Essays on Embracing Life's Later Chapters
by Miriam Rieck
On Becoming: Essays on Embracing Life’s Later Chapters is a
collection of deeply personal and reflective essays that invite
readers to explore the beauty, wisdom, and challenges of entering
the later stages of life. Written with wry humor, raw vulnerability,
and profound insight, this book delves into themes of aging,
healing, and the transformation that comes with stepping into
one’s crone years.
Miriam shares her life experiences with honesty and insight,
touching on her own encounters with trauma while exploring the
universal questions we all face as we enter our 60’s. Through essays
on purpose, identity, love, sexuality, and loss, Miriam captures
the intimate moments of growth and self-discovery that shape a
life well-lived. Her reflections embrace the complexities of both
shedding and reclaiming parts of oneself, offering a relatable and
refreshing perspective on aging and the beauty of evolving into
who we are meant to be.
For anyone seeking a companion on the path of personal
evolution—or simply a thoughtful exploration of what it means to
‘become’ at any age—On Becoming offers a refreshing perspective
on aging, vitality, and the joy of unapologetically stepping into
who we are meant to be.
🌿 About On Becoming: Essays on Embracing Life’s Later Chapters
What if aging isn’t a decline—but an awakening?
In On Becoming, Miriam Rieck invites readers into a wry, soulful, and deeply honest exploration of what it means to grow older with curiosity, sensuality, and hard-won wisdom.
Through a series of intimate essays, she unpacks love, loss, aging, and rebirth—without the sugarcoating. Written with humor sharp enough to make you snort and tenderness deep enough to make you weep, this book is a companion for anyone standing at the threshold of their own next chapter.
Whether you’re reimagining your purpose, softening into your feminine power, or learning to rest in your becoming—this book reminds you: the later years aren’t an ending. They’re a revelation.
✨ For those who are done performing, and ready to live truthfully.
“What if growing older wasn’t an ending but a radiant unfolding into the truest version of yourself? In On Becoming, Miriam Rieck offers a deeply personal and luminous collection of essays that explore what it means to live, love, and evolve through life’s later decades. With raw honesty, quiet humor, and unflinching courage, she reflects on identity, loss, purpose, and the alchemy of change. These are not simply musings on aging they are meditations on becoming: the continuous act of rediscovering who we are beneath all that we’ve been told to be. Through her stories, Rieck dismantles the myth that vitality fades with time. She reclaims aging as an act of rebellion, a celebration of wisdom, sensuality, and spiritual depth. Each page invites readers to walk beside her through grief and renewal, through solitude and creativity as she learns to shed what no longer serves and embrace what remains essential: authenticity, compassion, and courage. This is a book for every woman who has ever wondered what waits on the other side of letting go. It speaks to those ready to step out of invisibility, to honor their bodies, rewrite their narratives, and inhabit the sacred power of the crone years without apology or fear. Poetic, intimate, and transformative, On Becoming is both a mirror and a companion for anyone seeking truth in the later chapters of life and the beauty that only experience can bring. As you turn these pages, one question lingers in the heart of every essay: What if the best version of you is still waiting to be discovered?”
Doris B. Amirion
My life, unbound by labels is about living as fully as I can.
Ruth Sawyer’s wisdom—“to be a good storyteller, one must be gloriously alive”—perfectly mirrors my journey. I’m a nomadic author and photographer, shaped by a childhood of dysfunction and trauma that led me to embrace life as a series of profound experiences. As an INFJ, a true Projector, and a Pisces, I seamlessly blend critical thinking with the deep currents of intuition, guided by the principle of Ahimsa—doing no harm and meeting others where they are. From dusty ranches to gritty neighborhoods, and even curating a controversial Texas art show (Wylde Women), I’ve followed the call of possibility, absorbing stories from every corner of life. Now, in what I consider the “third chapter” of my life, I’m pouring these diverse experiences and hard-won lessons into my first book—a collection of essays that explore the real-life stories I’ve encountered on my travels and the personal truths I’ve discovered along the way. My writing and photography are invitations into hidden and often overlooked realities, offering a shared space of empathy for those who connect with my work. I believe it’s impossible to hate what we truly understand, and through both lens and pen, I strive to illuminate the threads that bind us all. Whether documenting a fleeting moment or weaving a deeper narrative, my goal is to spark curiosity, compassion, and a renewed sense of wonder in the world we share.