It's never too late for a life change

or... 54 year-old woman gets her teeth straightened!

At the end of 2023, I spent a month in a brilliant town called Eureka Springs in Arkansas.

Eureka Springs is nestled in the Ozark Mountains and is steeped in a magical history. It is also full of fascinating people, a huge percentage of whom are creative types - poets, writers, musicians, artists - so I fell in love with it instantly.

While I was there I decided on a whim to go and get a tarot reading. It had only been a couple of months since I’d given up my home in the UK to live as a nomad, writing my way around the world, and I was looking for some kind of reassurance that I’d done the right thing and a little insight into how it might all pan out.

But as soon as I arrived for my reading I became way less interested in what was on the cards for me and absolutely fascinated by my tarot reader.

My memory is a little hazy on exactly what she was wearing but I know there was a lot of velvet involved, in a deep shade of purple.

Her hair was cropped short and dyed a rich ruby red, she was rocking an expertly applied cat-eye, and huge cocktail rings glimmered from every one of her fingers.

Her name was Nance and oh yes, she was 86!

The overall aesthetic that sprang to my mind was ‘Mature Bette Davis does elegant lounge-wear,’ and as soon as I laid eyes on her I was desperate to know her story.

‘How long have you lived in Eureka Springs?’ I asked as she placed a velvet drawstring bag on the table between us.

‘Only a couple of months,’ she replied, in a husky drawl, that instantly made me picture her reclining on a chaise longue, a pearl-embossed cigarette holder between her bejewelled fingers.

‘I came here from Sacramento,’ she continued.

‘What made you move here?’ I asked, thinking that maybe she had family in Eureka Springs and she wanted to be closer to them as she got older.

‘I fancied a fresh start,’ she replied.

There was something about hearing this line coming from an 86 year-old’s mouth that made me want to leap up and punch the air for joy.

‘Did you know anyone here?’ I asked, intrigued.

Nance shook her head and tipped a deck of cards from the bag onto the table. They were so well used they were faded and fraying around the edges.

As she began shuffling the cards I gazed at her awestruck, and knew that I didn’t need to ask the tarot if I’d made the right decision getting rid of my home to travel the world.

I had all the evidence that I absolutely categorically had done the right thing sitting across the table from me in all her Bette-Davis-style glory.

Nance ended up giving me an uncannily accurate reading, but the best gift she gave me was one of inspiration, combined with the realisation that not only was making a life change a wonderful thing, but it was something I could continue to do into my eighties and beyond.

And of course, changing your life doesn’t have to be as dramatic as upping sticks to move across America, or around the globe. It’s never too late to make smaller changes too.

Let me share a change I made this past year - 40 years later than I’d originally intended!

I should have had an orthodontic brace as a kid but, due to a series of unfortunate events, mainly involving a drill going through my tooth and into my gum at the age of 11, and at the hands of a nightmarish dentist, plus an extreme Gen X childhood where I’d been left to go to the dentist on my own, I decided that I ‘just couldn't be bothered to get a brace’ (11-year-old Gen X swagger for 'I'm way too scared to go back to that psycho dentist!’')

So I've always had overcrowded top teeth and for a long time I didn't care. I personally hate the obsession with perfection when it comes to appearances and I find the veneered Hollywood smile characterless and eerily pristine. I like a quirk, but...

In more recent years, the overcrowding got a lot worse and I started to feel self conscious about smiling - which would have been OK if I was a miserable b***ard but I'm usually happy and frequently grinning. Oh, the irony!

Then just over a year ago, I unexpectedly came into some money from a foreign rights book deal and so I decided to treat myself to a course of teeth aligners.

Teeth aligners are great because you get a given a set that you change every 7-10 days, so you don't have to keep going back to the dentist. As a nomad, this was vital for me. And so, for the past year, my teeth aligners and a little black container to keep them in have accompanied me all over the world.

At first it felt like such a faff. You're meant to keep teeth aligners in for 22 out of every 24 hours and as someone who loves to eat - and take my time enjoying a meal - I hated having to dine against the clock. But I stuck at it - and only had a couple of slip-ups, both times I went to Ukraine and had their traditional celebratory feasts, which are brilliant and go on for hours and made up of about 546 delicious courses!

But everywhere else I went I stuck to the regime and today - a whole year later - I'm Invisalign free. AND for the first time in years I can smile without feeling self conscious, which makes me so happy!

my trusty Invisalign travel companion - I’ve now repurposed it as an earrings holder!

So, if there’s a dream or a change that you’ve shelved because you’ve told yourself it’s just too late, I hope this post inspires you to think again.

If an 86 year old tarot-reading legend can up sticks and move across America for a change of scene and a 54 year old woman can finally get her teeth straightened, surely it isn’t too late for you either.

Thank you!

HUGE thanks to everyone who ‘bought me a coffee’ following last week’s post. I was so touched and it was so great to receive the notifications and your lovely messages of support throughout the day.

Here’s a coffee I had courtesy of one of you lovely people the other day, while planning this week’s post and brainstorming ideas for this new look DREAM DARE DO platform and community.

The first idea I’ve come up with is to introduce something called Workshop Wednesdays, which will be a bonus post from me every other Wednesday (so two a month) and will be a little more interactive than the Sunday letters.

I’m thinking of having one a month called Dare to Write - as I know a lot of writers subscribe to this Substack. And the other will be called Dare to Dream, which will be broader in scope and able to be applied to any dream you might have.

Each will involve some kind of exercise you can do to help you in your writing or dreaming and will also include a video or audio from me, as well as the usual written content.

Think fun-sized workshop you can do from your laptop or phone in 30 minutes or less.

I hope this sounds good and I can’t wait to get started! (The weekly Sunday letters will continue as normal.)

Siobhan