The Hello fifty! book project was inspired by the responses to my first book, The Constant Sweetness Within. When I initially composed the first collection of essays, the project and process was about creating a space for me to express my experience and share my story, which, ultimately, was a process of healing and catharsis. The responses from women (and men) were more powerful and meaningful to me than my processing. It revealed to me a truth in storytelling: storytelling is an invitation to the reader or listener. It is an invitation for them to, first, empathize—creating a moment of connection and shared experience. Secondly, empathizing brings the reader’s or listener’s experience to the forefront and inspires reciprocation. In this reciprocity, the storyteller and the listener begin to see the human beneath the story. And, if only for a moment, we begin to see ourselves in another.

The decision to openly share my story was inevitably a decision to firmly plant myself in a position to create and hold space for other women to process the complicated messiness of their lives. This calling was first expressed in the creation of The Women Gather Retreats, a signature offering by la experiencia—a space for women to step out of their lives and tell the truth…without the masks. Then, as I neared my fiftieth birthday, the concept of a book, a collection of new essays, about women in middle-age was born.

But this time, I felt deeply compelled to create space for other women to write and share their own stories. What a gift, I thought, to read the powerful stories of women who have gained wisdom and knowledge through life experience yet, are deemed irrelevant in many ways in the larger society. This space is also an invitation to women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s to be in conversation and to be supported and loved throughout the process. Ultimately, this project is a gift to myself. I get to do all the things I love: write, create a space, and be in the company of women.