Midlife Butterfly: Stop Self-Abandoning & People Pleasing by Healing Your Nervous System — Feel Alive Again

In this heartfelt episode, I take you on a powerful metaphorical and literal ride—up the steep hills of Monte Albán and deep into the valleys of the unknown. From a spontaneous bike trip to spiritual insights, I reflect on how embracing uncertainty can lead to the most freeing, joyful, and expansive experiences in our lives.

In this episode, I talk about:

•  A real-life adventure that revealed a powerful lesson about fear and freedom
• How our need to “know” often limits what’s possible
• The mindset shift that invites more joy, courage, and alignment in the face of uncertainty
• Why the unknown isn’t something to fear—but something to dance with
• A client story that mirrors the strength, resilience, and heart of so many midlife women

This episode is an invitation to soften your grip, trust the process, and remember the powerful woman you already are—especially when the path ahead isn’t fully clear.

Reflection Questions:

1. Where are you currently holding back because you want certainty first?
2. What’s one area of your life where embracing the unknown could open up new possibilities?
3. What part of your story reminds you that you've done hard things before—and thrived?

Feel inspired? Write a review in Apple Podcasts or a comment in Spotify.

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

--- Host Note: This talk was a real gift for me because I’ve struggled with this for decades. I learned and understood so much about myself in this talk, and I hope and trust that will help you stop hiding and embrace your true self! ---

There’s a moment in every woman’s life when she realizes she’s been living small—not because she’s weak, but because somewhere along the way, hiding felt safer than being seen.

In this soulful conversation with somatic spiritual counselor Andrea Karlovich, we explore the deep, tender layers of why midlife women lose themselves—and how to gently come home again. Through emotional storytelling, childhood patterns, embodied healing, and the five P’s of hiding. This episode becomes a mirror for any woman navigating reinvention, divorce, grief, relocation, or a spiritual awakening.

You’ll hear how the nervous system protects us by disconnecting… and how to rebuild safety, trust, and visibility from the inside out. Andrea guides us into the truth: your essence has never left. She’s simply been covered by years of survival.

By the end, you’ll feel held, seen, and invited back into your own light—with the clarity to rise into your next chapter with self-trust, freedom, and alignment.

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn

• Why midlife triggers a spiritual and emotional awakening
• How childhood wounds shape your adult patterns of hiding
• What happens when you stop proving and start trusting your worth
• The truth about the 5 P’s that keep you small without realizing it
• How to feel safe in your body so your authentic self can emerge

🦋 Reflection Questions

1. Where in your life are you still hiding the most tender parts of yourself?
2. What shifts when you create safety within instead of seeking approval outside?
3. What small, soulful shift can you make to reconnect with the real you?

Connect with Andrea:

• Website: www.andreakarlovich.com
• Instagram: @andreakarlovich

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

You know those moments when you say yes even though every cell in your body whispers no? When you over-explain, shrink yourself, or apologize for simply existing? In this episode, Kena reveals the deeper truth behind those patterns, and why so many midlife women carry a quiet thread of unworthiness without even realizing it.

 Through raw honesty and soulful reflection, she breaks down how cultural conditioning, “good girl” programming, and old survival patterns shape the way you speak, love, and show up in your relationships. 

Kena then guides you through three powerful practices to start rewiring your self-worth.

If you're navigating reinvention, healing, or spiritual awakening in midlife, this episode will help you return to your truth: You are worthy simply because you exist. Period.

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn

• How lack of self-worth silently shapes your choices, relationships, and voice.
• Why “good girl” conditioning keeps you proving, pleasing, and perfecting.
• What happens when you shift your inner dialogue and stop trashing yourself.
• How to set micro-boundaries that rebuild your nervous system and self-trust.
• The truth about becoming the woman who knows her worth without earning it.

🦋 Reflection Questions

1. Where in your life are you still abandoning yourself to be liked or accepted?
2. What boundary — even a tiny one — would honor the woman you’re becoming?
3. If you fully believed you were worthy today, what choice would instantly change?

 I created a mini-coaching session called "How to Stop Feeling Not Good Enough and Reclaim your Worth." It's a bite-sized coaching experience you can complete in about 45 minutes at your own pace to help break free from this cycle and embody your worthiness. Check it out here!

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

Ever felt like making friends as an adult is harder than dating? You’re not alone.

 In this heart-expanding episode, Kena gathers five powerhouse women—Dana Hunter, Jama Pantel, Case Taton, Jen Chambers, and Tracy Hill—for a raw, funny, and deeply honest conversation about the power of sisterhood.

 Together, they unpack what happens when life, motherhood, careers, or even healing journeys pull us into isolation. And how reconnecting with other women can reignite our joy, confidence, and sense of belonging.

From female friendship breakups to “Bumble for besties,” from vulnerability hangovers to letting go of competition, these women share how they’ve healed the sister wound and found soul-aligned sisterhood in midlife.

 By the end, you’ll remember that you don’t have to walk your path alone—your tribe is out there, waiting for you to say yes.

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• How midlife sisterhood becomes a catalyst for healing and growth
• Why vulnerability is the secret ingredient to deeper connections
• What happens when you stop competing and start celebrating women
• How to release friendships that no longer align with your evolution
• Ways to call in your soul-aligned tribe with openness and joy

Where can you find our guests?

Casey Taton

• Instagram: @cataton
• Podcast: Inner Spark

Dana Hunter Fradella

• Instagram: @girls.who.recover
• Podcast: Girls Who Recover

Jama Patel

• Website: www.jamapantel.com
• Instagram: @jamapantel

Jennifer Chambers

• Website: www.jennifer-chambers.com
• Instagram: @jennifer_chambers_

 Tracy Hill

• Instagram: @abeautifulfix
• Podcast: A Beautiful Fix

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

When everything feels like too much — when the news is loud, relationships are shifting, or life throws you a curveball — how do you come back to yourself? 

In this episode of Midlife Butterfly, Kena opens her heart to share how she’s navigated moments of deep contrast: joy and grief sitting side by side. From the loss of a dear friend to sacred moments of surrender, she explores how life’s chaos can become a doorway to love and presence.

You’ll learn how to move from fear to calm, contraction to expansion, and return to your truth — no matter what’s happening around you. By the end, you’ll feel grounded, softened, and reminded that even in uncertainty, you are always held.

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• How to find stillness when fear or uncertainty takes over.
• Why contrast is not a punishment but a guide back to love.
• The truth about chaos — and what it’s really teaching you.
• How to ground yourself when life feels overwhelming.
• What happens when you shift from the mind to the heart.

🦋 Reflection Questions:

1. How do you usually respond when life feels chaotic or uncertain?
2. What helps you return to your center when fear starts to take over?
3. Can you remember a time when contrast led you closer to your truth?

Midlife empowerment podcast, navigating chaos, reinvent yourself, healing journey for women, spiritual awakening midlife, mindfulness practices, self-trust and alignment

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

What if saying “no” was your most powerful act of self-love? 

In this soulful conversation with transformational coach Tina Jett, we explore how midlife women can stop people-pleasing, release guilt, and start setting boundaries that feel empowering, not selfish.

You’ll discover how to honor your energy, reclaim your joy, and reconnect with your truth, because boundaries aren’t walls, they’re bridges back to yourself.

Listen now to feel lighter, freer, and ready to choose you without apology. 

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• Why midlife women struggle to set and keep boundaries
• How people-pleasing disconnects you from your authentic self
• What happens when you choose peace over guilt
• How to create self-boundaries that protect your energy
• The truth about saying “no” and why it’s a radical act of self-love

🦋 Reflection Questions:

1. Where in your life are you saying “yes” when your heart wants to say “no”?
2. What would change if you trusted that your truth is enough, even when others disapprove?
3. How would your life feel if you began honoring your energy first, every single day?

It’s time to stand in your truth, reclaim your joy, and set boundaries that empower you! 🎙️✨

Visit Tina's website: www.life-wire.net

Midlife empowerment podcast, women and boundaries, stop people-pleasing, reclaim your energy, healing journey, self-trust and alignment, how to set boundaries in midlife

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

What if every version of you — the one who fought, fell, healed, and kept going — has been leading you back to the truth of your wholeness all along? 

In this episode, Kena invites you into a tender, transformative exploration of self-acceptance and inner wholeness. Through a heartfelt reflection inspired by Braden Collinsworth’s “Versions of Me”, she guides you to meet the parts of yourself you’ve outgrown — the dreamer, the protector, the one who stayed too long — and offer them love instead of judgment.

Together, we explore how to release the illusion of brokenness, honour your story, and recognize that healing isn’t about fixing yourself, it’s about remembering who you’ve always been.

By the end of this episode, you’ll feel softer, lighter, and more at peace with your journey, ready to step fully into your power, joy, and midlife awakening. 

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• How to shift from seeing yourself as broken to embracing your wholeness
• Why integrating all your past selves leads to true healing and peace
• The truth about the parts of you you’ve tried to forget
• How to move from self-judgment to deep self-compassion
• What happens when you stop fighting your becoming

🦋 Reflection Questions

1. Which past version of you is asking to be seen, forgiven, or loved today?
2. How would your life change if you stopped trying to fix yourself and started embracing your wholeness?
3. What part of your story are you ready to honor as a sacred step on your path?

Find the written piece of Branden here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGFDjHcxOgh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

If this episode touched your heart, share it with a sister who’s ready to remember her wholeness. 💖
Follow Kena on Instagram @midlifebutterfly for more inspiration.

Midlife empowerment podcast, healing journey for women, self-love in midlife, reinvent yourself after divorce, spiritual awakening for women, how to find your purpose in midlife, emotional healing and self-acceptance

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

What If Grief Is the Catalyst for Reinvention? In this soul-stirring episode, Kena sits down with Angelina Lisowski,mother of seven and host of Her Positive Legacy, to explore how loss can become the very force that leads us home to ourselves. After the sudden passing of her husband, Angelina discovered the power of meditation, self-love, and reinvention. Together, they open an honest, healing conversation about navigating grief, reclaiming identity, and choosing to live again with purpose and presence.

Through raw reflections, laughter, and heart-centered truth, this episode reminds midlife women that healing isn’t linear—it’s a rebirth. By the end, you’ll feel inspired to see your own pain as a portal for transformation, and to rediscover the woman you were always meant to be.

✨ In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How to turn grief into a catalyst for reinvention and self-discovery
• Why meditation can anchor you through the chaos of loss
• The truth about loving yourself through every season of change
• How to rebuild your life after heartbreak with courage and compassion
• What happens when you choose joy, peace, and love—again

🦋 Reflection Questions:

1. What part of you is ready to be reborn from the ashes of what ended?
2. How can you nurture your heart through self-love and presence today?
3. If you believed life was happening for you, what would shift in your story of loss?

Follow Angelina:

• 🎙️ Her Positive Legacy Podcast
• 📲 Instagram: @HerPositiveLegacy

Love this episode? Subscribe, review, and share with another beautiful soul on her journey of rediscovery! 💫

Midlife empowerment podcast, healing from grief and loss, reinvent yourself after heartbreak, rediscover self-love in midlife, spiritual awakening after loss, meditation for healing, reclaim your joy and worth

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

You’ve been told how to live, love, work, and show up. But what happens when you finally stop giving a f*ck about what everyone else thinks and start choosing yourself?

In this liberating and heartfelt episode, Kena sits down with Celeste Didona and Karolina Bey to unravel the layers of shoulds that have kept women playing small. Together, they explore how societal expectations, perfectionism, and people-pleasing disconnect us from our truth—and how reclaiming your authenticity begins with radical self-acceptance.

Through stories of courage, awakening, and soulful rebellion, this episode invites you to decondition from the noise, reconnect with your intuition, and embrace the woman you were always meant to be.

By the end, you’ll feel lighter, freer, and deeply reminded that not giving a fuck isn’t about apathy, it’s about fierce self-love and living fully aligned with your soul.

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• How to redefine “not giving a f*ck” as an act of deep self-respect
• Why perfectionism and people-pleasing block your authentic joy
• How Human Design helps you break free from old conditioning
• The truth about loving both your light and your shadow
• What happens when you trust your inner voice more than the noise

🦋 Reflection Questions:

1. Where in your life are you still seeking approval that dims your light?
2. What would change if you cared more about your truth than their opinion?
3. How can you honor both your shadow and your shine today?

✨ Where to find our guests:

Karolina Bey

• Follow on Instagram: @theinnersoundcheck
• Visit her website: https://theinnersoundcheck.com

Celeste DiDona

• Follow on Instagram: @the_conscious_coach_
• Visit her website: https://www.ccoaching.net

If this conversation lit something within you, share it with a sister who’s ready to stop shrinking and start shining.

✨ Connect with me on Instagram @midlifebutterfly and discover how to begin your own journey of freedom and alignment through The Midlife Butterfly Podcast and my coaching offers.

Midlife empowerment podcast, women’s healing journey, reinvent yourself in midlife, self-love and authenticity, spiritual awakening in midlife, how to stop people-pleasing, reclaim your power and freedom

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

What if midlife isn’t a crisis but a sacred invitation to come home—to your body, your truth, and your joy?

In this birthday episode, Kena Siu celebrates her 47th year of life by sharing the most powerful lessons from her inner work journey. From listening to her body’s wisdom and healing deep wounds of rejection and unworthiness, to embodying self-love, equanimity, and presence. Kena reveals what it truly means to move from surviving to living fully aligned.

She opens her heart about transforming pain into purpose, choosing peace over control, and learning to love herself without conditions. With humor, warmth, and raw honesty, this episode reminds every midlife woman that she’s not here to play small—she’s here to rise, to love, and to live.

By the end, you’ll feel inspired to meet yourself with compassion, release what’s not yours, and reclaim the joy of being fully alive.

✨ In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• How to move from victimhood to empowerment using the Law of Mirrors
• Why healing your core wounds sets you free to love yourself deeply
• The truth about self-worth and prioritizing your needs without guilt
• How equanimity helps you find peace through acceptance of what is
• What happens when you choose presence and joy over control and suffering

🦋 Reflection Questions:

1. Where are you still giving your power away by waiting for others to make you happy?
2. Which old story or belief about your worth are you ready to release?
3. What would shift if you chose to love and accept yourself—unconditionally—today?

If this episode touched your heart, share it with a sister who’s ready to break free and rise into her next chapter.

Follow and listen to more episodes of The Midlife Butterfly and keep flying toward your fullest, most aligned life.

Midlife empowerment podcast, healing journey for women, reinvent yourself after divorce, rediscover yourself in midlife, find purpose after 40, spiritual awakening midlife, self-love and alignment.

✨ Come breathe with me. Every first Friday of the month I offer a free live Neuroepigenetic Breathing session. It's 60 minutes, camera on, and not recorded. Save your spot here. 

💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here!

🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide.

Instagram: @midlifebutterfly
Website: midlifebutterfly.ca

Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada