A 69-year-old psychologist has challenged the pressure on older women to treat aging as another self-improvement project, praising Jo Brand for approaching 70 without offering a formula for how to do it.
In responses to Brand’s November 2 interview about aging, rage, fitness and grief—published under the headline “It’s far too late for me to go to the gym every 10 minutes”—two older women described sharply different experiences of later life. Dr. Denise Taylor, a chartered psychologist who researches and writes about later life and is the author of ThriveSpan, said Brand’s willingness to be angry, grumpy and less adventurous than she once was, while still enjoying life, was refreshing.
Taylor said Brand does not feel obliged to turn aging into another self-improvement project. Public discussion is dominated by advice about aging well, aging positively and aging successfully, Taylor noted. Older people are encouraged to exercise more, eat better, remain productive, find their purpose and keep reinventing themselves. Much of that advice is well intentioned, she said, but collectively it makes growing older seem like another job people are expected to perform.
At 69, Taylor questions that narrative. Looking after health matters, she said, but aging is not a competition. Older people should not have to demonstrate that they are making the most of every remaining year.
She was particularly struck by Brand’s comments about older women being treated as though they are all alike. Women in later life are as varied, contradictory and individual as they have ever been, Taylor said. Some want adventure; others want a quieter life. Some are still working; others are delighted to have left employment behind. Their feelings about aging can change from one day to the next.
Taylor argued that Brand’s interview appeals because it does not present a formula. Brand simply describes her experience with humor, honesty and a willingness to acknowledge what is difficult. Taylor called for less instruction on how to age successfully and more freedom to grow older in one’s own way.
Louise Mothersole of Bournemouth, Dorset, offered a different perspective on what older people can do. She said she wanted to reassure Brand that approaching 70 is certainly not too old to become fitter and healthier.
Mothersole, 64, and her 73-year-old partner had been dedicated couch potatoes, spending evenings with wine, cheese and chocolate. Neither had done any sport or fitness activity until April 2026, when they began the Couch to 5K challenge.
They now run 5 kilometers three times a week, every week. They are not quick—their runs take 40 minutes—but they do it and feel much better for it. Mothersole joked that she feels so virtuous that her halo lights their evening runs.
The two accounts do not dispute the value of health or physical activity. They challenge the notion that there is one correct way to grow older, or that older women can be addressed as a single group with a single set of prescriptions. Taylor’s account stresses permission to age without a performance review. Mothersole’s describes a late start to exercise that has changed how she and her partner feel.