Hi, I’m Dee.

Wife, mum, primary school teacher — and still finding my way back to myself.

For years, I got very good at keeping everything moving.

Work. Family. Home. The endless mental list of things that needed doing.

I had a good life. I loved my family. I loved my work.

But somewhere amongst all of it, I’d stopped making much room for me.

Not in a dramatic, pack-a-bag-and-run-away-to-Italy kind of way.

I’d just stopped asking myself a very simple question:

What do I actually want?

So I started small.

I put my phone away when I got home. Spent more time with people I loved. Read books because I fancied them. Walked into a gym without the faintest idea what I was doing. Started getting curious about things again.

Nothing particularly revolutionary happened.

But slowly, I started feeling more like myself.

And that’s where Made in Midlife began.

Why Made in Midlife?

I don’t believe we need to reach midlife and reinvent ourselves.

I think sometimes we just need to make enough space to hear ourselves again.

Made in Midlife is my little corner of the internet for doing exactly that.

I’m not writing from the other side with all the answers neatly worked out. I’m right in the middle of it too — trying things, getting some of them spectacularly wrong, learning, changing my mind and gradually working out what makes life feel more like mine.

If something here encourages you to read the book, take the walk, try something new, spend time with someone you love — or drink your tea while it’s actually hot — I’ll consider that a win.

I’m not trying to build a perfect life.

I’d quite like one that feels like mine.

If that sounds good to you too, I hope you’ll stick around.

Dee x