EP #445: Midlife Doodle-Think™ Club: Slow Down & Create a Space to Think with the Zentangle® Method & Mindful Doodling

Today we're talking about the importance of midlife friendships. Friendships after 50 deserve your attention, especially when your life, interests, and priorities are changing. My guest today is Stacey Tessa K. Battat. Tessa is a self-proclaimed relationship geek, who encourages others to see friendship as one of the soul's greatest paths on the journey of becoming more whole. Tessa also facilitates and hosts workshops and women's circles that focus on integrating embodied practices to deepen our connection with ourselves and others. She holds an MA in Consciousness Studies and is committed to a deep curiosity about what awakens the human spirit. Tessa is a speaker, author and the passionate endive behind The Open Nesters podcast, empowering people to live more open-hearted and courageous lives as they age. Based in New England, Tessa shares her life with her partner, husband of 36 years and podcast co-host, and together they have three strong, kind and loving children, a wise and wonderful daughter-in-law and a love-filled grandson. Join us as we discuss how these five doors can help you appreciate existing friendships and discover new connections that reflect who you are becoming. You'll also hear why getting clear about what you want matters, how expectations can affect your friendships, and why making time for connection is an important part of regret-proofing your life. Please enjoy this interview! Featured in this Episode Next Chapter Midlife Quiz: www.midlifequiz.com Talking with My High School Friends Turning 60 This Year Envy for Good: The Unexpected Tool for Figuring Out What You Really Want Reinventing the Family Farm for Midlife Happiness with Adrea McFadden When You're Too Busy in Midlife Celebrating Friendships in Midlife Connect with Stacey Tessa K. Battat Website: https://theopennesters.com Book: The 5 Doors of Friendship

Do you feel stuck in midlife because you're waiting for more clarity before making a change? Maybe you want to figure out what's next with retirement, relationships, work, or simply how you want to spend your time. You keep thinking, researching, journaling, and talking about your options, hoping you'll eventually feel certain enough to move forward. But what if you've got the order backwards? What if taking your Next Best Step is actually how you create more clarity? In this episode of Women in the Middle, I'm sharing one of my favorite coaching principles for getting unstuck in midlife. You'll learn why you don't need a perfect plan to start moving forward, how new experiences give you valuable data about yourself, and why self-trust is so important when you're figuring out your next chapter. I'll also share a fun Slinky analogy that explains the difference between looping and learning versus spinning in confusion. Most importantly, we'll explore why participating in your life while you're figuring things out matters just as much as reaching your destination. Learn more here!

Do you notice yourself rushing in life? In this episode of Women in the Middle, we take a closer look at my tagline, "It's time to stop living like time doesn't matter, because it does" and how it does NOT mean that living this way is a call to hurry. For many women in their 50s and 60s, busyness starts to feel like proof that life is being lived well. We unpack the gap between how you're spending your days and how you'd spend them if you were committed to your priorities. We also explore the cycle of feeling busy in detail, so you are better prepared to notice it in your life. Drawing on personal examples (specifically, gardening, mindful doodling and the Zentangle® Method, and my infamous "mango moment,") today's show highlights how we rush through ordinary routines and even the things we love, placing all the reward at the finish line. Several reflection questions and "Life Leadership" prompts are offered to support the question, "Am I spending my time on my priorities?". The episode closes with a simple practice for slowing down and coming back to the moment you're in. Listen here!

Today we're talking about why our sibling relationships might be the longest and least understood relationships of our lives and why that's so important. My guest today is Catherine Carr, an award-winning documentary maker, presenter, and podcast producer with over twenty years in audio, including work for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service through her own company, Pocket Productions. She's the middle child of three, which led her to create the podcast Relatively, dedicated to sibling relationships. Her first book, Who's the Favorite?, argues that our brothers and sisters shape us as much as our parents do. Sibling relationships often outlast every other bond in our lives, yet we rarely talk about them beyond childhood squabbles. Drawing on over seventy sibling interviews from her podcast, along with psychology research and pop culture, Catherine explores the roles we get assigned, the friendships and rivalries, the shared history, and the estrangements, and makes the case for building stronger relationships with our siblings going forward. This episode is easy to relate to, so please enjoy this interview! Listen to the full interview here!

You can, but do you want to? Women over 50 are often incredibly capable. You know how to handle things, solve problems, take care of people and get stuff done. But after decades of being the woman who can, it's easy to stop asking a completely different question: "Do I actually still want to?" In this episode, we explore the difference between capability and desire and also why something doesn't have to become unbearable before you reconsider it. Listen Here.