For a tiring period in the olden days, I was a gossip columnist. Openings, plays, clubs – yep, last to leave. Drink card in hand, heels wrecked, one particularly bad morning-after memory of doing a cartwheel in a mini and G-string.
At a recent work reunion, an old colleague took in my matronly respectability: “You were wild. Never home.” He wasn’t wrong.
Nights started at nine. I was drunk for about five years straight. Staying in felt depressing.
Michelle Obama has endorsed heading to bed straight after dinner. Credit: AP Now? When someone suggests dinner at seven, the thought bubble above my head is, “Can we do 5.30?” Early bedtime is my holy grail.
Ideally solo, except for the dog, while Chris picks his fantasy footy team. Or reading until my Kindle slides from my hand, no one texting after 9pm (it used to be 10, but that’s now too brutal). So, I loved it when Michelle Obama told the Not Gonna Lie podcast this week that she has a nightly dispute with husband Barack .
.. over bedtimes.
The ultimate midlife flex, said the former first lady, isn’t a packed calendar, or a Thai villa, or a capsule cashmere wardrobe. It’s hopping into bed early. “Bedtime is the best time of the day,” Michelle said.
Her ideal lights out? “Anytime after dinner.” Yes! What makes this admission powerful is how it reframes what luxury really means. It’s not about more.
It’s about less. Less expectation, less hustle, less noise. Coming from Michelle, that hits differently.
.