Is the best really yet to come? Definitely! We love these articles in The Huffington Post about why life gets better with age…
We believe that it’s never too late to start doing what you love and these two mums just go to prove it! Meet cousins Lisa and Wendy, the talented duo who joined forces in 2007 to turn Wendy’s post-divorce shop business into a successful online home boutique… Vintagevibe.
Lisa Nutley (pink top) and Wendy Thomas, cousins and founders of Vintagevibe at their offices and storage facility. Commissioned by Claire Echavarry for First Voice Magazine.
1. How are you doing what you love?
Lisa: We sell interesting and quirky home accessories, like large mirrors, bedroom furniture and statement lighting through our online shop Vintagevibe. We are passionate about offering affordable pieces, which are a little different.
2. What is your background? Talk us through your journey to this point…
Lisa: I have a corporate business background in accounts and was an assistant Bursar at a private school. However I’ve always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and from a young age I ran a stall at a market selling pop badges.
Wendy: My career background was sales. My first was for job for IPC publishing at their old Bowling Green Offices selling advertising space. I went on to break sales records selling, binding, laminating and collating office equipment for the General Binding Company as a London based sales rep.
I married two years after leaving school, having just completed my A-levels, and in 1983 gave up work to become the last generation of career housewife. I revelled in raising a family. I was married to an antiques dealer so I helped out doing all things that he didn’t have time for, like choosing fabrics for upholstery projects, paperwork, and meeting and greeting the dealers who would buy from our home, etc. We also moved house eight times in 25 years, renovating bashed up houses to supplement our income. Vintagevibe marked the start of a new chapter in my career.
Before I boarded a plane to Costa Rica 11 days ago I was wired, stressed out and, frankly, knackered. Eleven days later, following some dreamy time alone in paradise, primarily to write but also to slow down, get quiet, unplug, reconnect, soak in some sunshine, do yoga and eat well, I feel like a different person. Of course a tan always helps, but the thing I can’t help noticing is the inch-long ever-present furrow above my brow has completely disappeared. In just 11 days. My skin is clearer, my eyes are brighter, and I have lost at least half a stone in weight. What a difference eleven days makes.
We know it makes a difference when we are good to ourselves. When we make an effort to make time for the things we love, to make space for nothing, or for something. And yet day after day, week after week, we push on, ignoring the impulse to rest and rejuvenate. What is wrong with us?!
This time was a real gift. While I was away it was my 39th birthday, and I cannot think of a better way to begin the last year of my thirties. It was a wrench to be away from family, and I am sure Mr K has changed more than his fair share of nappies this past week or so, but I know I am going home a better version of myself.
It also helped that I was taken care of so very well.
And while here I had one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. You’ll have to wait until the book comes out to read about that, but I know it was only possible because I was here, ready, open.
It’s not easy to find the time and money to get on a plane and fly to Costa Rica. You have to call in a lot of favours, plan ahead and perhaps even work more before leaving to enable that time away. But it is so worth it!
This week I urge you to gift yourself some time, even just 20 minutes for a walk, or an hour for a yoga class, or perhaps a day to paint or go and explore somewhere.
And if this has really struck a chord with you, and you need some real time away, in nature, you might want to consider doing something impulsive and booking yourself a plane to Italy next week. My friend Andres Roberts of Way of Nature UK is co-leading a retreat in the Tuscan countryside called ‘Let go and relax’.
I was supposed to be going myself, but a bereavement has meant I cannot be there at this time. So there is a spare place, and Andres has kindly said someone in the Do What You Love community can have it at 15% off. This amazing retreat includes a 24 hour solo in the forest, which I know will be transformational. If you think this is for you, just drop Andres a line and he’ll make it happen.
Whatever you do with your YOU time this week, soak it up, and then plan some more.
Pura vida,
Beth
PS All this month on the blog we are discovering how it’s never too old to do what you love. If you missed it, here’s an interview with Nick Christian, who wrote his first book aged 70.
This is a guest post from Claire Le Hur who is cycling to China with her fiancé Stuart Block. The couple will start their journey in East Africa where they will follow new ‘silk roads’ charting the journey of key natural resources as part of an exciting new education project. Claire will be riding a bamboo bike, built by an African social enterprise and Stuart will ride a tandem, keeping the back seat free for those they meet en route. They will also be raising money and awareness for two great educational charities. Find out more about Claire’s big adventure here.
Our endurance challenge has opened our eyes to the ubiquitous issues of drought and deforestation and the importance of doing our bit to help protect the Earth’s natural ecosystems and contribute to sustainability.
Here are a few of some of the small sustainable enterprises that we have encountered on this trip…
I want to take a moment to be grateful today, for this day, my 39th birthday which I am spending in a beautiful yoga spa in the Costa Rican jungle and on a white sand beach at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
I have spent most this week working on my book, which will be on the shelves this time next year. I came here eleven days ago with a rough structure and an inch-high stack of notes. I now have nearly 30,000 words of a first draft to send to my editor. It’s still a long way off the final version, but it’s in a completely different place to the day I landed, and I am so grateful for this time.
I couldn’t have done it without the incredible care of the staff here at the Costa Rica Yoga Spa. They couldn’t have done more to make me feel at home, and give me space to write and write.
Nick Christian, now retired, has pursued a life of personal freedom in all its forms. At the age of 70, his lust for independence has recently culminated in his first self-published novel of Historic Fiction. “You have only one life, live it, and where possible, by your own rules,” he advises, and follows his own advice daily.
Having grown up in the countryside at a time in history when the Nanny State and pressures of social media would only have been a fantasy in a futuristic Si-fi movie, he had the good fortune, along with a proportion of his generation, of having freedom thrust upon him.
Home was a small cottage, isolated from the nearest neighbour by fields and woods. Water was gathered from a deep well and the house was heated by a coal fired inglenook fire. In winter, glistening patterns of frost decorated the inside of his bedroom window.
This is how Nick describes his childhood:
May is here! I love this month, not just because it’s my birthday month (hello 39!) but because the air is filled with the smell of cut grass, and flowers bloom everywhere.
This week I am keeping it short and sweet because I want to challenge you to get out of your inbox, off your computer and out into the sun. If you are reading this in your office, find an excuse to sneak out and take a walk in the park, soak up the rays on your face and feel the sunshine transform the way you feel today.
I plan to spend the day in a hammock, safe in the knowledge that I’ll probably do some of my best work there.
Here comes the sun, now go and play with her! #nevertooold
Beth
This week has been a very sad one for us, as one of Mr K’s oldest friends lost his fight for life after a long illness. He had been waiting for a liver transplant but didn’t get one in time and passed away a few days ago. He was one of life’s really good people – a loyal friend, a ray of sunshine, a great husband and father – and he will be desperately missed.
In the days afterwards I felt like I had to DO something, anything. And so I joined the organ donor register so perhaps I can save someone else’s friends and family similar pain in the future after I am gone. Did you know one person’s donated organs can save the lives of up to EIGHT people? That’s amazing. If you live in a country where organ donation is on an opt-in basis as it is here, I’d really encourage you to consider registering as a donor too. It only takes a minute and it could literally save someone’s life. You can sign up here : UK / USA / Australia / Google for other countries!
This week has also reminded us that life is short, and precious. And so we have dedicated the coming month of May on the blog we are celebrating the wisdom of age, and the truth that it is never too old to do what you love.
We will be sharing interviews with some really inspiring older people who have made major shifts in their life at a later age, including a 70 year old first-time author! There are lots of obstacles to doing what you love, but age should not be one. We’ll prove that to you over the coming month, so keep an eye out on the blog for more throughout May!
And lastly this week, I’d like to introduce you to Bailey May, the latest addition to the Do What You Love family… We have dreamt of road trips in our very own VW camper van for many years, and after everything that has happened this week we decided to just go for it. I have a feeling this might be the best investment we have made in a while. I look forward to sharing stories from the open road…
And with that, I’m off to the station to catch a train to begin my 5,400 mile journey to Costa Rica, to work on my book.
This week I challenge you to ignore the clock and follow the sun!
Beth