The Midlife Rebel Podcast

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You've built a successful career, raised a family, created a comfortable life and achieved everything you thought you wanted. So why does something still feel missing?

In this episode of The Midlife Rebel Podcast, I'm joined by Nathalie Cordell, a former pharmaceutical industry high achiever turned coach and psychosynthesis practitioner, to explore the deeper questions that often emerge in midlife.

I absolutely loved this conversation. Although Nathalie's experiences were quite different from my own, I found myself nodding along to so much of what she shared. There were some very familiar themes around identity, questioning the life we've built and that growing desire to live in a way that feels more authentic.

Nathalie shares how family cancer diagnoses and a growing sense of disconnection from her own life prompted her to question everything she'd worked towards. Her journey led her to psychosynthesis, a psychological approach that explores the different parts of ourselves and our capacity for personal and spiritual growth.

We talk about the identities we build around our careers, relationships and responsibilities, and what happens when those roles no longer reflect who we're becoming. Nathalie explains how recognising our different inner voices, from the high achiever to the inner critic, can help us understand ourselves more deeply and reconnect with what truly matters.

Our conversation also takes us into the heroine's journey, reconnecting with feminine energy, learning to trust our intuition and recognising anger as a valuable signal that our boundaries or needs may have been overlooked.

Nathalie is also the author of Awakening the Sleeping Queen, a book for women who appear to have it all yet feel a longing for something more meaningful.

There's something about midlife that invites us to question so much of what we've taken for granted. And I think that's what I enjoyed most about this conversation. It's a reminder that even when our stories are different, the questions we're asking ourselves can be remarkably similar.

If you've been questioning your purpose, your identity or the life you've been living, I think you'll find plenty to connect with in this episode.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

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There's no shortage of advice about how to look younger, feel better and live longer. From hormone therapies and aesthetic treatments to peptides, weight-loss medications and the latest longevity trends, the options seem to be growing by the day.

But how do we separate the science from the marketing, and make informed decisions about our health as we age?

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr Furhan Qureshi, an Internal Medicine Physician working at the intersection of hormone health, metabolic wellbeing, longevity and aesthetic medicine.

We explore the growing interest in health optimisation and the relationship between how we look, how we feel and how we function, particularly as we move through midlife.

Our conversation touches on the motivations behind aesthetic treatments, including confidence, identity and relationships, alongside discussions about testosterone therapy, libido, metabolic health and the changing expectations around ageing.

We also explore the influence of social media on health information, the growing popularity of treatments such as peptides and GLP-1 medications, and the importance of understanding the quality of scientific evidence before embracing the latest health trend.

Dr Qureshi shares his perspective on the commercialisation of longevity medicine, the limitations of some emerging research and the challenges of maintaining healthy habits in a world that often makes them difficult to sustain.

Ultimately, this conversation raises some important questions about the choices we make when it comes to our health, the information we trust and what it really means to age well.

Because there's a little bit of rebel in all of us.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

If you'd like to support the show you can buy me a coffee!

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Is there an age when we're supposed to stop trying new things? When the fear of failure, looking foolish or being a beginner again starts to hold us back?

In her 50s, Becky Vannes decided to take up horse riding, finding herself back at the beginning, learning something completely new and confronting the perfectionism, self-doubt and expectations that can make starting over so uncomfortable.

Becky is an author, speaker and personal development coach whose own journey began in her 20s, when she experienced debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. That experience led her to explore the connection between our thoughts, beliefs and behaviours, and discover how greater self-awareness can help us change the patterns that keep us stuck.

In this conversation, we explore the practical tools Becky has developed over the years, including journaling, gratitude, morning routines, subconscious beliefs and the power of small, consistent daily habits.

We also talk about her book Begin Before You Feel Ready and the practices in her accompanying workbook, which encourage us to get clear about what we want, recognise what's holding us back and begin taking steps towards creating a more intentional life.

Along the way, we explore the changing nature of identity in midlife, particularly after years of parenting, the decision to stop drinking, and what horses can teach us about confidence, leadership and taking responsibility for the direction of our lives.

At the heart of our conversation is a simple idea: we don't have to wait until we feel confident, capable or completely ready to begin something new.

And perhaps midlife is the perfect time to put that into practice.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

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How do you learn to trust yourself when you’ve spent years being told what you should believe, how you should behave and what a good life is supposed to look like?

Toni LaMotta knows something about questioning the rules we inherit. She joined a Catholic convent at 17 and spent 16 years living under a vow of obedience. When she eventually left at 33, she realised she didn’t even know something as simple as what colour sofa she liked.

That decision became the beginning of a life that has continued to evolve through faith, ministry, academia, technology, business and coaching. Now 80, Toni is still learning, questioning and refusing to accept that there comes an age when we’re supposed to stop growing.

In this episode, we explore what Toni’s lived experience has taught her about developing an inner compass after years of looking outside yourself for direction, approval or permission.

We talk about the conditioning that teaches us to be “good”, the ways we can gradually lose touch with our own wants and instincts, and why midlife can bring some very confronting questions to the surface: What do I believe? What do I actually want? And whose voice am I listening to when I make decisions about my life?

Toni shares the moment she broke one of the convent’s rules to comfort someone who was suffering, choosing what felt right over what she had been told was right, and how that experience became an important turning point in learning to trust her own inner knowing.

We also explore some of the practices Toni now uses to help people reconnect with themselves, including the Enneagram, journalling, looking back at the stepping stones of your life, and becoming curious about the fears and patterns that continue to influence the choices you make.

Toni’s story is a reminder that we’re never really finished becoming who we are. We can question the old rules, change direction, discover new parts of ourselves and keep creating a life that feels like our own — in midlife, at 80, and beyond.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

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What do we expect life to look like when we’re 85?

Michael Dorfman is living proof that we might need to think again. With a daily routine that includes meditation, breathwork, crawling drills, walking, pickleball and regular resistance training, Michael is approaching 85 with strength, curiosity and a commitment to his wellbeing.

In this episode, we talk about healthy ageing, longevity and the everyday habits that help us maintain strength, mobility and independence as we get older. Michael shares his approach to intermittent fasting, sleep, exercise and plant-based nutrition, including the importance of whole foods, getting enough protein as we age, and the connection between fibre, the gut microbiome and inflammation.

But this conversation goes beyond diet and exercise.

Michael describes what he calls the “fifth stage” of life and his seven pillars of longevity wellness, which include resilience, circadian alignment, regenerative capacity, mindset and purposeful contribution. We also explore what we can learn from the Blue Zones and how the way we think about ageing can influence the way we experience it.

For those of us in midlife, Michael offers a fascinating glimpse of what the decades ahead could look like — and perhaps a reason to question some of the assumptions we’ve inherited about growing older.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

If you'd like to support the show you can buy me a coffee!

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Most of us grew up knowing very little about our menstrual cycle beyond getting a period once a month. We weren’t taught how our hormones influence our energy, mood, hunger, exercise, relationships or the way we feel in our bodies. And for many women, it’s not until perimenopause that we begin to realise just how much we didn’t know.

In this episode of The Midlife Rebel Podcast, I’m joined by teacher and body literacy educator Katrina Christian to talk about what changes when women understand their bodies — and how we can give the next generation of girls something many of us never had.

Katrina takes us through the four phases of the menstrual cycle and explains how understanding them can help us recognise changes in energy, appetite, mood and physical performance without immediately wondering what’s wrong with us. We also talk about painful periods, endometriosis and adenomyosis, the shame many women inherited around menstruation, and why conversations about periods need to include boys and men too.

But body literacy becomes particularly interesting in midlife.

As our hormonal landscape changes during perimenopause, the things we’ve spent years tolerating, carrying and pushing through can become much harder to ignore. Anger, frustration and exhaustion may be hormonal, but Katrina invites us to also listen to what those feelings are telling us about our relationships, boundaries, workload and the way we’ve been living.

We talk about puberty and perimenopause happening under the same roof, the mental load of the sandwich generation, motherhood and changing identity, and perimenopause as a rite of passage — a time when the body may finally be asking us to make some changes.

And perhaps one of the greatest things we can take from our own experience is the opportunity to do things differently for our daughters: teaching girls to understand, listen to and trust their bodies from the beginning.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

If you'd like to support the show you can buy me a coffee!

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What if grieving is, in many ways, a process of relearning the world?

This idea sits at the heart of the work of philosopher and author Thomas Attig, who has spent decades exploring death, dying, grief and loss. When someone we love dies, it's not only their physical presence that disappears. The world we knew with them in it has changed, and we have to gradually learn how to live within that new reality.

In this episode, Thomas joins me to explore his philosophy of grief and what it means to relearn a world that has been profoundly changed by loss. Grief can touch our relationships, routines, work, finances, faith and even our sense of who we are. Learning to live again means finding our way through all of it.

We talk about why we can feel so uncomfortable around grief, and what we can actually say or do when someone we care about is hurting. Sometimes there are no right words and nothing to fix. Being willing to listen, to stay present and to allow someone to speak honestly about their loss can be far more meaningful.

We also explore Thomas's distinction between problems that can be solved and the mysteries of life that ask something different of us. Love, mortality, suffering and loss aren't experiences we can neatly resolve or tick off a list.

And yet, grief doesn't mean the end of our relationship with the person who has died. Thomas introduces the beautiful idea of "loving in separation" — finding new ways to remember, speak about and remain connected to those we love while continuing to live our own lives.

For anyone experiencing loss, supporting someone who is grieving, or simply wanting to understand this inevitable part of being human, this conversation offers a compassionate and deeply thoughtful perspective on what it means to grieve — and to slowly relearn the world.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

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We change in midlife. Our priorities change, our bodies change, our relationships change, and the way we see ourselves can change too.

But sometimes our style gets left behind.

In this episode, I’m joined by Personal Development Mentor & Style Coach Sarah Ryan to explore what happens when the way we present ourselves to the world no longer reflects the person we’re becoming.

For Sarah, style goes much deeper than clothes. It’s connected to identity, values, creativity, confidence and self-expression. As we go through the transformations of midlife, what once felt like “us” may no longer fit — literally or figuratively — and our wardrobe can become one of the places where that disconnect shows up.

We talk about the conditioning that shapes how women believe they should look, the pressure to “dress your age”, why so many women focus on hiding or disguising their bodies, and how menopause messaging can turn normal physical changes into something we feel we need to fix.

Sarah shares why she begins with the woman rather than the wardrobe, exploring values, roles, relationships and lifestyle before thinking about clothes. We also talk about colour analysis without rigid rules, taking the pressure out of shopping, experimenting with clothes and using small actions to build confidence and self-trust.

And we hear the powerful story of one of Sarah’s clients who had removed every mirror from her home because she couldn’t bear to look at herself — and what became possible as she began reconnecting with herself.

This is a conversation about allowing our style to evolve alongside us, letting go of some of the rules we’ve absorbed about what women should wear as they get older, and finding ways to express the woman we are now.

Because maybe the loud coat, the sparkles or the electric blue trousers were never the problem.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

If you'd like to support the show you can buy me a coffee!

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Retirement is supposed to be the reward at the end of decades of work. But when the diary clears and the job title disappears, it can leave us facing a much bigger question: Who am I without the role I’ve played for so long?

In this episode, I’m joined by retirement transition expert George Jerjian to explore what really happens when we step away from paid work, and why retirement can become one of the biggest identity changes of our lives.

George shares his own experience of reaching this point in 2016, including the 30-day silent retreat that gave him the space to look honestly at the life he had lived and consider what might come next. We talk about the strange in-between territory of retirement, when the old version of life has ended but the new one hasn’t quite taken shape, and why simply withdrawing from active life can leave people feeling lost, disconnected and without purpose.

We also explore the practical side of creating a meaningful next chapter. George takes us through his DARE method — Discover, Assimilate, Rewire and Expand — and how it can help us uncover who we are beyond our careers, responsibilities and old identities.

We talk about growth mindset, finding clues to what brings us alive through experiences of flow, the role fear can play in pointing us towards something meaningful, and why our physical and emotional wellbeing — including something as fundamental as sleep — can influence the decisions we make about what comes next.

Drawing on his research with people across the English-speaking world, George also shares what he has learned about the people who thrive after retirement and those who struggle to find their footing.

Whether retirement is still somewhere on the horizon, has recently arrived, or you’ve been there for years and find yourself wondering, “Is this it?”, this conversation is an invitation to see retirement differently — as an opportunity to discover what you want the next chapter of your life to be.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

If you'd like to support the show you can buy me a coffee!

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What does midlife actually feel like from the inside — especially for men?

In this episode of The Midlife Rebel Podcast, I'm joined by renowned breathwork pioneer Jon Paul Crimi for a wide-ranging conversation about ageing, identity, addiction, sobriety, and the work of turning towards ourselves rather than continually finding ways to escape.

We begin with midlife. The changes in our bodies, the strange new health routines we suddenly find ourselves adopting, and the deeper question of who we are when some of the things we've relied upon to define ourselves begin to change, and Jon Paul shares his perspective on navigating midlife as a man.

From there, we move into Jon Paul's own story. He speaks openly about his early struggles with drugs and alcohol, the path that eventually led him to sobriety, and what he's learned about the emotions and experiences that can sit underneath addiction. We also explore the grey areas — when life can look perfectly functional from the outside while something inside you knows it's time for change.

And then there's breathwork.

Jon Paul has spent years teaching conscious connected breathing, and we explore what can happen when we use the breath to move beyond the thinking mind and into the body. He explains why breathwork can feel uncomfortable at first, what may arise during a session, and how it can help us access emotions and experiences we may have spent years avoiding.

We also talk about nervous system regulation, intention, integration, finding space for practices like breathwork in ordinary life, and the importance of giving ourselves somewhere to put our attention other than the endless distractions competing for it.

This is a conversation about getting older, getting sober, knowing yourself more deeply, and discovering what can happen when you're willing to feel what's actually there.  Because when nothing changes, nothing changes.

Because there’s a little bit of rebel in all of us.

Visit our website to find out more about this week's guest.

All of our guests, including this one, are included in our Guest Directory so that you can find out more about them and the work that they do.

https://midliferebelpodcast.com/guest-directory

If you'd like to support the show you can buy me a coffee!

https://buymeacoffee.com/midliferebelpodcast