From ‘you only have 18 summers with your kids, enjoy every moment!’ to a sunk-cost mentality about how we used our time in our younger years, midlife can be full of hangups about time: how we save it, how we spend it, how we value it. I was thrilled to have a chance to chat with my longtime writer friend Laura Vanderkam about her newest book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, and how the ideas and concepts in it can apply to everything from motherhood and midlife to creativity and ambition. Watch the video to see a practical, encouraging, and funny chat with Laura!

video links

* Grab Laura’s new book

* Laura’s book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

* Laura’s novella, Juliet’s School of Possibilities

* The Frugal Girl

* Midlife Lady Leisure Pursuits episode about big ideas

* My book The Last Parenting Book You’ll Ever Read: How We Let Our Kids Go And Embrace What’s Next came out a year ago today! My last chapter was entirely about time - how we spend it, and how we perceive it, especially as our kids create independent lives and we move into the next steps of ours. (p.s. - I usually use Bookshop links, but for some reason my book is super cheap on Amazon right now - so if you are wanting to buy a couple of copies as gifts, this is a great time.)

Because even though we all, in the throes of early motherhood, knew in our hearts that “it goes so fast” and “babies don’t keep”, we were also caught up in the forward thrust of Real Life happening all around us. Our own ambitions, whether they be career-focused or personal, mattered to us; our families’ needs for food, shelter, clothing, and a reasonably functional and clean home might take precedence over rocking said baby. There was no fairy mothering godmother to tell us exactly how to slow down, let things go, prioritize; we made decisions in the moment and probably we could sometimes have made better ones. - The Last Parenting Book You’ll Ever Read: How We Let Our Kids Go And Embrace What’s Next

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit meaganfrancis.substack.com/subscribe