Jo grew up having many friends. She was always the life of the party, bringing fun and joy wherever she went. Years went by and her hope of becoming a mother came true as she gave birth to a daughter called Joelle. Joelle also grew up to be a social and fun person like her mother. After university, Joelle married a great guy call John. They ended up having several kids and choose to live close to Jo. For years, Jo’s life was filled with the frequent sounds and visits from her daughter, her grandchildren and her friends. Her life was full of community even though her husband passed away a decade earlier.

All of a sudden, Jo started to feel lonely as her daughter decided to move to another country, her grandkids started to build their own family lives and her friends started to pass away due to illnesses of various kinds and even loneliness.

Like an avalanche, loneliness started to fill Jo’s life at the age of 75 for the first time.  However, Jo was determined not to let loneliness have the last say, so she began to step out of her comfort zone and join social fitness and cooking clubs . She even took up dancing lessons. Slowly purpose and laughter was beginning to show up again as Jo found communities where she could share her joy with others. Moments of loneliness had not completely gone away, but Jo was making progress everyday by taking daily steps to being social.

Here are some lessons from Jo’s story:

• Be proactive right now to build more social connections for better quality of life.
• Do it afraid when trying new things e.g a dancing class. Wise bravery will reward you.
• Life is what we make it. We can find purpose again at any age.

Are you facing moments of loneliness, if so how can you make changes to feel part of a community?

Celebrating growth at any age, especially for women, check out this amazing movement called This Age

One life, live it kinder and more courageous.

Charlotte x