Review: Fifty and Fabulous!

By Danielle Christopher

I was sent a copy of Fifty and Fabulous: The Best Years of a Woman's Life by Jaki Scarcello for consideration to review. I was currently reading a book so I put this pink book on the shelf. When I was book-less, I looked at my shelf again. I kept passing Fifty and Fabulous because I am not even close to 50. I did not see what was in it for me.

When I approached 30, I was scared. The term “dirty thirty” came to mind. I realized that each new decade brings you a sense of trepidation over saying good bye to good times and good looks. When you leave a decade, a part of you wishes for it back. So I picked up the small hardcover book and got to reading.

Scarcello has spent 30 years listening to individuals and organizations as a leadership consultant, facilitator and coach, working with Fortune 500 companies in Canada and U.S. When she turned 55, she reflected on her career and observed that she had followed the working lives of baby boomers through the workplaces of their 30s and their midlife career changes.

There are some women who transition into each passing year by welcoming it with particular blessings. These women realize that turning back the clock makes you miss the gifts to come.

Drawing on her own life, as well as extensive research into other women’s stories from five countries, Scarcello uses witty pearls of wisdom. She shows that changing our attitudes toward aging can rejuvenate us. I know that every year, if I lead it with optimism, can be very liberating.

In maturity, a woman has the potential for genuine elegance and true beauty. Beauty that is more than skin-deep. On a deeper level, those who embrace themselves with confidence will radiate outward to the world around them.

The stories that are shared in this book have common threads of spiritual transformation. These women stripped themselves from their youth’s superficial anxieties.

Whether you are fifty or not, this book is a great gift for any woman you know who may be having a hard time with their upcoming birthday. Or even you.

One word of advice: do not get this as a birthday gift for a friend or loved one unless it is on their wish list. Get it as a for-no-reason gift.