I was thinking recently about how differently I spend my time and money now compared to my 20s. Not necessarily better or worse, just differently. Back then, my time was spent climbing the career ladder as fast as I could, and my hard-earned money was often spent on material things. These days, I'm more interested in quality of life, time with family and investing in things that I hope will help me feel good for years to come.

One thing that hasn't changed, though, is my ambition and desire to keep learning. If anything, I'm more curious than ever about understanding what actually helps us feel well and age well.

That's part of what led me to think differently about my health and how I spend my time exercising too. If you read last week's issue, you'll know I'm starting strength training pretty much from scratch, very much learning as I go. And already, I've noticed that on the days I do some sort of exercise, I carry a little more confidence into the rest of my day.

Research suggests that resistance training may improve things like self-confidence and self-esteem. Some research also suggests that women can find resistance training particularly empowering, perhaps because of the sense of achievement that comes from getting stronger.

There's something really satisfying about discovering that you can do something physically today that you couldn't do a few months ago. It's the confidence that comes from feeling more capable firsthand.

And maybe that's why the feeling can follow you into other parts of your life. When you've just done something difficult and found that you could do it, you may feel a little more confident going into the next difficult thing.

Getting stronger doesn't suddenly make you confident in every part of your life. It's more that you're building a small collection of experiences that say: I can do hard things. I can learn. I can get stronger. Those are useful things to know about yourself.

Something to reflect on: I didn't expect lifting the lightest weight in the room to change how I felt handling something stressful an hour later. But it has made me wonder whether feeling capable in one area can give us a little more confidence when we face something else.

More soon.

Next time: the barriers that get in the way for a lot of women.