It’s all about you!
“Allowing yourself a bit of creative time is about putting yourself at the top of your to-do list – we all need to prioritise our wellbeing”
In this issue we’ve been taking a look at creativity and realising that this life stage is a great time to rediscover it. i’ve noticed lots of my friends are either getting back into hobbies and activities they enjoyed in their youth or they’re taking up new pursuits. in our feature Crafting is my lifeline (p56), we interview three very busy women who use crafting to de-stress, including Melissa, a scene of crime officer who loves cross-stitching and quilting. allowing yourself a bit of creative time is actually about putting yourself at the top of your to-do list. a few years back, when both my parents were really ill, a concerned friend encouraged me to join a choir and it really was a lifesaver – a creative outlet where i could lose myself for a few hours. When i missed a few sessions because i was too busy, the choir mistress took me to one side and said, “When you’ve got too much to do, why is it the thing that keeps you sane falls by the wayside?” that pep talk has really stuck in my mind because we all need to prioritise our own wellbeing a little bit more.
this month sees the final instalment of our amazing Women awards (p46). this issue, we celebrate five celebrities who support worthy causes, and we also have the nominees of the “don’t tell Me i can’t” jd Williams award. these women will blow you away with their mind-blowing can-do attitude. row the atlantic at 62, enter Britain’s Got Talent as a comedy magician at 55, do competitive mountain biking at 63, buy a rundown little chef after seeing it on holiday and transform it into an acclaimed real food café, and go solo back-packing in africa at 64. could these women be any more awesome? not for one minute do i imagine myself achieving any of these feats but i still find the stories really inspiring. i hope you enjoy them too.
two other women i’m finding endlessly fascinating right now are Princesses Beatrice and eugenie. We recently noticed a spike in interest in sarah ferguson and her daughters on womanandhome.com and commissioned royal expert ingrid seward – biographer of sarah ferguson and long-time friend of her family – to update us on their lives. turn to p40 to read about this most modern of families. they are fabulously flawed, which i think makes us love them more.
finally, how can i not mention the gorgeous cover stars (see p12) i’m surrounded by in the photo below? it was such a thrill for me to meet Good Morning Britain’s susanna reid, kate Garraway and charlotte hawkins on our shoot. they’re funny, feisty and so incredibly glamorous – our kind of women!