A new start after 60: I got divorced and spent a year trying 70 new things – from pole-dancing to spring rolls

<p>After a lifetime of thinking about others, Alese Johnston decided to put herself first. Adventurous and irresponsible, she’s happier than she has ever been</p><p>Alese Johnston<strong> </strong>was sitting on the couch one Sunday morning, reading the Wall Street Journal, when she came across an article by a 60-year-old writer who felt he’d become boring – always telling his friends the same stories. “I do that,” Johnston thought. “So a couple of weeks later, when I turned 70, I committed to doing 70 new things over the course of the year.”</p><p>Johnston set up a website, <a href="https://fabulous70.com/">Fabulous70.com</a>. She made a spreadsheet, and started filling it with ideas. The only rule was: “It had to be something I’d never done before.” Her first “first” was to eat a nem – a type of spring roll – at a supper club where she lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/04/tell-us-has-your-life-taken-a-new-direction-after-the-age-of-65">Tell us: has your life taken a new direction after the age of 60?</a></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/oct/27/new-start-after-60-divorced-year-trying-70-new-things-pole-dancing-spring-rolls">Continue reading...</a>