Sometime in 2013, I was invited by a group on Facebook to share my experience of being a mature single lady (MSL). An MSL in this context is a lady who is aged 30+ and single.
This gave birth to the ‘Diaries of a mature single lady’ which I wrote under a pseudonym. Prior to that, I had been journaling my experiences and learnings, and I found it even more fun capturing my daily experience in real-time and being able to share it in a creative way. The response from the readers was very heart-warming and I totally enjoyed every minute of being ‘Hadassah- The mature single lady’. I was also impressed by the interest shown by married people as I had assumed that my sole audience was other single ladies like me. This was quite a discovery for me as I realized that what is a daily lived experience for me is probably just a vague imagination in the minds of people who don’t live in the same world.
My experience writing ‘Diaries of a Mature Single Lady’ and the reactions it generated was however a great eye-opener for me. I was surprised that people were surprised about what being a mature single lady was like. I mean, everybody knows what it’s like to be a single lady aged 30+… just kidding. 😀
Since writing the series, I have written a book ‘Happily Whatever After’, for which I got an International publishing deal. I have also created platforms online and offline for single ladies aged 30+. We have had lots of fun activities, sleep-overs, hangouts, seminars, connected, talked, shared, prayed and built a support system for each other. In the last couple of months, I have also interviewed single ladies aged 30-50 years from 5 countries across 3 continents. I also continued blogging under the pseudonym.
Over the last decade, I have interacted with, worked with and more importantly, being that woman. By now, you would have realized that this is one subject I am quite passionate about.
I have since observed that the conversation about the mature single lady is rather one-way. We have people talk to us, more like give us advice, whether solicited or not- friends, family colleagues, neighbours, strangers, people at our places of worship, etc. On the other hand, we tend to have a lot of conversations amongst ourselves where we vent, let out the steam and support each other. I however don’t see a conversation happening in the other direction. It would seem that the discourse about the mature single lady is the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’, quite obvious but avoided because it is an uncomfortable conversation.
So, whether you’re a mature single lady, or know someone who is; I welcome you to come along this journey with me, as I would be opening up the world of a mature single lady to as many as might be interested in knowing what it is like to be ‘her’.
I will be doing this in my usual no-holds-barred and interesting story-telling style, and of course, with a huge dose of humour. I’m sure you’d enjoy reading my blogs!
My name is Bookie. I am 40+ years old and single.