Not Done Yet: The Journey Back to You

By Ingrid Bayer

I didn't plan on starting over in my sixties, but here we are.

I don't know a woman anywhere who has ever woken up and said, 'You know what would be fabulous at this age? Reinventing myself after life sideswipes me.'

Life has a talent for quietly rearranging the furniture while we're busy doing absolutely everything else. One minute you're cruising along thinking you've finally earned a stretch of ease, and the next minute you're flat on your back wondering how everything you built suddenly feels too tight, too heavy, or too unfamiliar. In my case, that moment arrived courtesy of a spine that decided it had endured quite enough of my nonsense.

The truth is that none of us get to this stage of life without weathering a few storms, plot twists, or unexpected turning points. Some arrive loud and catastrophic. Others slip in quietly, disguised as a feeling you just can't shake.

This book is for women like us. Women who are ageing but absolutely not done. Women who have carried families, careers, heartbreak, responsibility, guilt, love, grief, joy, and entire worlds on their backs... and who now feel something shifting in their bones.

Recently, I came across some of Carl Jung's work. Not because I was searching for deep psychological insights, but because it happened to cross my path at the exact moment I needed context for this unsettling, exciting, disorienting feeling of change. And what I read really resonated.

Jung suggested that midlife isn't a decline. It's an awakening... that the first half of life is about building a self, and the second half is about returning to the truth of who you are.

That idea landed like a warm, gentle exhale.

Because if you're feeling the nudge, the itch, the inner shift... you're not breaking down. You're breaking open.

And this book is your invitation to walk through that opening with clarity, courage and humour.

You're not fading. You're not behind. You're not broken. And you are definitely not done yet. This book is your invitation to rise.

About the Author

Ingrid Bayer is an Australian entrepreneur, thought leader and unapologetic champion for women who find themselves standing at a crossroads later in life.

After decades of navigating the pressures of work, family and the relentless expectation to "hold it all together", Ingrid discovered that the real transformation begins when everything starts to fall apart.

A former Legal Secretary turned Virtual Assistant Industry pioneer, she founded her own home-based admin business in 2008, and in 2017 she started VA Institute - a business that has supported thousands of women reclaim control of their careers and lives by building thriving home-based businesses.

Her work has reshaped the Virtual Assistant landscape in Australia, advocating for flexible, meaningful work that honours women's strengths rather than diminishing them.

But her greatest reinvention was personal. After facing health crises, professional upheaval and the quiet grief that arrives with ageing and change, Ingrid stepped into a new chapter with honesty, humour and a fierce refusal to fade away.
She began writing the truths women rarely speak aloud: the breaking, the rebuilding, the grief, the grit, and the unexpected beauty of becoming ourselves again.

Not Done Yet - A Journey Back to You is part memoir, part map, and part rallying cry.

Through her own story and the collective stories of the women she has mentored, Ingrid offers a powerful reminder that midlife is not an ending.

It is the invitation.
The turning point.

The moment we stop shrinking and start rising.

Today, Ingrid writes, mentors and speaks to women, helping them reinvent their lives, rediscover their voice and build futures that feel rich, honest and deeply aligned.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GCDZ29VJ
• ISBN13: 9798277286289
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"