#6
The Simple Joys We Forget in Midlife
And Why Books And Laughter Deserve More Space In Your Days than
They've Been Getting
When did you last get so absorbed in a book that the world simply... disappeared?
Or laughed so hard you snorted, then looked around hoping nobody heard? (Spoiler: they did, and it was glorious.)
If your honest answer is "I can't remember", you're in very good company. Somewhere between looking after everyone else and everything midlife asks of us, reading and laughing somehow slipped down the list. And enjoying your life should not always be the last item on it.
If reading and laughing have dropped off your list, it probably wasn't a decision you ever made on purpose.
The simple joys we forget in midlife are the everyday ones: getting lost in a good book and sharing a proper laugh. Book reading in adults over 50 has been linked to a longer life, and spontaneous laughter to lower cortisol levels.
Here you'll find books for women over 50, chosen by what you need right now, the research behind reading and laughter, and a few simple ways to bring more of both back into your days.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you choose to buy through one of them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Sometimes you'll receive a little discount too. Win-win. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products I genuinely use and trust, and would happily share with my friends and family.
Something We Quietly Forget in Midlife
Somewhere along the way, many of us picked up the idea that growth is serious business. That grown women don't have time to lose themselves in stories or giggle at something properly silly.
But perhaps what you need right now isn't another way to improve yourself. Perhaps it's a little more space to enjoy yourself.
Joy isn't the reward for finally finishing your to-do list. It's one of the reasons to keep going.
And that space might be waiting in the pages of a book that has been sitting on your nightstand for months, or in the kind of belly laugh that reminds you who you were before life got so busy.
Why Laughter and Books Matter More After 50
Midlife is not the moment to shrink... except perhaps if we're talking about our waistlines, but that's another post for another day. In every other sense, this is when life finally starts making room for you again. This is your Second Spring, and it deserves better than playing it safe.
Don't forget to enjoy your life while you're finding your way back to your true self.
And reading for pleasure, whether you lose yourself in fiction, memoirs or essays, gives your mind somewhere kinder to go.
Science Snapshot
A Chapter A Day
3,635 adults aged 50 and over for up to 12 years.
Book reading was linked to a 20% lower risk of death during follow-up compared with reading no books, even after accounting for several health and lifestyle factors.
The researchers highlighted that around half an hour of daily book reading (a chapter a day) was associated with a survival advantage.
This was an observational study, so it cannot prove that reading itself lengthens life.
But the nicest part needs no study at all. You remember the woman who could lose herself in a story, long before anyone needed her to be sensible.
The Best Books for Women Over 50, By What You Need Right Now
"A book is a dream that you hold in your hand." Neil Gaiman
These aren't just good reads. Each one has a knack for reminding you of something you already knew about yourself.
For Breaking Free from Old Patterns
For Your Inner Explorer
For Reclaiming Your Joy
For When You Need a Proper Laugh
And a gentle reminder while we're here: there is no prize for finishing a book you stopped enjoying 120 pages ago. Life is too short, and libraries are too full.
The best reading habit isn't the one you keep because you "should". It's the one you look forward to.
When a Book Finds You at the Right Time
Mentor Mira Moment
From My Second Spring
1. A Book That Found Me in a New Country
When I moved to London seventeen years ago, I spent my mornings in an English classroom in South Kensington and my afternoons trying to make this enormous city feel a little more like home.
One afternoon a friend and I went to Brent Cross Shopping Centre. I already had a plan. I wanted to buy a few of those little graded readers written for people learning English. But I had a second mission too. I wanted to see whether I could find any Hungarian novels translated into English.
The shelves were full of the little books that were perfect for my level.
Then I saw it.
For a moment I just stood there.
My eyes stung.
I'd already read Embers several times in Hungarian. It had become one of those rare books that quietly follow you through different seasons of your life. Every time I returned to it, I discovered something different.
The story never changed. I did.
I've always loved Márai. He had a remarkable gift for putting into words thoughts and feelings I'd recognised all my life but had never managed to express myself. Judging by the countless readers who return to his books again and again, I don't think I'm alone in feeling that.
If there was one book that was completely beyond my level of English at the time, this was it.
Even in Hungarian, Márai isn't an easy read.
The sensible thing would have been to buy the little language-learning books and come back to Embers years later.
But there was simply no way I was leaving it on the shelf.
When I left the bookshop, I didn't even put it in my bag. I carried it against my chest as though I were holding something far more precious than a book.
A young man walked past, looked at the book, then at me, smiled, said something I only half understood, and gave me a wink.
He had seen the joy on my face.
Perhaps he thought someone had given me that book as a gift.
Someone had.
It was me.
I had no idea then that this wouldn't be the last time Márai quietly found me again.
That's the real power of a good story.
Sometimes it says the thing you couldn't quite say yourself.
And it isn't only the tearful moments.
You know the one where you're reading something so funny you have to put the book down because you can't see the words anymore?
That's not frivolous. That's joy, doing its job.
2. A Conversation That Began With a Book
A couple of years later, I was working as a beauty therapist in a London hotel.
One day a Spanish client came in for a facial.
Within minutes, we discovered something completely unexpected.
We had the same favourite writer.
Sándor Márai.
Then came an even bigger surprise.
Even our favourite novel was the same.
For the rest of the treatment, we hardly talked about skincare.
Instead, we talked about Márai.
By the time she left, it no longer felt as though I'd spent an hour with a stranger.
It felt as though I'd been talking to an old friend.
That evening I wrote a Facebook post about our conversation.
While writing this article, I found it again.
Reading these words made me smile.
Books don't just give us stories.
Sometimes they introduce us to people we might never otherwise have met.
Years later, while writing this article, I realised there was still one more chapter to this story.
Book-shaped birthday cake featuring Sándor Márai, made for my 45th birthday
"A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on, you are enriched threefold." Henry Miller
What Laughter Actually Does for You
"Humour is the great thing, the saving thing, after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place." Mark Twain
"Laughter is the best medicine" is far older than the poster in your GP's waiting room. The idea goes back at least as far as Proverbs, where a merry heart is said to do good like medicine.
None of that is especially surprising if you've ever noticed how different the world looks after finishing a wonderful novel or laughing until your stomach hurts.
It's more than a proverb, though. When the writer Norman Cousins was diagnosed with a crippling illness, he famously made laughter, courage, and tenacity part of his recovery, working hand in hand with his physician. His pioneering work on humour and health continues today through the research centre that bears his name.
There's a name for the book side of this too: bibliotherapy, the practice of using literature for reflection and healing.
Science Snapshot
What a Good Laugh Can Do
A good laugh may give your body a little breathing space.
combining 8 studies involving 315 adults found that spontaneous laughter was associated with around a 32% greater reduction in cortisol than in the control groups.
Cortisol is one of the body's main stress hormones.
The studies were small and varied, but the findings offer encouraging evidence that laughter may help ease the body's stress response.
My favourite finding, though, is this: a sense of humour isn't a fixed talent you either have or don't. In a University of Zurich study, adults who took part in an eight-week humour training programme grew their sense of humour, and the people who knew them noticed the difference too.
So if yours has gone a bit quiet lately, it's never too late to find your way back to it.
I've come to think of humour as a kind of umbrella we carry over life. It doesn't stop the rain. It just changes how wet you get.
Making a Little More Room for Joy
None of this requires a system. No tracker, no app, no bookshelf sending you reminders. And it certainly isn't about squeezing something useful out of every spare minute. It's about letting the moments you already have hold a little more joy.
A Few Good Words in the Morning
Ten minutes with words you actually enjoy, before the news gets its hands on you.
For the Hours When Your Hands Are Busy
Stories and laughter come in more forms than ever these days. An audiobook while the soup simmers. A funny podcast while you're washing up or out for a walk. An e-book on the train, so you can carry an entire library in your handbag. If sitting down with a paper book feels impossible some days, listening counts too.
Some days you'll want a thoughtful novel. Other days you'll need humorous books that make you laugh before page twenty. Both count.
When the Day Starts to Feel Heavy
Choose humour over overwhelm, even if that just means replaying a funny scene from last night's chapter, or sending that paragraph to the friend who will absolutely get it.
The Evening Reading Ritual That Calms Your Mind
There's something quietly restorative about the moments just before bedtime. The dishes are done (or they can wait until tomorrow; they are remarkably patient), the notifications have finally gone quiet, and for the first time all day, nobody needs anything from you.
Consider stepping away from the scroll for those few minutes. The internet will manage without you.
This is where the paper book earns its special place. If sleep has been harder to come by lately, you're not alone; it's one of midlife's less charming party tricks. And many women find that a real book makes for a far calmer end to the day than another twenty minutes of scrolling. You may notice your breathing slow and your shoulders soften as your attention drifts away from the day.
It doesn't need to be perfect. Ten quiet minutes count. Choose a book that feeds you rather than drains you: one that makes you laugh out loud, or simply carries you somewhere far beyond the to-do list. Read the ones that make you want to turn just one more page. Uplifting books have a way of reminding us that tomorrow rarely feels quite as heavy after a good story.
It may not look like much. But ten minutes with a book, and perhaps a cup of tea that's gone cold because you forgot all about it, can change the feel of an entire evening.
And if you end up crying over the happiness of someone who does not technically exist, you are not alone. Good books have a habit of doing that.
One Last Confession
If I'm being honest, over the past few years I've spent far more time reading business, marketing and personal development books than novels.
They've taught me a great deal, and I'm grateful for every one of them.
But somewhere along the way, I stopped making enough room for books that simply feed my soul.
Writing this article reminded me of that.
By the time I reached the final paragraph, I'd already pulled out my little collection of Márai books here in London.
My flat isn't big enough for elegant bookshelves.
My favourite books live in a basket.
Some books don't really need a bookshelf.
They simply need a place in our lives.
Seventeen years ago, I carried the English edition of Embers home, even though my English wasn't nearly good enough for it at the time.
Today, the very same book reminded me of something even more important.
Not every book has to make us more productive.
Not every page has to teach us how to achieve more.
Some books just remind us how to feel more alive.
The benefits of reading rarely arrive with fanfare. They simply show up in quieter evenings, gentler thoughts and mornings that begin a little lighter.
Perhaps I needed that reminder every bit as much as I hope someone else will.
You Are Still Allowed to Enjoy Yourself
Your Second Spring Takeaway
You're not too sophisticated for books that make you weep with recognition.
You're not too busy for a chapter.
And you're certainly not too grown-up for laughter that makes you snort.
You don't need another improvement project.
A good story and an honest laugh will do more for an ordinary Tuesday
than most plans ever manage.
Growing older doesn't mean needing less joy.
It means needing the right kind of joy more than ever.
Start With One Page
Next Step
Because in the end, this was never about filling every spare moment with something worthwhile. It's about letting the moments you already have hold a few more stories and a little more laughter.
So here's a simple idea: pick up a book and read one page. No target, no challenge, no need to turn it into a new habit by Monday. Just one page.
If you could recommend just one book to another woman in midlife, which one would it be… and why?
Let's fill the Midlife Mastery community with more stories, more laughter and more moments worth sharing. Recommend a book you loved, share a funny midlife moment, post a video that made you laugh, or just join the conversation.
Someone's next favourite book, or simply the smile they needed today, might come from you.
P.S. One last thing, just between us. There is a Hungarian song I have loved for years, and its message is beautifully simple: start living, so you'll have something to tell your grandchildren one day. I smiled when I realised that, in its own quiet way, this entire article has been saying the same thing.
If you're curious, here it is. You may not understand a word of it, but I have a feeling you'll understand its heart.
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