Welcome! An introduction to Living in 3D

Are you face down in the moment of a big transition, ready to look up and see what's out there next? Pull up a chair. There's a lot to talk about and I'm so glad you're here.

“Living in 3D” is a safe space for honest conversation about how we can embrace desire in every decade. I am a late-blooming woman in her 60s, but the soil in which I am planted is now richer than ever. In this sixth decade of life, I have taken risks, loved, lost and grieved with my whole heart and grown in ways I never thought possible. I am here to share those hard-won life lessons with you, offering insights, resources and the knowledge that we’re not alone in the process of still becoming our most authentic selves. I welcome your stories, too. Feel free to email me at amysusanbrown@gmail.com.

Here’s a little of my story:

At 61, I ended an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and gained clarity instead. It was the doorway to making the difficult decisions and navigating the challenges that would follow.

At 62, I began for the first time to explore the terrain that is my inner life, to listen to my truest desires, to no longer ignore the knowing inside me. I chose to end a 33-year-marriage, one of the hardest, bravest and yet most life-affirming decisions I’ve ever made.

Within a month after leaving my marriage, my mother’s dementia worsened and I became her full-time, live-in caregiver. Caregiving was a gift and a reminder that if we don’t care for ourselves, we can get lost under its weight. When my mother died in April 2024, grief had me by the throat, but it offered more life lessons like not letting guilt steal your grief.

Now, at 64, I am preparing to leave a decade of life in Florida to embark on a new adventure: moving to Barcelona, Spain just in time for my 65th birthday in April. My daughters live in Barcelona and Paris. Europe calls to me.

Here’s what I know now: I can only bloom when my roots are firmly planted in the three dimensions of mind, body and spirit.

Mocktail in hand, dining along the Mediterranean in Badalona, just outside Barcelona, soon to be new home.

Still a long way to go on the start of the 300 km/186 miles I would walk on the Camino de Santiago in September 2024 but my spirits are high. Check out the six-part Camino series I wrote with my daughter Marielle.

A sunny evening in Montmartre, my favorite neighborhood in Paris.

My late mother and I in Paris in 2015, fulfilling a lifelong travel dream of hers. So grateful we went to the City of Love together.

What you will receive each week are my first-hand insights as a woman experiencing late-in-life major transitions all at once and what I have learned (and continue to learn) about how to transform those experiences into a deeper connection to yourself. Translating this journey of inner growth and expansion into writing comes naturally and in the Substack community I have found a new home for sharing from the heart as an eternal student of life.

LET’S MEET EACH OTHER!

In the comments, please introduce yourself. Where do you live and what brought you to Living in 3D? Are there big life transitions you’re navigating? In what ways are you a late bloomer (or blooming right on schedule)? What topics would you like to see explored in this space?

Praise from readers

"Beautiful authenticity and resilience that's shared generously, through vulnerable stories of real life. "—Victoria

"Your ability to show your vulnerability brought tears to my eyes and gave me hope that I will be able to trust the community to let me be vulnerable also. I am on the other side of the dementia environment as I watch my son's experience with decline instead of being the child caring for a parent. It is a different kind of heartbreak. Thank you for making the effort to bring us all together."—Lydia

"You and the formidable women you've raised have been a constant source of strength and inspiration to me over a decade. A fine family tradition that as one can see from reading your stories.” — Henry

“Very wonderfully written, Amy. Must take so much strength to not only go through such a difficult year and changes but also write about it so eloquently and openly to help others!” —Pranay

“Your eloquent and moving words will touch the lives of many who are also navigating the complex waters of divorce, caregiving, and the carving of a meaningful second half of life.”—Louisa

"The world needs your beautiful words and I am so grateful to be a part of your experience and get to witness this exciting time in your life. Congratulations and go get em!! "—Kathy

“It's brilliant that you are stepping forward looking for happiness and willing to share what you learn along the way. Fabulous to get a curation of some of the lovely ways we can connect with ourselves and each other.”—Deana

“Your journey to understand you and your desires for the life ahead of you is not done. I look forward to journeying with you!”—Julie

"I am with you Amy. Brave steps! "—Carol

About Amy  

I’ve been writing for as long as I could hold a pencil and scribble my name. You could say I had ink in my veins, as the daughter of a professional writer (my father). I’ve been a newspaper reporter, magazine freelancer, business writer and ghostwriter of business books. Born in New York City, I’ve always had wanderlust and spent 22 years living in Europe (Sweden and Malta) and now live in beautiful Venice, Florida.

My fascinating day job for more than three decades is writing about sustainability (the environment, climate change, social justice and more) as a journalist for TriplePundit and Reuters and for companies committed to more than the bottom line.

Yet the writing of my heart is fiction. I have completed three novels: an award-winning middle grade novel, a young adult novel, and most recently, a work of adult contemporary fiction (on the very themes of this newsletter) for which I will soon be ready to seek a literary agent and publisher.

I am also a mother, daughter, sister, friend, former wife and former caregiver for an aging parent with dementia. Like all of us, I have so many identities. But the most central is that I am a writer who is also a seeker: She Who Spins Words in Search of Meaning.

You can find more about my work as a sustainability journalist and copywriter on my website. You can find samples of my work and current projects as an author of fiction here. And I’m on Facebook here and Instagram here.

Thank you for being part of the Living in 3D community!

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