I initially considered writing a book about resilience for personal reasons. At the beginning of 2020 my fiftieth birthday lurked ominously around the corner. Meanwhile Sunday Night, the public affairs program I hosted for Channel 7, had just been cancelled and I’d begun to worry my future with 7 – the station that had been like a home to me for twenty-five years – might also be in doubt.

On top of that my firstborn child was not only getting ready to leave the nest, he was getting ready to leave the country! As these cracks began to appear in my world

I became anxious, melancholy and unsettled and, for the first time in my life, I had trouble sleeping.

Having spent decades reporting from the front line of news in Australia and around the world, I knew my worries could easily be filed under ‘first-world problems’.

I also knew, however, that millions of other women faced personal crises of one kind or another as they careened headlong into the often confounding crossroads of middle age. I thought a book about ways to cope with personal upheaval might be of help.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and everything changed. Suddenly all of humanity – men, women and children alike – was feeling deeply uneasy and uncertain. Infection and death rates quickly soared; millions lost their jobs when businesses closed and entire countries were locked down. Economies sputtered, people were separated from loved ones and friends, and the nation’s mental health took a corresponding dive…

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