The age-old stereotype that a woman loses her value after 35 is ludicrous.
For many of us, if not most, our 40s and 50s are when we finally come into ourselves, love ourselves more deeply, and honour our own unique beauty without apology.
In our 30s, stretch marks were something to hide, a flaw. Nowadays, they are tiger stripes, because you are “that hunter”.
The mistakes you made in your earlier years, you are learning to forgive yourself for, not as denial, but as growth, learning and acceptance.
Lisa Wingood understands this from the inside. A mother of two, a certified yoga teacher, and an organisational development advisor at Bermuda Hospitals Board, she speaks about the second half of life not as a descent, but as a widening.
“I’m a creative and compassionate person who values connection, wellness and authentic expression,” she said.
“I find peace in nature, especially the ocean, and joy in being a mother to my two beautiful daughters. I’m passionate about creativity in all forms, whether through art, facilitation, travel, food, or simply bringing colour and intention into everyday life.”
Ms Wingood’s work is shaped by a devotion to transition, to the sacred in-between.
“I’ve always loved supporting people through life’s changes, whether it’s through yoga, meditation, mindfulness, or simply bringing people together to connect and have fun,” she said.
“For me, it’s about creating spaces where people feel safe enough to grow both inwardly and outwardly.”
Cultural freedom
Safe enough. Those two words hold a whole world for women. Safety is not only physical. It is emotional. It is cultural. It is the freedom to be complex without being punished for it. The freedom to soften without being dismissed. The freedom to be powerful without being stereotyped. For women moving through spaces where race and gender shape how they are perceived, safety is often the missing ingredient, the thing that allows a woman to put down her armour long enough to breathe.
When the conversation turned to the idea that women should slow down as they age, Ms Wingood flipped the script with calm certainty.
“I’ve actually experienced the opposite; the second half of my life has been an acceleration,” she said. “I became a yoga instructor in my late 50s, which felt both brave and liberating.”
Like many women, midlife is when their own lives are just beginning. The world may expect you to quiet down, to become smaller and more “settled,” but midlife often brings the opposite: clarity, courage and the self-granted permission to live on your own terms. This is the time when the curtain on the stage of life is lifting for ‘Act Two’ to begin. You already know the lines. You’re stronger and wiser. As you tiptoe onto the stage of life, you approach it, not timidly as you did as a teen but deliberately, knowingly taking up space with your presence and announcing to the world that “I am here”.
Ms Wingood listed what that acceleration has looked like: improv classes, kayaking, jewellery making, jumping off bridges and creating her own essential oil body butters.
Exploring new things
But what makes her perspective land is her refusal of the cultural script that tells women to shrink.
“I don’t see aging as a time to shrink, I see it as a time to expand,” she said. “Slowing down, to me, isn’t about numbers; it’s about spirit. As long as there’s life in the body, there’s something new to explore.”
That is not just a motivational line. It is a spiritual orientation. It is the insistence that aliveness is not owned by youth, and that womanhood is not a countdown clock. For women who have spent years being the backbone of families and communities, expansion can mean finally choosing pleasure without guilt, choosing rest without apology, choosing joy without needing to justify it.
Midlife is a time when we can return to the self that existed before the world’s demands became so loud. A season where you stop measuring your worth by how much you carry, and start asking what, and who, carries you.
Still, expansion requires rhythm, not relentless motion.
“To avoid burnout, I intentionally take a pause to be still and reflective in between my activities,” Ms Wingood said.
“Rest and rejuvenation are essential. It’s often in those quiet pauses that creativity sparks and life surges forward again. I’ve learned how to lean into the ebb and flow of life!”
That shift matters for all women. It matters especially for Black women and women of colour, whose womanhood is too often framed through endurance rather than joy. When you are raised to be “strong” as a default, slowing down is not always restful.
During this time, many women discover that spirituality becomes less about performance and more about alignment. Less about proving, more about being.
Ms Wingood described the mindset shifts she sees as most powerful: “Creating balance, embracing change, being at one with yourself, and staying curious while relying on your internal wisdom.”
She also grounds that wisdom in daily practice, naming breath, nourishment and prayer as forms of self-respect.
Her approach is not about chasing perfection. It is about coming back to yourself. Again, and again. In her own teaching, she believes leadership starts with how you show up.
Community matters, too, because not every woman has been taught how to be held.
“Women who have trusted, supportive circles can step more courageously into the next phase of life,” Ms Wingood said.
“Sisterhood matters, it fosters community, collaboration and connection but it begins with cultivating trust, respect and love for each other.”
In the end, her message is not about denying the realities of aging. It is about refusing to let those realities define the limits of a woman’s life. The second half is a sacred season, not because everything is easy, but because you finally understand what matters. You learn to rest without guilt. You learn to move without apology. You learn to choose yourself, again and again, with clarity, with spirit, and always, with love.
