Making Midlife Magic

Are you feeling overwhelmed this December? Looking forward to the clean slate of January? Here's the truth -- You don't need a clean slate. That's the fantasy that tells us that the next time we'll do things differently, we'll get it right, we'll figure it all out. What will actually help is making friends with entropy, the law that drives everything towards disorder. In this episode, I show you how.

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So many of us in midlife feel behind or inadequate because we forget we’re already in the arena, doing brave and difficult things every day. In this episode, I introduce the idea of “arena thoughts” — grounding reminders that help us see our own effort instead of listening to the inner critics in the bleachers. If you've been losing touch with your own inner strength, this is your invitation to reconnect.

Mentioned in this episode

Brené Brown, "Man in the Arena"

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for a free one-hour midlife magic consultation call ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠to discover what you most want for the second half of your life and how coaching can help

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Over the past few weeks, I felt this deep truth: our lives are oriented by the questions we have running in the background. I took a few weeks off from the podcast and it was fine, but I noticed that it changed my relationship with the rest of my life, which I didn't expect. I saw clearly that when we change the questions we ask, our experience of our daily life changes. In this episode, I explore why this is — and how asking powerful, open questions can help us feel more grounded, curious, and alive. Whether your goal is to strengthen a relationship, ease anxiety, or reconnect with yourself, it all starts with the answers you set your mind out to find.

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* ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for a free one-hour midlife magic consultation call ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠to discover what you most want for the second half of your life and how coaching can help

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Do you ever feel like life has become one long "to do" list and it's never done? This is where I was recently, feeling disconnected and looking for Something Big that would shift everything. But what I realized is that I didn't need Something Big -- I just needed to fall back in love with my life. And I did.

In this episode, I share three things about love that helped me find my way back -- to myself, my life, and, as it turns out, this podcast. Because connecting with you is one of my deepest joys. Drop me a note and tell me what you're doing to stay connected to yourself these days -- maybe I'll make a list and share it out. ❤️

Are you overthinking a decision? Stuck in a thought loop? 🧭 Download your free copy of ⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Clarity Compass⁠⁠⁠⁠ — five grounded, soul-supporting questions to help you cut through the noise, quiet your overthinking, and know your next step. Grab it here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://compass.coachingwithrachel.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Let me know how it works for you! DM me or email me at [email protected]

In this episode, I explore the idea of architect energy versus gardener energy—a metaphor I first heard from musician Brian Eno. When I was younger, I lived with strong architect energy: I made plans, built the life I wanted, and took satisfaction in achieving goals. But midlife has taught me the power of gardener energy—working with what grows, embracing uncertainty, and collaborating with time and change. I share three guiding questions to help embrace our inner gardener.

Mentioned in this episode:

Ezra Klein interview with Brian Eno (10/3/2025)

Reasons to be Cheerful (David Byrne)

Are you overthinking a decision? Stuck in a thought loop? 🧭 Download your free copy of ⁠⁠⁠ The Clarity Compass⁠⁠⁠ — five grounded, soul-supporting questions to help you cut through the noise, quiet your overthinking, and know your next step. Grab it here → ⁠⁠⁠http://compass.coachingwithrachel.com ⁠⁠⁠

Let me know how it works for you! DM me or email me at [email protected]

"I don't have time for self care." My brain often tells me this, and yours probably does too. It's so easy to believe we don’t have time to care for ourselves. In this episode, I flip that script by asking, “What can I do in just two minutes?”

I share simple, quick practices that support our nervous system by creating connection, calm, and flow. From listening to a single song and dancing, to sending a voice text to a friend, to going outside between zoom meetings, these small acts shift our energy in meaningful ways. I hope this episode inspires you to make your own list of two-minute resets so you can build daily routines that support yourself and always have some easy tools to help yourself, even on your hardest days.

🧭 Download your free copy of ⁠⁠The Clarity Compass⁠⁠ — five grounded, soul-supporting questions to help you cut through the noise, quiet your overthinking, and know your next step. Grab it here → ⁠⁠http://compass.coachingwithrachel.com ⁠⁠

Let me know how it works for you! DM me or email me at [email protected]

"Do or do not do. There is no try." Sorry, Yoda, but this is not helpful. In fact, if we want to do big things, we have to find all the options between Do [do the thing the way we most want to] and Do Not [quit]. I call these "escape hatches," and they are one of the ways I got to 100 podcast episodes -- My Big Thing.

Whether your Big Thing is starting a business, publishing a novel, being a step-parent, or learning to play the cello, this episode is for you. In it, I share three things that got me to episode 100. I learned a lot from the experience, but honestly, not what I expected to learn.

🧭 Download your free copy of ⁠⁠The Clarity Compass⁠⁠ — five grounded, soul-supporting questions to help you cut through the noise, quiet your overthinking, and know your next step. Grab it here → ⁠⁠http://compass.coachingwithrachel.com ⁠⁠

Let me know how it works for you! DM me or email me at [email protected]

Do you feel confident? If you're like me, chances are the answer is -- Sometimes? It can be hard to be confident, especially when things change so much. We're not always sure what to do, how to respond. Confidence is fueled by certainty, which is why so often we find ourselves unconfident. If we can't know how something will work out, how can we be confident about it? This lack of certainty often leads us to overthink decisions, feel tentative, and second guess ourselves.

The good news is that we don't have to be sure of everything to be confident; we just have to be sure of something. Take a listen to this episode to learn how to create confidence by letting your brain find what it can be certain about.

🌟 If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world! 🌟

Website: ⁠⁠coachingwithrachel.com⁠⁠

FB:⁠⁠ facebook.com/rachelbaumcoaching⁠⁠

IG: @rachelbaumcoaching

To receive my emails (love notes delivered right to you!), ⁠⁠sign up here⁠⁠

If you're curious about whether coaching is a good fit for you, ⁠⁠sign up for a consultation

Take another listen to this powerful episode from 2023. If we want our life to be a work of art, we need to get real about what it's like to be an artist.

Your life is your art. It sounds so pretty, doesn't it? We're artists, shaping the canvas of our life. It sounds so good, but we have art wrong.

To embrace our life as art, we have to get real about art as well as about our lives. Art, like life, is full of self-doubt and failure.

In this episode, I highlight three powerful truths about art that we can use to see our lives differently. These powerful truths increase self-compassion, self-trust, and let us see the beauty in our messy, imperfect lives, as they are right now.

Take a listen and let me know what your art is! I'm at [email protected] or dm me on social media.

🌟 If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world! 🌟

Website: ⁠coachingwithrachel.com⁠

FB:⁠ facebook.com/rachelbaumcoaching⁠

IG: @rachelbaumcoaching

To receive my emails (love notes delivered right to you!), ⁠sign up here⁠

If you're curious about whether coaching is a good fit for you, ⁠sign up for a consultation

This is one of my most popular episodes (#73). There are so many things that steal our joy -- the news, other people, and even our own thoughts and actions. Some days, joy feels impossible when the world is so broken. It was true a year ago when I recorded this episode and it's true now.

If you want to take your joy back, this episode is a good place to start.