Is It Finally Time to Shine? Midlife Is the New Superpower

Let’s take a journey back in time to a small coastal town in the 1980s. It’s the town where I was born and raised with my single mother, who worked as an entrepreneur.

In primary school, I was the one who didn’t quite fit in. My grades were far from excellent. School wasn’t made any easier by the fact that I didn’t fit the mold of how children were expected to be in the 1980s and 1990s. As a teenager, I asked too many difficult questions and challenged things that weren’t meant to be questioned. I was supposed to simply accept things as they were.

But as it turned out, that young person eventually became a journalist.

My name is Minna Akimo. I am a journalist at the newspaper Kaleva and the host of the Kokonaista puhetta club evenings and the Weekly Panel. I’ve been doing this work for three decades, and it still sets me on fire.

Three years ago, I turned 50 and reached a point where you realize that more of life lies behind you than ahead. For me, understanding the limits of time has become a driving force – something that pushes me to do things now, not someday. At the same time, it has given me the courage and freedom to move toward what I truly want.

It has become easier to highlight my own competence and say that I can – or that I want to learn something new. At this stage of life, you no longer need to listen to overly harsh critics, whether they are inside your own mind or outside of it. This realization has also meant a completely new role in my work, and that I have finally been able to combine writing and speaking – something I had dreamed of for a long time.

Right after my 50th birthday, I took a six-month grant leave, studied, and created a five-part podcast series aimed at breaking the myths surrounding midlife. Behind it was a desire to broaden the conversation about people in midlife. I was frustrated by how narrowly this group is often portrayed and discussed. It is completely wrong to think – or to spread the idea – that we become invisible or irrelevant with age. That idea is simply false, because age also brings a new kind of courage and freedom to pursue what you truly want to do.

The idea of content aimed at adult women also gained momentum at Kaleva. We created the Kokonaista puhetta club, which includes discussion events, a podcast series, and a newsletter. At the live events, we talk openly and warmly about the topics that are relevant at this stage of life – energy and recovery, gender equality, work, gynecological health, relationships, and of course menopause.

I see a clear demand for conversations about equality and women for two reasons. Adult people are thoughtful and intelligent individuals who deserve content that is tailored, well-produced, and diverse. At the same time, conversations about women are needed because the rise of conservative values globally threatens equality. Progress in gender equality will not last unless we continue to speak about it.

In Finland, violence against women and gender-segregated labor markets remain serious challenges. The Kokonaista puhetta club did not emerge out of nowhere – there was a real need for it. Our club has received an amazing response, and the feedback has been heartwarming.

People have highlighted the sense of peer support, the knowledge shared, and the warm atmosphere – exactly the values that matter most to me as a journalist behind Kokonaista puhetta. I create this content from one human being to another. The feedback also shows that topics related to women’s lives are still discussed too little – and too simplistically.

A remarkable achievement was that Kokonaista puhetta was nominated for the Grand Journalism Prize in the category Innovator of the Year. We were among the top three in Finland.

For me, Kokonaista puhetta is a passion project that I nurture with care and dedication. It is also proof that courage – and stepping outside your comfort zone – can truly pay off. But as in life, nothing meaningful is created entirely on your own. Courage and confidence are also shaped by the people around us. It is a great privilege to work and spend time with people whose glass is always at least half full – if not overflowing. People who focus on encouragement and openness instead of criticism. In such an environment, your inner critic begins to quiet down and is replaced by a new thought: why wouldn’t I succeed?

It is always worth trying. That’s something the child from the coastal town learned too – a child who could never have imagined that one day she would be exactly here.

See you in Oulu, the European Capital of Culture, on April 17.

Minna Akimo,

Journalist

Kaleva