The Retirement Rebel....

It is never too late and you are never too old. That is what life has been telling me since I hit the road when I was 60yrs in my motorhome, over three and a half years ago.

Back in 2019 when I turned the key in the ignition and set off on my solo adventure as a pro-age campaigner, I was overwhelmed with life. I felt that there had to be more to this ageing lark than the cards that life seemed to be dealing me. Disposing of my home and possessions I nervously headed off into the unknown.

Since then I have navigated a pathway to happiness. Although it has not been without its difficulties. Like the time I spent nearly five months in a field on my own in Norfolk in lockdown throughout Christmas. Or when I got stuck in the mud on a hilltop in the Outer Hebrides with noone there to help me. In both of those situations though I found a way through. A clutch technique my brother taught me helped me free myself from the mud after about half an hour or so of trying.

Being in lockdown tested my resolve, especially when my pipes froze and I had to collect and melt snow to boil it so that I could have a strip wash and make drinks. The good thing to come out of my nomadic life is that I have relised I am far more resilient and capable than I envisaged I would be.

Throughout all this I harboured a dream to write a book about my life’s adventures and how I had been broken in my fifties, before I eventually found my inner warrior to live the life I always wanted to live.

Iwas thrilled when in January 2022 I got the email from Vertebrate Publishing to say that they wanted to go ahead and publish my book. They believed in my story and that it would resonate with so many women both young and old. We came up with the title RETIREMENT REBEL.

After the initial excitement of getting my book commissioned I was scared about whether my writing would be good enough. I needn’t have worried. Vertebrate publishing guided me all the way through the whole process. They even listened when I asked for a Robin to be added to the design of the book cover. Robin’s appear often on my journey and I always feel it is my mother and elder sister, who both died, guiding me.

The messages of hope and determination to feel better about life and myself, contained within my book, are really resonating with scores of women. They relate to my life’s journey because they themselves are going through similar things like empty nests, as children leave home, bereavement, bullying, ageism... particularly in the workplace ...and the menopause.

Iam contacted daily by women via email and my website, shuvonshuvoff.co.uk. They open their hearts to me saying that they dream of having an adventure like mine, some to travel ,others just to do something different with their lives but often they feel too afraid. They say that I have inspired them. I feel honoured that they trust me. I am becoming quite an agony aunt.

Publishing my book has also enabled me to campaign even more for positive ways to age, especially through adventure. I have been intived to speak at events including the Kendal Mountain Festival and the Wild Writers festival in Peebles.

Ihave several Literary Festivals lined up for this year as well as Motorhome shows, which is exciting. There is definitely a growing number of solo female van travellers and I am delighted that I may have played a small part in some of those women taking to the road to find happiness and live in the moment.