Shannan's blog

Chapter Five – If you don’t have children, do you feel like it has impacted you emotionally &/ psychologically? If so, how? These are the stories of some respondents to a questionnaire around being single over the age of 40 as a woman. Donna, Not sure how to answer this one. I've been a preschool teacher most of my life, and hear all about the struggles with children, especially the financial implications. So, in my circumstances, I don't...

Chapter Four – If you don’t have children, how has your single status affected you socially? Respondent 1: Donna, Except for the mentioned “episode”, I have not really been affected as I have single friends. (Response to Q3 was: Yes, I had a hysterectomy at 36, and got a bit emotional at a church camp when I saw all the kids with their families.) Respondent 2: Alyss, I find myself in the social circles of friends and their children’s birthday...

Chapter Three – Have you ever had your heart broken? If so, how did you push through the brokenness, or are you still not in the ‘all clear’? These are the story-answers of some non-fictional respondents... Respondent 1: Donna, 44, Christian, who has 100% support from her family and has been single most of her life. Yes, I had a hysterectomy at 36, and got a bit emotional at a church camp when I saw all the kids with their families. Respondent 2...

Chapter Two – This question was: As you have reached, and are living out, your ‘over 40’ solo status in life, how has your perspective on singleness changed from what it was 2 decades ago? These are the stories of some respondents to a questionnaire around being single over the age of 40 as a woman. Respondent 1: Donna, 44, Christian, who has 100% support from her family and has been single most of her life. While I wanted to be married and have...

Chapter One - Write a very brief, publishable blurb on how you arrived at She, Over 40, Solo. These are the stories of the respondents to the questionnaire around being single over the age of 40 as a woman. Respondent 1: Donna, 44, Christian, who has 100% support from her family and has been single most of her life. I believe that sex was made for the intimacy of marriage. Most men (generally) want sex when dating, I blame the media for that,...

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Context – Third Wave of Covid Pandemic, now amidst the riots and looting of the KwaZuluNatal, South African, livelihoods. Gunshots have been ringing out beyond my window for 4 days now, with fewer shots starting on Saturday evening, to a more continuous stream this Tuesday morning. A WatsApp video showed police shooting at gatherers in my area to disperse them from a mall car park this morning. The government knew that this would be going down...

From full lockdown here in South Africa, wishing you all well. Hope the time of quiet, and option for stillness, brings great meaning, purpose, creativity and understanding that is filled with peace in your hearts. Take care of yourselves awesome ABC community. You rock. Cyber hugs, Shannan

“A New Hope” – that was the title of a daily reading forwarded to me today. It followed a special day yesterday for two individuals who, after meeting as colleagues, moved on from their shared employer to different offices, but their communications didn’t end and they eventually became engaged and got married yesterday. The reading today was about ‘lean not on your own understanding’ and it dawned on me that that is exactly what the action of ‘...

Letting Go A really hard thing as a human and as a teacher, for me personally, is “letting go”. I am finding more and more that social media is absolutely horrible at helping me with this problem. A WatsApp group with my matric learners, for example, and when the year ends, they leave the group. It guts me. It really does. But, the time is done, the short interaction I had with them is over and, as a very different generation, they are not ones...