Confessions of a Freebird - Midlife, Divorce, Heal, and Date Differently with Somatic Experiencing, Empty Nest, Well-Being, Happiness

What if the anxiety you feel about dating again isn't a sign you weren't meant to date, but an invitation to understand yourself more deeply?

Like many women over 50, you've built a successful career or raised and launched your children, done the therapy, read the self-help books, and created a meaningful life after divorce — and you still question your intuition when someone new shows up. You don't want to be alone, but you keep attracting the wrong guys and repeating the same relationship patterns.

Dating after divorce isn't just about finding someone you're attracted to. It's about learning to recognize relationship compatibility, understanding the difference between chemistry and emotional safety, and knowing whether your body is responding to a real red flag or an old attachment wound asking for attention. That's why nervous system regulation and self-awareness matter just as much as finding the right partner.

As a certified somatic experiencing practitioner and coach, and someone who's spent the last eight years navigating dating relationships myself, I'm sharing the lessons that changed what I look for in a partner — the qualities that helped me move beyond chemistry toward a relationship built on honesty, growth, and genuine connection.

In this episode, I’ll share:

• The 9 green flags not everyone is talking about
• What a healthy relationship is actually built on outside of attraction and chemistry
• How to tell the difference between a warning sign and an attachment wound that needs healing
• Why financial alignment, shared values, and emotional maturity matter more in midlife than most people realize
• What relationship green flags look like once early-dating excitement settles
• Why secure attachment isn't about finding the perfect partner — it's learning to create safety within yourself and with someone else
• Why conflict repair is the #1 predictor of long-term compatibility
• How laughter, generosity, and accountability build deeper intimacy
• How honest conversations about your past, fears, and intimacy strengthen connection instead of creating distance

Finding love in midlife isn't about getting lucky. It's about getting clear on what truly matters, trusting yourself enough to wait for it, and choosing someone who makes you feel loved.

Much love and freedom,

Laurie

Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE “Girlfriends Guide to Online Dating”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Resources Mentioned in this episode:

• Click here to join me on Insight Timer for somatic healing practices and guided meditations. 
• Somatic Touch Sessions - Click here to book an inquiry call if you’re in Los Angeles.
• OKCupid Article 

Connect with me:

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Episodes Mentioned

• Dating in Midlife Series - 
  • 8 Signs You’re Ready to Date and Fall in Love Again in Midlife
  • Overcome Your Midlife Dating Fears: 8 Tips You Can’t Miss
  • 5 Tips to Make Dating Over 50 Fun Again with Carolyn Lee Arnold
  • Why Self-Love And Setting Boundaries Are Important for Succesfully Dating in Midlife
• Other Dating Podcasts
  • Overcome Common Dating Challenges and Achieve Emotional Connection with Bernardo Mendez
  • How to Feel Confident and Find a Healthy Relationship Dating in Midlife
• Financial Alignment - How to Build Financial Security and Confidence with Jennifer Lee
• Intimacy in Midlife - How Safe Hormone Therapy and Vaginal Health Can Close The Bedroom Gap with Dr. Maria Sophocles

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

What if your relationship with money started long before you ever had a bank account?

Money can be more intimate than sex — yet so many of us fear it, avoid it, or feel a desperate need to control it. That relationship often traces back further than we realize: your first interaction with money, how your parents managed theirs, or whether you were ever trusted to make financial decisions of your own. If you're in midlife and find yourself as the non-moneyed spouse, or wondering whether you'll truly be okay on your own — this episode is for you.

In this episode, I sit down with Jennifer Lee, financial advisor and founder of Modern Wealth, for a grounded, honest conversation about men and women in transition, money, identity, divorce, loss, and what it actually takes to understand what you have and build a life within your means.

We talk about the deeper story behind your relationship with money — the patterns, roles, and unspoken fears that surface the moment finances enter the conversation. This episode is designed to help you create enough clarity to stop avoiding the numbers and start making financial decisions rooted in your values and what you actually want.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to identify your money story — and the patterns it may have quietly created
• Why your earliest money memories still shape your financial choices today
• How divorce financial planning brings clarity to one of life's hardest transitions
• The most important factors to understand before and during a divorce
• What to ask before choosing a financial advisor
• Why the non-moneyed spouse needs a seat at the financial table
• How to divide marital assets and retirement accounts — and what a QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) is and when to start that process
• What it looks like when money becomes a form of control in relationships
• How financial literacy builds lasting confidence with money
• What wealth building can look like after a major life transition
• Why money conversations matter when dating, partnering, or starting over

Whether you're preparing for divorce, rebuilding your financial independence, or learning to trust yourself with money again — this conversation is a reminder that you don't have to know everything to begin making more empowered choices.

Much love and freedom,

Laurie

Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Free Resources

Previous Episode with Jennifer Lee - Understanding Divorce and How to Prepare for A Strong Financial Future

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Connect with me:

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Connect with Jennifer:

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Discussions
 in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment
 Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Modern-Wealth, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated.

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

What if hitting rock bottom in midlife was actually the beginning?

When life falls apart at once — a relationship ending, a health crisis, financial debt, or waking up one day completely disconnected from yourself — it's hard to imagine that anything good could come from it. But sometimes the hardest chapters hold the seeds of the most profound transformation.

In this episode, I'm joined by Wendy Valentine, host of The Midlife Makeover Show and author of “Women Waking Up: The Midlife Manifesto for Passion, Purpose, and Play.” Wendy opens up about hitting rock bottom in midlife — navigating divorce, debt, health issues, and grief all at once — and what she discovered on the other side.

This is a conversation about waking up, choosing yourself, and rebuilding your life from the inside out. With honesty, warmth, and hard-won wisdom, Wendy shares how a midlife crisis can become a midlife invitation — to become more free, more honest, and more fully yourself.

In this episode:

• Why hitting rock bottom can be the beginning of real and lasting change
• Wendy's lotus metaphor and what it teaches us about growth and resilience
• How to move from fear and familiar misery toward more freedom
• Why self-abandonment is so common in midlife — and how to stop
• How negative self-talk shapes the way you see yourself and what to do about it
• Why "acting as if" helps you step into the woman you're becoming
• How grief, anxiety, and old patterns resurface during major life transitions
• The power of giving yourself permission to feel
• A simple journaling practice to connect with your next chapter

If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of who you're becoming — this conversation is your reminder that your story is not over. This may be exactly the part where you begin to wake-up.

Much love and freedom,

Laurie

Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Connect with me:

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Instagram

Connect with Wendy:

Website

Instagram

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

What if the exhaustion you've been carrying isn't a sign that you need to do more — but your body's way of telling you something needs to shift?

You can be a founder, a mother, a partner, a caregiver for aging parents, or a woman in midlife building something meaningful — and still find yourself running on fumes. The women I work with love their lives and the people in them. And they still feel their bodies quietly asking for something they haven't been giving themselves.

Burnout signs in midlife don’t always announce themselves loudly.. You're still showing up. Still dependable. And underneath that, you feel flat, disconnected, and unsure why a life that looks full on the outside feels so heavy from the inside. For those navigating caregiver burnout — years of holding everyone else together — that heaviness can be especially hard to name.

This isn't weakness or a lack of gratitude. A nervous system that has been overriding its own signals for years is doing exactly what it was designed to do. The exhaustion makes sense. And there's a deeper pattern underneath it worth understanding.

As a somatic experiencing practitioner, life coach, author, this solo mid-year episode offers a body-based reset through the lens of somatic experiencing and nervous system regulation. I share a piece of my own burnout story, explain what's happening biologically when meaningful work quietly becomes depleting, I walk you through simple somatic practices you can use today, and offer journal prompts to help you listen to your nervous system before it forces you to stop.

In this episode, I’ll share:

• Why burnout takes hold even when your life is full of things you genuinely love — and what's happening in your nervous system when it does.
• How your body communicates through chronic tension, fatigue, emotional flatness, and low-grade dread long before it shouts.
• Why pushing through disconnects you from your purpose, your values, and your own clarity.
• What somatic experiencing is, why it works, and how it's different from every other approach to stress and burnout you've tried.
• Three simple somatic practices to bring you back to the present moment through the felt sense.
• Three journal prompts to help you honor your first half and set a soulful intention for the next six months.

Burnout recovery doesn't begin with doing more. It begins with slowing down, coming home to your body, and choosing the second half of this year from a more grounded and stable place.

Much love and freedom,

Laurie

Connect with me:

Click here to download your FREE Mid-Year Check-in

Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Website

Instagram

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Midyear Reflection Journal Prompts: A set of questions to honor what you’ve carried in the first half of the year, name what feels out of alignment, and choose one soulful intention for the months ahead.

Beginner's Guide to Somatic Healing: A body-based approach to working with the nervous system, developed by Dr. Peter Levine, that supports releasing stored stress so you can move through life with more regulation, presence, and ease. 

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to step away from your phone… even when your  mind and body is asking for a break?

The texts, notifications, social media scrolling, and constant pressure to respond to that email can leave you  feeling wired, distracted, and disconnected from yourself. Your mind may say, “Just one more thing,” while your body is quietly tightening, bracing, or whispering that it needs space.

And if you’ve been pushing through for years — caring for everyone else, managing work, family, caregiving, and the invisible weight of modern life — you are not broken. Your body may simply be responding to a world that rarely rewards you how to pause.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Mary Donohue, founder and CEO of the Digital Wellness Center, whose work blends neuroscience, behavior, and technology. After living with chronic leukemia, caregiving stress, and surviving a heart attack, Mary began looking more closely at digital wellness and how constant connection affects the brain, body, and our ability to pause.

Together, we talk about digital overload, micro breaks, nervous system regulation, social media anxiety, and stress-related illness. Mary shares why even a small pause can help your body settle and give you more space before you respond.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why midlife women may be especially vulnerable to chronic stress 
• How women over 50 can begin noticing the subtle body cues they’ve learned to override
• What micro breaks can offer when your mind and body feel overstimulated
• How social media anxiety can quietly shape your mood, focus, and sense of calm
• How a simple 3 minute micro break can help you regulate you emotional well-being.
• The connection between technology and mental health in our everyday choices
• How your nervous system staying in a low-grade activation (fight or flight response) can show up without you even knowing it. I
• Why giving back, connecting with others, and creating more joy can help you feel more grounded
• How technology can become part of the solution when it is designed with human well-being in mind

This conversation is a gentle reminder that the pace of your life may be asking more of your body than it was ever meant to hold.

You don’t have to wait until you’re exhausted, anxious, or completely overwhelmed to give yourself a pause. Sometimes one small moment of space is enough to help you start hearing what your body and brain have been trying to tell you all along.

With love and freedom,

 
Laurie

Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Click here to watch the Barbie clip referenced in this podcast

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Website

Connect with Dr. Mary Donohue: 

Victoria on LinkedIn: Dr. Mary Donohue

Victoria's email: [email protected] 

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Digital Wellness Center: Founded by Dr. Mary Donohue, this science-backed platform helps people manage digital stress, take healthier microbreaks, and build more balanced technology habits. 

Message Received: A book written by Dr. Mary E. Donohue, offering a practical seven-step framework for breaking down communication barriers at work, especially across email, digital tools, video calls, remote teams, and generational communication styles. 

The Happiness Lab: A podcast hosted by Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos that shares science-backed insights for improving well-being. 

How to Win Friends and Influence People:  A classic book by Dale Carnegie that shares practical principles for building stronger relationships, improving communication, and positively influencing others. 

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: A book by Dale Carnegie that shares practical lessons and real-life stories for managing worry, finding purpose, and living with more peace. 

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

Heart disease in women is their number one killer — and most of us still don't know the signs.

We've spent years worrying about the right things: the screenings, the genetics, the family history we carry quietly into every doctor's appointment. But women's heart health looks different than we've been taught. The symptoms are more subtle. The risk factors include ones nobody warned us about — like menopause, estrogen loss, and the emotional suppression when we carry our loved one’s pain..

My guest today, Victoria Gustafson — certified heart-centered life coach and speaker — knows this firsthand. In 2024, Victoria suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on a pickleball court. A bystander performed CPR and kept her alive until paramedics arrived. She is among the 1% of cardiac arrest survivors who walk away without brain damage. And she is here, sharing the wisdom that could genuinely change — or save — your life.

This is not a scary episode. It's an empowering one.

• Why a healthy, active woman's heart stopped without warning — and how the split-second decisions by bystanders brought Victoria back
• The difference between cardiac arrest vs. heart attack — and why understanding it is essential to how you advocate for yourself as a woman
• Why heart disease in women so often goes undetected, and how women's symptoms can be more subtle and often get dismissed by the medical system
• The connection between menopause and heart health, and the critical role estrogen plays in protecting your cardiovascular system
• Why it's important to get a baseline heart testing work up — and the benefits of asking for a Holter monitor, an advanced lipid panel, or a coronary artery calcium scan
• How body awareness and somatic healing connect to heart health — and what the body's whispers and nudges might be telling you
• The link between people-pleasing, emotional suppression, and the physical body — and why the caretaking and peacekeeping so many of us do lives somewhere we can't see
• What nervous system regulation has to do with how we protect ourselves — physically, emotionally, and spiritually
• The biggest takeaway from our conversation. Warning: it might make you feel lighter when you learn what it is.

Your heart has been carrying so much. It's time to listen to the flutter, the fatigue, or the sense that something might be off.

With love and freedom,

 
Laurie

Links to heart related episodes mentioned:

How Safe Hormone Therapy and Vaginal Health can Close the Bedroom Gap with Dr. Maria Sophocles

Is Hormone Therapy Safe? The Science Behind HRT and Breast Cancer Risk with Dr. Maria Sophocles.

Click here to learn about my NEW “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” 

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Website

Connect with Victoria Gustafson:
Victoria's website: heartcenteredlifecoach.com 

Victoria on Instagram/Facebook: @alittlelucylove

Victoria on LinkedIn: Victoria Gustafson

Victoria's email: [email protected] 

Episodes mentioned:

Dr. Maria Sophocles Episode 1 — Is Hormone Replacement Therapy Safe? The Science: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-hormone-replacement-therapy-safe-the-science/id1694026063?i=1000709404025

Dr. Maria Sophocles Episode 2 — How Safe Hormone Therapy and Vaginal Health Can Close the Bedroom Gap: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-safe-hormone-therapy-and-vaginal-health-can-close/id1694026063?i=1000749413636

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

Have you ever found yourself reacting in a way that feels bigger than the situation in front of you… and then thought, “Why did I respond like that?”

You’re not alone — and it’s not random.

That disconnect — between what your mind wants to do and what your body actually does — is often where deeper emotional patterns, trauma responses, and nervous system reactions live.

In this episode, I sit down with Annmarie Chereso, conscious relationship coach, to unpack what’s really happening beneath emotional triggers, relationship conflict patterns, and those moments when you feel like you “lose control” emotionally.

We explore how awareness — not force — becomes the first step toward emotional regulation and lasting change. And Annmarie shares a fresh perspective on somatic healing practices and emotional regulation

In this episode, we dive into:

• Why emotional triggers are often linked to deeper trauma responses and nervous system activation
• A new approach to relationship healing that doesn’t rely on forcing yourself to “be different”
• What somatic healing and emotional regulation actually look like in real life
• How to begin building self-regulation skills when emotions feel overwhelming or intense
• Why noticing your patterns is more powerful than trying to fix them

This conversation reframes healing entirely — not as something you “achieve,” but as something you become aware of over time. Through that awareness, your relationship with yourself and others begins to shift.

This isn’t about becoming someone new.
It’s about finally understanding what’s been happening beneath the surface all along.

You don’t need to have it all figured out — you just need to start noticing.

With love and freedom,

Laurie

Click here to learn about my NEW “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” 

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Website

Connect with Annmarie Chereso
Website
Instagram
Facebook

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

The Perfectly Imperfect Family: A book co-authored by Annmarie Chereso that shares personal stories and insights on navigating family dynamics and shifting internal states. 

Martha Beck Wayfinder Coaching Program: The professional coaching training program where both the host and the guest completed their training. 

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

What if your motherhood guilt isn’t proof you failed, but a sign you’ve been carrying too much for too long? 

You can give everything to your children and still hear that relentless inner critic whispering it wasn’t enough — and over time, that pressure can become maternal stress, emotional exhaustion, and even maternal burnout carried quietly beneath the surface.

But what if that voice and the sensations associated with them aren’t telling you the truth?

So much of what we believe about being a “good mother” is shaped by cultural beliefs and unexamined parenting beliefs — expectations that were never designed to be humanly sustainable. The pressure, the second-guessing, the ache of regret…it’s not random. And these thoughts can cause dis-ease in your body.

In this solo episode, I’m talking about parenting guilt and shame, the stories so many mothers carry, and why they can be stored in the body.  We’ll look at motherhood through a compassionate somatic lens and make space for a gentler relationship with your maternal identity.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why old emotional patterns can feel so persistent
• How the nervous system reinforces self-critism
• What having impossible standards can do to a mother’s body and sense of self
• Why exhaustion is often a sign that needs attention. It’s not a personal failure
• How inherited messages shape the way you measure yourself
• How to stop mom guilt A body-based approach to without relying on willpower
• Why self compassion for moms is not indulgent, but essential
• How repair can create more honesty, connection, and healing

If you’ve been carrying the quiet belief that you should have done it differently… or that somehow you weren’t enough… You don’t have to keep relating to yourself through criticism and pressure. There is another way to meet yourself — one that includes more understanding, more space, and a different kind of strength.

Cheers to finding your freedom,

Laurie

Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s ON SALE for $19.99

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Click here to watch the Barbie clip referenced in this podcast

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Website

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Sandwiched: A book written by Laurie James, detailing her experiences with the "sandwich generation" (raising children while caring for aging parents).

The Voo Exercise: A vocalization technique used to tone the vagus nerve and discharge nervous system tension.

Barbie the movie clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBqlDWHkdHk

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

When your kids leave the nest and the caregiving finally stops — who are you?

That question can stop you cold. And if you've been living it, you already know how disorienting that silence can be. This honest, heartfelt conversation is for every person standing in that in-between space, wondering who they are. 

My guest today is Jay Ramsden — podcaster, empty nest coach, and someone who has lived this reckoning from the inside out. After a 30-year career in education and years as a primary caregiver, Jay didn't just adjust to the empty nest. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He walked the Camino de Santiago. And somewhere between the altitude and the miles, he found a philosophy that changed everything: Mpole, Mpole — Swahili for slowly, slowly. One intentional step at a time.

In this episode, Jay and I go deep on what it really takes to rebuild your identity, shed the roles that no longer fit, and step into a second act that finally feels like yours.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why pivoting your career can feel unsettling even when every part of you knows it's time
• How to rebuild your self-identity and what intentional living looks like day in and day out — not just in theory
• How to use "what's in the way" as your map toward more freedom and self-discovery
• What Jay learned from getting comfortable with going slow — and why lasting personal reinvention requires exactly that
• How to recognize when caregiving has quietly become your whole identity, and what it takes to reclaim yourself from the inside out
• What JOMO is and how shifting your FOMO opens the door to truly liberated living
• How to start trusting yourself again to create a more meaningful, purpose-driven second act

If you've been feeling stretched between who you were and who you're becoming — this episode is your reminder that there is still so much of you left to discover.

This chapter gets to belong to you too. 

Cheers to more love and freedom,

Laurie

Click here to learn about my NEW “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” 

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

Free Resources

Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.

Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing”

Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise

Website

Connect with Jay Ramsden
Website
Instagram
Tiktok

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Strength to Strength: A book by Arthur C. Brooks mentioned for its insights on managing life transitions and shifting focus from external achievements

The Obstacle Is the Way: A book by Ryan Holiday that explores using challenges as opportunities for growth

Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

What does it look like to wake up at fifty and finally ask, "What do I actually want?" For Debbie Weiss — bestselling author, speaker, and host of the Maybe I Can podcast — that question became the turning point that changed everything.

In this deeply honest and vulnerable conversation, Debbie shares the emotional arc of her transformation: from decades of family caregiving that left her financially stressed, emotionally depleted, and disconnected from herself, to building an entirely new life through what she calls "sprinkles" — small, intentional shifts that slowly and powerfully rewrote her story. Her journey from identity loss to empowered living, including losing over 80 pounds, writing a bestselling memoir, and discovering that personal growth doesn't require a giant leap. It just requires one tiny step, taken consistently.

In this episode, I sit down with Debbie Weiss, an author, speaker, and podcaster who spent thirty years navigating the intense caregiving burden of looking after her disabled father, a son with special needs, and a husband struggling with chronic illness. Debbie’s story is a powerful example of how midlife women can reclaim their lives, moving from a place of deep identity loss to one of purposeful, empowered living.

In this episode you'll learn:

• How to recognize when you've slipped into victim mentality — and the first small step toward reclaiming your personal agency
• How to manage the physical and emotional toll of being the family caregiver without losing your spirit or your sense of self
• Why self-care is not a selfish luxury but the necessary foundation for showing up as your best self for the people you love
• How to approach a midlife career change or a new passion project by making "maybe I can" your new daily mantra
• The role resilience building plays in moving through the stages of grief recovery after profound loss
• Why sandwich generation women need to release the pressure of perfection and embrace the "1% more" rule for sustainable, lasting change
• How to begin your own personal growth journey by committing to just one doable, body-led goal at a time

This episode is for every woman in the sandwich generation who has quietly wondered whether there is anything left for her on the other side of all that giving. There is. And Debbie is proof.

A note from Laurie:

The power to change your life has been within you all along — even when it feels completely buried. You are not alone in this journey. And it is never, ever too late to start choosing yourself.

If this episode speaks to something you've been carrying quietly, share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear it. And if Debbie's story moves you, leave a review — it helps more women find this conversation when they need it most.

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Much love,

Laurie

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.