100 Posts In

What showing up, sharing honestly, and writing without a plan has taught me

When I started writing here on Substack, I didn’t have a strategy. No content calendar. No growth plan. No clear idea of what this would become.

I was in the middle of writing the Real Girls Guide to Midlife and needed a place to think in public. To try out ideas. To see if the questions I was asking made sense outside my own head. To get a feel for what landed… and what didn’t.

So I started posting. One piece at a time.

Some of the posts were polished. Some were rough drafts with feelings. Many were written between appointments, flights to and from Australia, projects, and the low-grade exhaustion of life.

I didn’t always know where I was going. I just knew I couldn’t keep everything inside.

Now, nearly 100 posts in, here’s what I’ve learned.

Naming things doesn’t weaken them. It sharpens them.
Writing helped me see patterns I’d been living inside without naming. Beliefs I’d inherited. Rules I’d never agreed to. It helped me sort what still fits from what I’m ready to leave behind. That unlearning changed how I move through my days.

Connection doesn’t always show up loudly.
It’s often quiet. A thoughtful reply. A message that says, “Same.” Or, “I didn’t know how to say this until now.” The way so many of you read closely, push back gently, or add something honest of your own. I could not have imagined how much each and every one would mean.

Consistency isn’t about discipline. It’s about permission.
I didn’t write more because I tried harder. I wrote more because I stopped waiting to be finished. I let myself show up unsure and a little scared. Midlife doesn’t reward perfection. It responds to honesty.

This space shaped the book more than I expected.
Your reactions helped sharpen chapters. Slow others down. Rethink tone. You showed me how women want to be spoken to, not fixed, not rushed, not talked at. Because of that, the book became clearer and more grounded and still more me.

Writing here changed me too.
I care less about being palatable (as my Aussie Man can confirm!). Less about getting it right. More about telling the truth and letting it stand. This practice didn’t give me answers. It gave me steadiness.

So if you’ve been here for one post or nearly all of them, thank you. Thank you for reading. For responding. For digging in. For helping me think more clearly by thinking alongside me.

This never felt like an audience. It felt like a room. And I’m grateful you’re in it.

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#RGG55, #RealGirlsGuidetoMidlife, #MidlifeWriting, #CreativeProcess
#WomenSupportingWomen, #FindingYourVoice

We’ve earned every wrinkle. Might as well make more laugh lines together.
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