In December I decided to go on holiday on my own because I just needed to clear my mind and work out what 2023 was going to mean for me. So my friends were really concerned because they said I feel you’ve been ill and I said I am absolutely fine. So I went overnight to Egypt and that journey gave me lots of time to think and process things.

I got to my hotel it was all-inclusive, it was lovely, it was perfect. So I started my journalling. I already do journalling anyway but this was a different kind of journalling and I was able to do lots of meditation and visualising, just looking at my life and what I want to do and where I want to go.

So while I was there the photographer came up to me and said did I want some photos taken, and I said no, I really don’t and he kept insisting, in a nice way. He said they look really nice, and if you don’t like them there’s no obligation to buy them, and I kept resisting. So anyway it was Christmas Eve and I decided I would do it. I had just two outfits, so we went at 4 o’clock on to the beach in time to catch the sunset. At 6 o’clock I went to meet him again to look at the pictures and the shock for me was since I’ve lost so much weight I’ve never really seen myself, I’ve never really looked at myself like that. I was so blown away by the pictures, I had to ask is this really me? I got so excited, I’ve never seen myself like this before. It’s interesting because if I’d gone with my friends they would’ve probably said oh no don’t do that we’ll take pictures, but I would never have got that feel I got from these ones.

I turned 60 in July and I just knew that I had to really celebrate because of the journey that I had been on and because of my health. And I’ve had friends that didn’t make it till 60 and I knew that I just had to embrace and celebrate my birthday. I just knew I had to get everything out of it because turning 60 for some people is a downward spiral. For me turning 60 was the most uplifting experience that I’ve had in a long time.

I do a lot of journalling. I’ve been journalling for the last 40 years but going on that holiday to Egypt it just transformed my journalling. What you put out there in the universe comes back. It doesn’t always come back in the way you want it to, it can come back in ways that you least expect. So my journalling has changed in a way that I’m really enjoying. I’ve had a gratitude journal forever. But now my gratefulness is in more detail.

Turning 60 has been a massive awakening for me. I’ve not stopped journalling since I came back, I do it every day whereas before I might do it for a bit and then stop, now I’m going into an a lot more detail. Now I’m a lot more aware that I am manifesting, I realise that I have always been doing it but without putting a name to it.

Life is good, I’m really enjoying life and I have so much to be grateful for. I have no regrets about anything. And if someone now says something that upsets me I do not allow them to take my joy. Before somebody could say something and I might go on a downward spiral. For the day I might have got into the negative thought process that they drew me into. And I willingly gave them my feelings, I willingly let them take my good feelings away but now from this journalling I am doing I do not let that happen.

And if I do find myself speaking about something that’s a little bit negative I will cut it off and I will turn that around into something that is positive. And even if I can’t do that directly with the person I will do it in my own mind afterwards.