JUSTINE’S BIG 50 CHALLENGE
everyone. I sang with my kids, I celebrated with my friends and today I woke up with a banging champagne hangover!
“I am excited – for a new chapter of my life, full of possibilities. Challenges too. But I think I’m ready for them.”
Not one to dwell on bad times, Justine threw herself straight back into her 50 Shades of Brave challenge and attended a speed-dating evening in Cardiff.
In May she ticked seven more challenges off her list and went on a rugby tour, cleared our her wardrobe, wore false eyelashes for the first time, ate caviar, spoke at a public event and had a big 50th birthday party.
She also went skinny dipping while climbing Snowdon in June.
Justine explained: “It was on the list of challenges. And what better time and place than when you’re hot, achy and exhausted, halfway down Snowdon in a clear cool lake?
“It was stony underfoot. I was naked. It hurt and was bloody slippery. So I hastened as gracefully as a naked woman on slippery stones could hasten, into the lake.
“Shoulders under, shoulders out. It was too cold to stay in long. I made for the shore. The exit wasn’t graceful either! I quickly wrapped my coat around me and started to giggle.”
In July, she went parasailing in Cyprus, ate food at The Ivy in London and gave blood, while she spent August getting a tattoo, dying her hair purple, kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland and watching the sunrise.
By September, Justine was taking part in a 5k obstacle course race, visiting Barafundle Bay, sleeping in a yurt and having an Ayurvedic massage treatment.
She had a tarot reading in October and went to see a Shakespeare play at The Globe, before taking up pole dancing and yoga in November.
In post 41 on November 16, Justine also explained how she paid for someone else’s shopping.
She explained: “The internal dialogue in my head was amazing. “What about her? She’s old and looks like she’s on her own. Shall I just walk up to her and say ‘excuse me can I pay for your shopping?’ What if she thinks I’m a weirdo?” “Her face was a picture.” Then came the final month of the challenge – December, and as well as learning a new piece of music and reading a classical book, Justine also went off-road driving with Tori James – the first Welsh woman to climb to the summit of Everest.
She finished off her mammoth 50 Shades of Brave challenge on New Year’s Eve by handing out 50 hugs to people in Cardiff city centre.
“It’s been so amazing – not only doing all the challenges (which have been amazing) but meeting all the new people along the way,” she said.
“I feel great, I’m just worried I won’t know what to do with myself in 2017 now – I’ll definitely have to keep finding new challenges to try along the way.
“One of my favourite challenges was the fire walk in Cardiff Bay and all the mountain challenges – I can’t believe I climbed Pen y Fan on my own. And I went skinny dipping in Snowdon!
“The divorce itself was quite challenging, as was the date of my 20th wedding anniversary.
“I wanted to get out and do something amazing, but instead I spent it on my own – but that was exactly what I needed to do. It was good for me to stop and think, before then carrying on with my life.
“I’ve met so many inspirational people, and I think that’s one of the greatest things I’ll take from the experience.”
and 20th wedding anniversary, instead Justine got divorced but that didn’t stop her having fun