Dear Midlife has always been a podcast where we dive deep into the chaos, comedy, and complexities of our wonderfully messy mid-lives. In today's episode our guest, Author Boo Trundle, causes us to consider what are those deep rooted fears and truths that we've locked into these wide, deep sort of cargo trunks within our souls (or maybe in this case a WWII submarine to borrow from the metaphor our guest uses in her book), that we've gorilla glued and chained and dropped at the bottom of the ocean or the in the depths of our inner spirits...And what happens when life becomes a relentless reminder of all those buried old wounds.

You know...just when you think you’ve got it all together, something bubbles up from the depths and says, “Hey, remember me?” Our conversation with Boo today explores the scattered parts of our lives as women and how so many of us strive at this time in our lives to pick up these fractured pieces of ourselves and puzzle them together so that we somehow feel whole again

Boo said something beautiful in this episode and that is that this healing process isn't something that can happen in a week or maybe even a decade, but that the healing process is a journey and one I know I'VE been on and that really resonated with me. In her book, Boo explores Katherine's healing journey, whose story so many of us can relate to. She's an attentive mother, comfortably married, yet battling dark thoughts and fears of intimacy.

And girl, we KNOW that no matter how polished our lives appear on the outside that there is often an internal struggle that we're managing. In her book, and in this conversation, Boo beautifully portrays this inner struggle we face. In her novel, these struggles are revealed in alternating short chapters told by Katherine’s inner children—Truitt, Star, and Smooshed Bug—each with their own unique strategy for coping with her past traumas. Will they protect her from the truth, or deliver it to her? That’s the big question. Her book, and this conversation, is a wonderful rollercoaster of emotions and insights, and a perfect reflection of our midlife journey—where we’re constantly sifting through the past, trying to shape our personal narratives, and exploring who we are and who we want to become.

In this episode Boo teaches us:

1. Find the support you need to persevere. She shared with us the power of finding that someone to mentor and guide you to achieve your goals. Get out there and connect with like minded women!
2. Don't be afraid to quietly and persistently pursue your dreams...EVEN IF life "gets in the way". Don't use "life" as an excuse.
3. Our "vulnerabilities" are unique and different for each of us. There is a beauty in getting to know the vulnerabilities that each of us hold and providing space and support to another person to help them embrace and move through their own truths.
4. We often live very "linear" lives, along a timeline of happenings...get married, have children, age etc. But, there is also there is the "soul's work" that is not linear and weaves in and out of the timeline of our lives and it is a journey.

To find more of Boo:

The Daughter Ship: A Novel

Website | www.bootrundle.com

Boo shares with us her journey and how her life has shaped her and carried her to where she is today as she delivers her first published novel to the world at age 56. And if you find yourself on the same journey of healing and exploration, join us at dearmidlife.com because we have some amazing tools and resource we are creating to help you on your journey and are creating a network of supportive women who will be there to connect with you, lift you up, relate to your challenges and help you to achieve your goals. We can't wait to meet you in the middle.