Fifty and THRIVING

Our sense of significance plummets around age 58, according to a poll, but these women are defying the trend and ensuring they live their best lives

- FRANCES LEATE

‘THERE’S PLENTY MORE ADVENTURES TO COME’
Susan Henry, 54, lives in Essex.

Admitting you’re not happy in life is a painful process, and when I slowly came to that realisation just months before my 50th birthday, it would have been easy for me to simply wallow in self-pity. It was 2018 and I’d spent the last 33 years working in senior management for a bank in the city. It was a full-on job and a toxic working environment and I felt completely burnt out.

I knew that I needed to make the most of my life, and try my hardest to find happiness. So, with a lot of courage, I quit my job and sold my house, moving to a more affordable town near the Essex coast.

My son Harry, 22, was at university and, with time on my hands, I thought about all the things that really made me happy, like being outdoors in nature and helping others. So I threw myself into a variety of volunteer work and in September 2022 I bought a people carrier and had it converted so I could sleep in it and travel around.

The van model was Highway Star, which I thought sounded a bit country and western, so I named the van Dolly, after Dolly Parton. When she finally arrived in May this year, I fell in love with her instantly.

We’ve not been together long, but we’ve already been hiking in the Peak District where I went on a hill-walking and map-reading course; the Lake District where I scaled Scafell Pike; Snowdon, which I climbed; as well as a road trip around Scotland with Harry and my rescue Jack Russell cross, Cookie.