What has your ‘biggest’ birthday been so far? How did you celebrate – with a big community party, or a select group of friends and family? And did it feel like a new phase of life – a milestone or a reset?

In this episode of The Year of Being 70 Ep19 - Turning 50: A Milestone of Celebrations, Friendships, and a Life Reset, Lisette and Lucy, childhood friends who were born a month apart in 1954 and turned 70 in 2024, each share their 50th birthday parties, their thoughts on friendship and the feeling that at 50 they had reached a midpoint. As ever, their conversation makes for surprising revelations – for each other and themselves.

Key Highlights:

• Birthday Parties

Lucy, having recently moved from London to the countryside, had a whole new group of "mum friends" from her daughters' local school. Her 50th party was held at the village hall with her new local friends, as well as some of her family and long-time friends. She notes how new friends were surprised by her age, assuming she was younger since she had young children.

Lisette had a very different kind of 50th birthday: she organised a dinner party with only men as guests, with the idea of being "the princess" among them. Her girlfriends later surprised her with a separate birthday party, feeling a bit slighted that Lisette didn't think they were as important, but Lisette enjoyed the men's dinner party and shared some of the touching speeches given at the event.

• Good friends / Bad friends

The discussion touches on the challenges of maintaining friendships, with both Lisette and Lucy admitting they are not the best at regularly keeping in touch with friends, preferring to focus more on work and family. They ponder how that may impact them as they get older.

The conversation also covers how events like the rise of Facebook and the end of the TV show 'Friends' in 2004 affected social dynamics and friendships around that time. Lisette and Lucy also discuss how their eldest daughter status has shaped their approaches to friendship and caring for others.

• The Counterclockwise Study

Lucy points out that at the age of 50 she had just adopted two young children so was back to the school runs and mother role she had been through in her 20s and 30s. She recalls psychologist Ellen Langer’s ‘Counterclockwise’ experiment of taking older people back to a closed environment designed to recreate the era of their youth, and how they seemed to rejuvenate in that setting. Lucy wonders whether she ‘reset’ her timeline aged 50 in this way.

• Reaching the Midpoint

Lucy and Lisette both felt that turning 50 was a midpoint and a milestone in their lives, in various ways. Lisette was embarking on a whole new spiritual life, including her involvement with the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, while Lucy was working with big corporations and government departments on the new concept of work-life balance.

Why you should listen

Overall, this episode provides a reflective look at the significant life milestone of turning 50, the nature of friendships, and the personal insights Lucy and Lisette gained about themselves through this journey.

This intimate and revealing conversation will move and inspire you to reflect on your own life stage, celebrations and friendships, and know that being 50, 60 and even 70 is full of exciting possibilities.

Join the Conversation

What kind of birthday celebrations do you prefer? Are you a good friend who keeps in regular touch with people from all stages of your life? Or do you rely on other people to make that happen? Do you enjoy social media to keep in contact, or prefer IRL connections?

If you enjoyed this discussion of a fascinating subject, as well as the personal journeys of these old (in every sense) friends, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and tap the bell icon to stay updated on new episodes of The Year of Being 70. Subscribe now and...

What are you most proud of achieving in your life? Is it something you did, or didn’t do? Is it a choice you made, a project or piece of work you created? How your children have turned out or your decision not to have a family?

In this episode,The Year of Being 70 Ep 18: Our Greatest Hits – Achievements, Life Choices, and Personal Growth ,Lucy and her longtime friend Lisette, born a month apart in 1954 and having turned 70 in 2024, each share three things they take pride in having accomplished over their lives. As ever, their conversation makes for surprising revelations – for each other and themselves.

Key Highlights:

• Staying fit and well post-70

Lisette starts the conversation by sharing that she is proud of going to the gym every week, and today going through her fitness routine, even though her trainer wasn't there. She feels that staying fit is ‘part of the job’ as she gets older.

• Being the mother of two great fathers

Lucy shares how proud she is of how her two sons have become wonderful fathers, fully involved in sharing equally the childcare and domestic responsibilities with their partners. She says she takes no credit for this, as she did not model that behavior herself, so she can simply be proud of the men they have become.

• Choosing an unconventional life path

Lisette reveals how proud she is of having flowered from the awkward and gauche little girl she was and having had the courage to break off an engagement that would have taken her into a marriage and family life she did not want. She fought to find her own independent path in life against societal and family expectations, including overcoming feeling different for not wanting children.

• Books that have inspired others

Lisette’s most successful book is ‘The Eldest Daughter Effect’, which many readers, including Lucy, tell her changed their lives. But she is perhaps most proud of ‘Childless Living’ which is finding increased audiences as that choice becomes more popular.

Lucy shares that she is proud of writing a book called 'A Book of One's Own', which aimed to encourage more women to write and publish their own books, after she noticed a gender imbalance in the Business Book Awards. The book and her campaign to get more women to write their books helped to equalise the number of women- and men-authored books being submitted and short-listed. Her women-only book-writing programmes led to her annual ‘Mission Mastermind’ programme for women entrepreneurs and how both Lucy as a mentor and Lisette in a coaching role, have learned to listen and empathise rather than make conversations ‘all about them’.

Why you should listen

Lucy and Lisette also discuss the challenges of being proud of their achievements as they get older, the difficulty of accepting compliments gracefully, and how conversations like this help them gain perspective on their lives. They are both proud simply of reaching the age of 70 and being comfortable in their own skin. This intimate and revealing conversation will move and inspire you to make your own choices, achieve your goals and look forward to being 70 (or 80, or 90).

Join the Conversation

What are you most proud of in your life so far? Have you had to make difficult or unconventional choices? Are your children your greatest pride and joy? What skills or abilities have you learned or developed over your lifetime however long or short?

If you enjoyed this discussion of a fascinating subject, as well as the personal journeys of these old (in every sense) friends, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and tap the bell icon to stay updated on new episodes of The Year of Being 70. Subscribe now and join the journey!

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Where were you when the clocks struck midnight on 31st January 1999 and ushered in the first minutes of the new Millennium? If you are old enough to have been there, or remember, that is! Do you recall worries about the Y2K bug deleting all our data? Or where you were when the twin towers fell on 9/11/2001?

In this episode of The Year of Being 70 Ep 17, ‘Millenium Memories, Y2K, 9/11 and our travels to the US and Russia’, two lifelong friends, Lucy and Lisette, who turned 70 last year, revisit their first moments of the year 2000, their different experiences of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, and their international travels over the next few years.

Key Highlights

• Celebrations and fears at the start of the new Millennium

Lucy watched the fireworks on the Thames while Lisette was on a roof in Amsterdam when the clocks chimed in the year 2000. They recall the real – or was it manufactured – anxiety that when the year settings on computers clicked through from 1999 to 2000, the IT system would collapse and we would lose all our data and comms. Spoiler alert – it didn’t happen!

• Memories of 9/11

While Lucy sat and watched the planes crash into the twin tours of the World Trade Center from her home in London, Lisette was actually in New York City and witnessed firsthand the destruction and horror. She describes feeling the physical impact of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center and walking amongst the traumatised residents of the city.

• Travels to and adoption from Russia

Lucy describes her experience of adopting two young children from two different children’s homes in Russia over several years in the early 2000s. This was a long, complicated process involving a lot of bureaucracy and travel between the UK and Russia. Lucy’s daughters were 11 months and 18 months when she brought them home to their new family

• Learning at the School of Healing in Miami

Lisette felt called to enrol in studies at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing in Miami, Florida, which took place over a 4-year period. She focused on psychology, energy healing, and the theories of psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, developing a new understanding of herself and others. This resulted in her book ‘The Childhood Conclusions’.

You can take Lisette’s test for your Childhood Conclusions on her website here: https://lisetteschuitemaker.com/test-your-childhood-conclusions/

Why You Should Listen

Both Lisette and Lucy went through major life changes and transitions in their 40s, with Lisette exploring her inner self and Lucy taking on the challenges of international adoption. Their overall sense that their 40s were a transformative period in their lives, with both women embarking on new personal journeys and projects, makes fascinating listening, along with their personal memories of the year 2000 and the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Join the Conversation

What are your recollections of the turn of the 21st century – if you were old enough to be there? If you enjoyed this discussion of a fascinating era, as well as the personal journeys of these old (in every sense) friends, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and tap the bell icon to stay updated on new episodes of The Year of Being 70. Subscribe now and join the journey!

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