COLUMNIST and trained counsellor Fiona Caine answers another set of reader dilemmas.

I PUT MY CAREER ON HOLD FOR MY FAMILY - AM I TOO OLD TO START AGAIN NOW?

Over the last 15 years, my husband’s career has gone from strength to strength. Obviously, I’m really pleased for him - and his success has provided a good secure home-life, free of money worries.

When we married, I was only 18 and had been about to start university, but I gave it all up for him. I was happy to be the supportive wife and then mother to his children, and he’s been a wonderful husband and father - albeit a sometimes absent one.

He’s always supported me and encouraged me to go back to university, but there was never time enough with a young family. However, lockdown has shown me that there is something missing from my life. At 43, am I too old to go back to university?

FIONA SAYS: IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

A relationship where only one partner grows can easily become one-sided, and that puts it at risk. Quite often, one-sided relationships fail - and so I think you’re right to want to achieve something for yourself.

You’ve given your husband unconditional support while he’s grown his career, so wanting to achieve something for yourself now is something he should support too.

You are certainly not too old to go back to studying - if you did, you’d find many other mature students of your age and even older.

MY FRIEND THINKS I’M MAD FOR BEING IN LOVE WITH MARRIED MAN

I am so upset and shocked with my best friend because of the things she’s said about the man in my life. I’ve been with my lover for three years now and I love him so much, even though we can’t be together because of his wife.

She said she thinks I am wasting my time trying to make any relationship with a married man last. She says all I can expect is a diet of lies and snatched moments with a man who, in all probability, is never going to leave his wife and children. How can she be this negative about a man she has never met?

FIONA SAYS: YOUR FRIEND HAS A POINT

However upsetting it is, I think you should listen to your friend’s concerns. The simple truth is that married men with children rarely leave their wives. Although she’s been very blunt with you, she’s speaking this way because she very obviously cares.

I believe your friend’s advice is sound and probably correct.