How do you thrive in midlife when nobody sent the memo on menopause weight loss, hormonal health or finding your purpose after 50?
If you are a woman over 40 who coaches or heals, this article gives you a map of what changes in midlife, why the rules you learned in your twenties stop working, and how a full day of conversations can help you rewrite them. Today, Wednesday, October 28, I am hosting the Midlife Un-Diet Launch Celebration with Kathy Basel, and you can watch the live on YouTube from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM PT.
What midlife changes, according to the National Institutes of Health
The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development describes the stages plainly in its NICHD fact sheet on menopause. Menopause is reached when a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without a period, and it usually occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, with an average age of 51. The years leading up to it are called perimenopause, or the menopausal transition, and during that time hormone levels fluctuate and ovulation becomes less frequent.
The same page lists changes that many women notice along the way. Periods may become irregular, lighter or heavier, longer or shorter. Hot flashes can last from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, night sweats can disrupt sleep, and long-term sleep loss can bring fatigue and memory problems. Some women experience irritability or anxiety, and the loss of estrogen is linked to bone density loss and a higher risk of heart disease.
A woman who has spent decades managing her body with a set of rules often finds that the rules were written for a different set of hormones, and she is left wondering whether she or the rules have stopped working.
Why the old rules stop working
You have spent years following rules for how a woman should eat, look, work and age, and the hormonal changes of midlife rewrite many of them. The rules about food are the ones that tend to surface first, because they sit in daily life, but they are rarely the only ones. The rules about how hard to work, how much to give, how visible to be and what a woman of your age should be doing are all inherited, and all of them deserve a second look.
Kathy Basel is a certified holistic wellness coach, an AI strategist known as The AI Whisperer, and the author of The Midlife Un-Diet. Her book offers a holistic approach to unlearning the restrictive diet culture that leaves women in perimenopause depleted. I invited her to host this celebration with me because her approach looks at the whole person, and her book gives the day its name and its point of view.
True midlife wellness requires moving away from deprivation toward deep physical and emotional nourishment.
Six conversations for the whole woman
The running order for the day follows six conversations, each paired with a time you can plan around.
The first conversation is about the body, and it covers hormones, nourishment, movement and strength in midlife. The second is about the mind, and it turns to unlearning old beliefs, releasing perfectionism and rebuilding self-trust. The third is about the soul, with attention to meaning, joy, pleasure and the practice of receiving.
The fourth conversation looks at life, including relationships, reinvention, travel and creativity. The fifth is about money, and it addresses financial confidence and how to fund the life you want. The sixth asks what comes next, and it explores the go-go years, purpose and the permission a woman gives herself to take up space. A quick reset with the audience sits between the soul and life segments, and the day closes with a celebration of takeaways, gratitude and giveaways.
The day is free and interactive, and it is built for women over 40 and over 50 who want to reclaim their vitality. A live conversation goes where the people in the room take it, which is part of why it is worth attending in real time.
What it means to look at the whole person
The premise of this celebration is that thriving in midlife depends on more than any one area of life. Your limiting beliefs, your metabolic health, your relationships, your financial independence and your sense of spiritual purpose all influence your daily energy, and the day is arranged so that no one of them is treated in isolation. A conversation about money and a conversation about the body belong in the same day because a woman lives in both at once.
This is a useful frame for anyone who serves other women, because the clients who come to you rarely arrive with a problem that sits in a single category. The coach who understands how the pieces interact can hear what is underneath a stated concern and respond with more depth, and she can begin by observing her own life with the same attention.
What to bring with you to the live
You will get more from a long, interactive day if you arrive with a few questions of your own. Before the live begins, write down one question for each of three areas. For your body, ask what you would like to understand about the changes you are experiencing. For your work, ask what you would offer, price or publish if you gave yourself full permission. For the next chapter of your life, ask what you would like to be doing in five years, and what is asking for your attention now.
Keep the questions short enough to say aloud, because the live is interactive and the chat is where the conversation often finds its direction. Noting your questions in advance also tells you which segment to attend first if you can join for only part of the day, and it gives you something concrete to look for when you watch the replay.
Why this matters for your coaching or healing business
The topics of this day can look separate from your business, and they are tied to it more tightly than they appear. Your energy sets the pace at which you can show up, record, write and answer messages. Your beliefs about what a woman your age should do shape the offers you feel allowed to make and the prices you feel allowed to charge. Your relationship to receiving determines whether you can accept money, referrals and help.
A coach in midlife also holds something that younger practitioners are still building, which is evidence that decades of living are worth something. You want your experience to count, and one way it counts is in the story you tell about how you moved through your own changes. I recorded an earlier live on how to share your spiritual story to attract coaching clients, and it pairs well with a day that invites you to look at your own season with fresh eyes.
When you share that story, share what you have already moved through, keep raw material for a practitioner or a trusted friend, and leave out other people's stories and identifying details.
Three questions women ask about midlife and wellness
What happens during perimenopause, and when does menopause usually arrive?
According to the NICHD, perimenopause is the transition before menopause, when hormone levels fluctuate and ovulation becomes less frequent. Menopause usually occurs between ages 45 and 55, with an average age of 51, and it is confirmed after 12 consecutive months without a period.
Who is this day for?
It is for women over 40 and over 50 who want a wider view of what thriving looks like, including women who coach, heal or lead. If you are a women's life coach, a holistic healer or a spiritual entrepreneur, the conversations on mind, money and what comes next apply to your work as much as the conversations on body and soul apply to your life.
Can I attend for part of the day?
The day is organized in segments, so you can arrive for the conversation that matches your question. All episodes are also available as replays, which means you can return to a segment later if your schedule changes.
Join us live today
Kathy Basel and I are live today from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM PT, and you can join us on YouTube (Episode #103). I am Crystal Lynn Bell, and I help heart-centered women coaches and spiritual healers nail their messaging, marketing and infrastructure so they attract consistent clients and income, which you can read more about at Badass Butterfly Alchemy.
Which rule about how a woman should eat, work or age are you ready to retire?
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Crystal Lynn Bell
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Visit www.badassbutterflyalchemy.com →Crystal Lynn Bell is a Spiritual Business Mentor, visibility coach, and founder of Badass Butterfly Alchemy Coaching. Her work sits at the intersection of deep inner transformation and serious business architecture. Since 2011, she has guided more than 800 women through the process of building coaching businesses grounded in their genuine experience and designed to produce real, sustainable income.