Many women feel lost in their fifties, but somehow it’s not something we talk about. It’s almost as if to admit you feel lost means you have somehow failed. But something I want to reassure you is that feeling lost in your fifties doesn’t mean you have failed; it often means you’re pausing to reassess with more self-knowledge and life experience than ever before.

Feeling uncertain is a natural part of growth, not a verdict on your worth; indeed, if you didn’t feel differently in your fifties than in your twenties, you almost certainly wouldn’t have grown in many areas.

So, if you're feeling lost in your 50s, start by asking what has changed rather than what's wrong with you.

Because your priorities, identity, relationships, career, or sense of purpose may have changed, and the life that once fit you may no longer fit you in the same way.

Ten years ago, I started to get unstuck; I just didn't realise at the time that I was doing so. It was a gradual transition from the way I was living and thinking about my life. I knew I wanted something different, and I knew I couldn't carry on the way I was, but at the same time, I also felt as if I was in a dark, unfamiliar room trying to find the way out. I kept going round and round in my mind; I want something different, to feel different, but what?

How can I change when I need to keep moving forward? How can I possibly focus on just me when there are so many other people in my life vying for my attention? How can I possibly put myself first?

But the feelings didn't disappear with inaction, they got more uncomfortable and harder to ignore until I realised something had to change, and that's when I started to take control. I decided that I was worth investing in, and that meant I needed someone to show me the way out of that room.

That's the room most of the women I work with are standing in when they first come to me

There comes a point for many women where life can start to feel strangely flat, and not because everything is falling apart or because there is some obvious crisis happening, but because, despite constantly being busy, despite always having something to do, somewhere to be, someone to help or another responsibility to carry, there is still this underlying feeling that something important is missing.

And this is where many women become confused, because from the outside, life may look perfectly fine.

You are functioning, you are coping, you are getting through your days, you are keeping everything moving, and yet underneath all of that, there is often exhaustion, emotional disconnection and a growing feeling that you have somehow lost yourself along the way.

Being busy and being fulfilled are not the same thing, although many women spend years believing they are.