Welcome,
I’ve done many things in my life, cycled to Everest, worked with Presidents and royalty, and been married 29 years with four children, but the most positive reaction I’ve had to anything was for a trip I took across Britain, without my mobile phone! It turned out that talking to strangers for help and their resulting kindness would become a life-affirming and life-changing experience.
My mobile had broken, and it got me thinking about how much we depend on them, for everything. Elon Musk said that having that ‘always-on’ access to information means that we are already half robot. I want to be fully human though – so I set off to travel the length of Britain without that instant access to everything I believed I needed….and social media!
I was helped in the direction of interesting places, favourite coffee shops and unknown shortcuts, through real conversations with real people. Mainly, midlifers, that like me, want to spend their time connecting, feeling useful and sharing passions. Conversations quite quickly deepened from “where are you going?” to “why?” to the meaning of life.
Our world is changing quickly. When the average age of a boss is 37, most midlifers have now plateaued or becoming superfluous to the job market. Work from home means we may rarely ever go back to an office and can go days without face-to-face interaction. We don’t want this life. We want to chat…and on my ride, chat they did, about life, relationships, regrets, new ideas and plans for future adventures.
Everyone I spoke to wants to live more of their life off-screen, outside, sharing time with other people – a simple life – where how we spend our time is more important than how we spend our money.
We don’t want to be half-robot. Moments of real-life connection make the world go round. Moments we rarely get on screen but are abundant in real life. Whilst we battle for the natural planet, we mustn’t lose the connections that are critical to human nature.
Our mental health is taking a kicking as we feel undervalued and have to spend more time alone than we like. 'What the hell am I going to do for the next ten years?' We ask ourselves…
“How do I live my best life?” there are no second chances. Midlifers want authentic lives rich in well-being, passion, culture, friendship and the outside.
Cycling without my mobile was just one example of that best life Helen and I are now trying to live. People think we are living a dream, but it took sacrifice, hard decisions and changes in our priorities. Breaking away from the expectations of society is tough.
My first job was as a shop assistant and my last was running an agency with over a hundred employees. I worked hard, I was successful, but I very rarely enjoyed it, I was stressed and unhappy. Helen and I broke up. I needed to get off the treadmill to get my family and happiness back.
I made my first step away by turning down the opportunity to earn £millions and going to work for charities instead, spending ten years working with some well-known and important names on global causes.
And then step two, I went part-time, retaining some feeling of value and income but in-between time, spending more time with my family and on fun cycle trips - to Everest, India and across continents.
Cycling found me the place we are at now – living simply, enjoying simple pleasures in a little-known paradise at the centre of ancient Greece, home of the world’s first health sanctuary with a community rich in all we need - well-being, passion, culture, friendship, the outside - and the smells of good food!
But now I’m 60, traditionally we’re meant to start slowing down - I’ve been given a free bus pass! But our community here is not ready to slow down. We are the first generation that has the opportunity to live their best years after 60 - full of adventure, passion, well-being and purpose.
We only achieve this by learning from everyone we meet - there are so many different ways to live. This is where we share learnings and inspiration for anyone to be able to make 60+ the best years of their life.
Thank you for joining us on this journey
Chris