometimes this involves making a fresh start.
I think for the majority of forty something women, divorce is not about finding a younger partner, it is about rediscovering themselves. Finding someone that shares their values, and with whom they can have fun with. But you know, this awakening period doesn’t necessarily have to end in divorce and it raises the question of whether some women are jumping too quickly into divorce, thinking that the answer is to happiness lies in leaving their partner but in reality it is issues within themselves that need changing? I’m a strong believer that if you know what you want and what is important to you as a midlife woman and your partner is fully prepared to help you achieve this, then it may be that some slight readjustments in your relationship are needed and you could live happily ever after!
I designed my Age with Attitude coaching programme to help women take time to explore who they are and what is important to them. The course spans over 10 months so it means they have time to really address the issues in their life that are preventing them from feeling truly fulfilled and take practical steps to tackle these. By the end of the course, women are better placed to make the right choices for their future, with or without their partner in tow!
29th January 2010
I have made the decision to blog on a weekly basis on a Friday, that way it is achievable! Remember to make your goals 'SMART' proof.
My New Year has started fabuolusly, I had an invitation to go on live Austrailian Morning TV (it's a bit like GMT) Caz and I travelled to London to the film studios and had our first taste of a Green Room. The broadcast went out live and for my first attempt at TV I was very satisfied with the result - by the way I had forgotten to mention to the producer that I was a TV 'virgin'! As I always say to my students 'go for it!'.
January has been a very busy month for The Change Corporation infact we have taken on so many new delegates for the April Practioner Programme we had have to change venue.
The proposal for the Housing association has been sent and now we have to wait and see. I have just sold the rights to my first book to be translated into Italian, maybe we will have lots of new delegates from Italy. Should I ask caz to look into training venues in Italy?
5th January 2010
In the office again today. Busy with a proposal for a leadership programme for a housing association and must get that 3rd book started.
4th January 2010
Back in the office today. Lots of calls from people who want to make a change to their lives!
1st January 2010
My goal is to use this blog more regularly this year starting today! Today I discovered that my book 'Change Your Life with NLP' was in the top 20 of all self-help books in 2009! It was the only NLP book on the list and was with authors such as Stephen Covey and Paul McKenna. This year will also see my second book 'Still 25 Inside' published on the 7th May and 'Change Your Business with NLP' later in the year. What a great way to start the year!
