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Stephanie Raffelock is a journalist, a blogger and an aspiring novelist. In her Sixty and Me column, she explores aging dynamically, living fully and loving well.

Latest Posts By Stephanie Raffelock

7 months ago

Think You’re Not Creative? Think Again!

There are so many great things about being a woman of this certain age – what stretches out in front of us are our most creative years. Every woman is creative. There is always something that she is doing that is steeped in creative process…

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11 months ago

7 Simple Steps to Becoming a Writer After 60

Second Chapters. Third Acts. Call it what you will, your sixties are a time to recreate, reclaim and often reinvent yourself. You may be retired or partially so. You did a good job with the kids and they are carving out their own lives now. Maybe you’ve left a marriage and find yourself single again. Whatever the circumstances, the true confession that I hear so many times is, “I have always wanted to write.” And now is your time to do so…

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1 year ago

Do You Feel Too Old to Follow Your Bliss?

A friend asked me a question the other day: “This writing thing of yours; is it a hobby or do you see it as a profession?” Even after I’d given him my answer, I chewed on the question for a while. It didn’t really matter what my answer was – encore career or a hobby…

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1 year ago

4 Qualities That Help You to Embrace Aging

Aging. It’s happening and it’s weird. Some days I am relaxed in the process of it. Other days I am Don Friggin’ Quixote, battling the windmills with Pilates classes, hiking, and an over abundance of green salads and coconut water…

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1 year ago

How to Bounce Back from Failure After 60

I know J.K. Rowling’s story by heart – the young, impoverished single mother who stayed true to her writing dream in the face of a failed marriage and what she saw as a failed career choice. The urgency of her situation turned her desire…

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1 year ago

5 Things to Get Rid of and 5 Things to Embrace as an Older Woman in 2025

As the end of the year approaches, I begin to putter around in closets and cabinets, donating those things that I am not using. I enjoy simplicity and orderliness. But it’s not just the cabinets and drawers that deserve attention, it’s the stressful things in our psyche that we should be willing to give up…

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1 year ago

8 Guilty Pleasures that Make the Holidays Even More Fun

I swear to you that I am not a bah, humbug kind of person. In fact, I love the holidays, and one of the things that I most look forward to is that business slows, relatives eventually go home and I have hit every bullet point on my Christmas “To-Do” list…

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1 year ago

4 Real Qualities That Can Make Us Beautiful in Our Own Aged Eyes

While taking a break one afternoon from the physical and mental gymnastics that only a cross-country move can produce, I took the time to read an article about a 58-year-old actress who was ‘rockin’’ a swimsuit…

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2 years ago

5 Autumn Rituals to Celebrate the Changing of the Seasons (Plus, My Apple Butter Recipe)

I love the changing of the seasons. Don’t you? This time of year I get to pull out my flannel shirts and thick socks, which after a summer of bare shoulders and toes feels cozy and warm. As the weather cools down, I delight in the autumn rituals…

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2 years ago

10 Steps to Improve Your Life After 50 Through Deliberate Breathing

Anyone who has ever done Pilates or taken a Yoga class knows that one of the great benefits derived from those types of classes is the relaxation and sense of well-being that comes from an hour of deep, deliberate breathing…

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