I’m Denise, and I started 60 is the new 60 when I turned 60.

The name was quite deliberate. I wasn’t interested in pretending that 60 was the new 40, or that getting older was something to deny. I wanted to explore what it actually meant to be 60 – and beyond – and to make the most of this stage of my life.

I’m now 67, and if anything, I believe that even more strongly.

Life after full-time work

For most of my working life I was a midwife and then worked for the Royal College of Midwives, where I spent nearly 30 years in a variety of roles. I retired from full-time employment in 2020.

But retirement, for me, was never going to mean stopping.

I qualified as a professional coach in 2019 and have continued to work as a career and leadership coach. In 2026, I graduated from the University of Warwick with an MA with Distinction in Coaching. My research explored something that particularly interests me: how coaching one person can create a ripple effect, influencing colleagues, teams and potentially the wider workplace.

I also write about coaching and maternity services and am currently working with my friend and colleague Helen on a workbook designed to help put coaching principles into practice.

But work is only one part of who I am.

Growing older – but not standing still

One of the things I’ve become increasingly interested in is what it means to grow older well.

For me, that isn’t about trying to stay young. It is about staying strong, curious, useful, adventurous and open to new possibilities.

I strength train. I run albeit slowly. I hike. I’ve completed half marathons and HYROX events, and I’m currently training for ATHX. I’ve walked hundreds of miles of the South West Coast Path and intend to walk many more.

When I turned 60, I also began my 70 for 70 challenge: 70 things I wanted to do, experience or achieve during my seventh decade. Some are big adventures. Others are much smaller. What matters is continuing to have things to look forward to and reasons to say yes.

I love travel, theatre, reading, writing and painting, and I’m always looking for the next experience that takes me slightly outside my comfort zone.

When life doesn’t go according to plan

This blog isn’t a story of relentlessly positive ageing.

Life has thrown a few fairly substantial spanners into the works.

I had open-heart surgery in 2015. More recently, Graves’ disease, radioactive iodine treatment and severe hypothyroidism dramatically affected my health and fitness. At times, the body that had carried me through long walks, running events and strength training simply couldn’t do what I expected of it.

Recovery has taught me something important: there is a difference between refusing to give up and refusing to adapt.

I’m still ambitious about what I want my body – and my life – to be capable of. But I’m learning to work with the 67-year-old body I have now rather than constantly comparing it with an earlier version of myself.

That journey is very much still in progress.

So what is 60 is the new 60 about?

It is about ageing without disappearing.

It is about health and fitness, but also purpose, work, retirement, learning, relationships, adventure, setbacks and starting again.

Sometimes I write about completing a physical challenge. Sometimes I write about coaching, retirement or something I’ve learned. Sometimes it’s about illness, disappointment or discovering that my carefully made plans need to change.

I don’t have a formula for ageing well, and I’m certainly not interested in telling other people how they should grow older.

I’m simply documenting how I’m doing it.

At 67, I still want to learn things, create things, contribute, travel, challenge myself and occasionally scare myself a little.

There is plenty I still want to do.

And perhaps that’s really what 60 is the new 60 has always been about:

not trying to be younger, but refusing to believe that the most interesting part of life is behind us.