Starting a Business at 57: The Exhausting, Beautiful Reality Nobody Talks About

laptop and coffee in bed

Nobody really talks about this part.

They show the polished websites.

The perfect Instagram reels.

The calm branding.

The confident business owner who seems to know exactly what they’re doing.

What they don’t show is the woman sitting at her computer for four straight hours trying to figure out why a button won’t align correctly on a website.

Or why uploading one small change somehow breaks something else.

Or how creating a 15-second reel can somehow consume an entire evening.

I’m 57 years old starting a Breathwork business called Exhale Breathwork, and some nights my eyes are so red and tired that I fall asleep almost the second my head hits the pillow.

I constantly see mistakes in my work.

I change things over and over.

Rewrite things.

Second guess things.

Watch tutorials.

Google everything.

Get confused.

Start over.

Sometimes I wonder if everyone else understands all of this naturally and I’m the only one struggling to keep up.

But underneath all the frustration is something bigger:

I genuinely want to help people.

That’s the reason I keep pushing through the exhaustion and self-doubt.

Because I know what stress feels like.

I know what emotional pain feels like.

I know what it feels like to feel disconnected from yourself and desperate for peace.

And if creating this business helps even a few people reconnect with themselves, breathe deeper, heal, or simply feel less alone for a couple hours… then maybe all the late nights are worth it.

This journey has humbled me in ways I never expected.

But it’s also shown me something important:

You do not have to be perfect, tech-savvy, young, polished, or fearless to build something meaningful.

Sometimes you just have to care enough to keep going.