Recalibrate Your Work, Rest, and Play.
previous issues of the sabbatical lifestyle
My Longest Crush...and a Few Hard-Earned Recs
Reading is a powerful and consistent way to fuel your imagination and your energy, especially when the idea of continuing seems insurmountable.
Isolation, Neck Wattles, and Virtual Cookbook Clubs
Explore what works for you and yours and let me know the creative ways you’re filling up your connectivity gas tank.
Where are the 46 Business Emails Telling Us How They're Becoming Anti-Racist?
New Year's is like a mild laxative. Many of us midlifers are constipated with difficult, sometimes painful patterns and we sure could use a d”
Smells Like Midlife Spirit
Panic at the Costco is real, y’all. COVID-19 has created a collective crisis. But while people hoard the Charmin, I’m here to affirm that, as a fellow Gen-Xer, you were made for this moment. You’re uniquely prepared to embrace the challenges ahead.
Fighting and Flowing with the Current of Midlife
Midlife is like a rushing river that threatens to sweep us away as we’re flooded with many of the toughest decisions of our lives: Do I give up on my entrepreneurial dreams? Is it too late to switch careers? Do I event want to be married? Do I want to have kids? How do a manage the many demands of caring for my kids and my parents? How can I afford it all?
An Alternative to Big Resolutions, As Told Through Poo Puns
New Year's is like a mild laxative. Many of us midlifers are constipated with difficult, sometimes painful patterns and we sure could use a dose of medicine to help us function more efficiently. New Year's can be that medicine.
While I definitely think we need not wait until a particular calendar date to be more intentional and inspired in our lives, we humans seldom ever do bona fide now-to-next goal-setting.
My Netflix Binge of Virgin River is NOT Self-Care
We're in that weird twilight zone between Christmas and NYD when time isn't a concept, human existence remains unknown, vegetables are a distant memory, we've never moved less (yet are still full of aches), and anything sh*tty we do can just become a resolution in a matter of days.
Which means one thing here at the School of Midlife: self-care.
Loneliness: a Truism for 1 in 3 Adults
"How can we make the world less lonely?" is a question I often ask myself (sometimes as I take in another Hallmark Holiday movie, for better or worse).
Bringing Sexy Back...Your Decade in Review
You want to roll into 2020 and the next decade feeling fantastic? Good. Because I’m bringing sexy back (no, it’s not just the hammer pants and flannel shirt combo I’m currently wearing). It's time to ditch the less sexy "stuff to start doing Jan. 1”…in favor of your very own decade in review silent disco. Yep, grab your headphones and queue “Last Dance” by Donna Summer.
A Thorn Birds-Style Love Affair and Lizzo
I lost my 95-year-old friend this week. He was a beautiful human whose ugly end-of-life circumstances didn't honor his wishes. (YES, THIS IS YOUR REMINDER TO GET YOUR PLANS LOCKED DOWN. YES, I'M SHOUTING.)
That Time This Past Week When I Was a Jerk
Fresh off a holiday about gratitude, I'm foregoing another listicle about 5 ways to practice gratitude to instead give you a "warts and all" example of a surprising source of gratitude for me this past week. But first: can we all acknowledge that we each have our own special sh*t show? And that the meaning of life is in turning our sh*t show into a sh*ft show?
Color Me Beautiful and...Well...Death
Show me a tan blonde wearing black and I'll show you a person who's not achieving their "seasonal color potential." If you're like me, you are always up for need a good challenge.
How to Crisis-Proof Your Midlife with Meghan Krause
The midlife malaise is real and in this episode we dig into with life coach Meghan Krause. If you’ve been asking yourself “Is this all there is,” if the things you thought were going to make you happy are not, then know that you are not alone…
Harder, But Better: a Midlife Mantra
Seriously, when I launched my coaching business, I saw more than a few skeptical glances from people who had no exposure to the discipline of coaching psychology (part science, part art!). Yesterday, though, as I looked at a snapshot of my past year, I see just how much YER GIRL HAD GUTS to start a new business after having been through the ringer with her health, previous business, and relationships.
Exiting Midlife's Struggle Bus
Sometimes you’re making progress—you nail that job interview, you hit the gym 4 times a week, you enjoy a fun date that leads to a second date, you make it through a family gathering without fighting—but soon enough you’re right back where you are.
On Middlescence
By the time we hit 40, most of us face a reality that can look quite different from the future we anticipated at 25. Sure, there’s a spiritual maturity--a deepening self-awareness and introspection--that results from embracing (Getting hit upside the head with?) the truth about ourselves. If we’re honest, though, it’s a bit more confusing, searching, and scary than we’d imagined--like waiting on the wall at your Middle School Dance.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos Powder and Thought Work
If you happen to feel bad because you've habituated the behavior of eating Cheetos and licking your fingers and you say things like, "Oh my gosh, I feel so bad because I'm weak and I have no willpower and I'm lazy..." take heart, it's just your brain creating a habit to conserve energy.
Hustle Porn, Hustle Shame...What Gives?
There's hustle porn: "WORK TILL YOUR EYES BLEED! STOP WATCHING TV! STOP DOING ANYTHING REMOTELY ENJOYABLE TILL YOU'VE CRACKED THE 3-COMMA MARK!"
And then there's hustle shaming: "Don't do all the things. People who do all the things have secret adrenal fatigue. Just be of service and get in alignment and flow, and adopt a loving mindset of abundance, and the money will come to you. You don't have to work hard; you just have to work smart! Money is energy!"
You Know How It Is: The bigger the package, the better the...
For my 8th (Golden) birthday, my wicked older sister handed me a giant box the size of a freezer chest. Back then, I definitely thought the bigger the package, the better the gift. These days, "the bigger the package..." has a different connotation. And it's not always better.
Heart's Ann Wilson, storytelling, and night cheese
I’ve always been drawn to stories—not just what happens, but how the story is told. Stories are essentially about one person saying to another: This is who I am. This is how I see the world. Can you understand me?