sage and siren Sage and Siren
Turning 60, especially for women, changes you. It triggers a now or never philosophy, and a new approach to life. Sage + Siren explores my journey post-60 and how I’m making my dreams come true.
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creativity essence map menopause

How to be More Creative With a Time Diary

Years ago there was a website called I Done This. Now defunct, I think about the concept from time to time as a great way to get things done. The idea was to log everything you did in a day - partly for accountability, partly as a tool to show your boss just how productive you had been. There's something about public accountability. You can write lists on paper and tick things off but no-one, apart from you, sees them. You might cheat and add something that you did previously to have the satisfaction of crossing it off the list....
August 22nd, 2025 creativity

The Antidote to Hustle and Crush It

Many years ago I was big into printable planners. I still use one PDF that I bought and downloaded from Secret OWL Society back then. On a whim, I Googled Michelle Rohr to see if she was still around. She is! I explored Michelle’s website and discovered her podcast, The Magic Is You. I listened to the two most recent episodes and had an epiphany. Michelle talks about how we should stop trying to solve our audience’s problems and focus on our own. This is what will lead us, if we’re so inclined, to find the people for whom our...
June 5th, 2025

The Sage + Siren Manifesto

Sageism Our lives are not over. Contrary to what many of us have been led to believe about life after 60, we are just getting started. This is the age when we become more of who we are. Forget retirement, invisibility, and decline, this is our time. We are tapping into our essence, harnessing the wisdom, knowledge and power that we have spent a lifetime acquiring. We are forging our own paths, living life on our own terms, and leaving the map in our wake. We are finding our voice and speaking up for ourselves, and others. Our focus is...
May 15th, 2025

What No-One Told Me About Menopause

When I was growing up, the Menopause was spoken of in hushed tones. That unmentionable period in a woman's life was referred to as the Change, a rather pejorative term with its implication of inherent madness and a shift towards invisibility and old age. My Mum seemed to have a torrid time of it, often predicting what lay ahead for me too. Apart from some insomnia and the occasional hot flush, I paid little attention to the side effects of Menopause. My fifties turned out to be a rollercoaster ride. First, my Mum died when I was 49. Two weeks...
May 6th, 2025 menopause

Finding Myself Lost and Adrift: An Aha Moment

I had a massive aha moment this week. My morning routine looks like this. Up around 06:00, usually with nudges from Bamber, my husband’s Guide Dog. His stomach will be grumbling. We go downstairs. I open the back door. Sometimes he’ll go out. Other times he’ll stick by my side as I weigh out his food, as though it might vanish if he doesn’t keep an eye on me. Afterwards, toileted and with fresh water in his bowl, Bamber goes back upstairs for a snooze. I make a coffee, sit in my favourite chair, and enjoy the peace and quiet...
April 26th, 2025

Why Walking Through Fire is Our Way Home

An Unconventional Viewpoint My take on life has never been mainstream. Even as a child, I was open minded about alternative views of life. My Dad and I watched a lot of sci-fi, talked about the possibilities behind unsolved mysteries, and both believed in the existence of aliens! I discovered, about ten years ago, that one of my archetypes is the Provocateur. It explained a lot - my default unconventional setting, my view of the world that was most often the polar opposite of everyone else's. I never suggest that I am right about my conclusions or what I choose...
April 6th, 2025 essence map

How to Navigate the Essence Map

It’s well over 20 years ago since the word essence first popped into my head. As did many things, especially around that time, it felt as if it was downloaded from the ether. I was on a quest - for what, I didn’t know back then - but something. A Lifelong Path I’d been on this path for a while. Its roots can be found in the conversations I had with my Dad as a child. And in the books we read. A perennial favourite was the Readers’ Digest Book of Strange Stories and Amazing Facts. It was read and...
April 6th, 2025 essence map

Love is the Only Answer

I’ve always had a very naïve and simplistic view of life and the world. I used to say, ironically, when I’m Queen of the World … no-one will go hungry, everyone will have what they need. Plus countless other proclamations. Our world has become increasingly complex. I don’t believe it has to be this way or that our lives were intended to evolve like this. I contemplate possible solutions but I have no idea how they might be implemented. And, anyway, how does one person change the world? “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we...
March 17th, 2025

Is Your Life Pretty Much Lived at 50?

I came across a conversation on Twitter - it was about money, debt, a son, and his rich parents and in laws. It wasn’t the discussion about money that fired me up but this comment: “Big piles of money lose their impact after 50. Life has pretty much been lived at that point.” Life has been pretty much lived at 50! I so disagree! When I was 50 my Mum had just died. In hindsight, her death was a key pivotal moment that led me to a new job, a new home and, ultimately, a new relationship. The job introduced...
October 20th, 2024

What is Sage + Siren?

If you listened to the last episode of the podcast, I was talking about now or never. That philosophy has become even stronger over the past few weeks. I think, like many of us, I've concluded that it's so easy to fill your life with things to do, lists of things to do, work, running around and, for the last seven months, life has been full on. It been relentless. I’ve been working, we’ve done stuff for Chris, we’ve been involved in setting up a Men’s Shed, and we had so little downtime. I found myself reaching capacity. Nothing has...
October 3rd, 2024

When no-one knows you're 60

I’ve never been big on birthdays. They were stressful times when I was growing up. So much expectation, so much disappointment. And that was just my Mum. It was never simply my birthday but a huge obligation to be met. When I left home, I mostly ignored my birthday and hoped others would too. I dreaded a big fuss. A surprise party would have been my worst nightmare. This year I was 60. No-one knew. I didn’t receive a single card with numbers on it. Chris and I had an afternoon tea, and that was it. My idea of the...
September 1st, 2024

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