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Happy International Women’s Day!

The theme this year is #choosetochallenge which couldn’t reflect more the work I do as The Midlife coach;

• helping women challenge the stale stereotypes of midage and take advantage of the new reality that it is now a decades-long, vibrant stage of life full of possibility and potential

• helping women challenge the habits that run their lives, and beliefs they have about themselves and their potential

• helping women challenge the idea that...

Do you ever wonder what your future self will thank you for?  What she desperately needs you to start, or keep doing so that she can be living a vibrant, healthy life?

What she will be really grateful you made the hard decision to do now?

How she will be so proud of you in the way you overcame a challenge?

Why will she look back and laugh with joy at what you did today or tomorrow?

What expectations can you drop that she will reap the reward from?

What beliefs that you hold about...

I often carry out an initial general audit with new clients, because regardless of the issue they want to address, the elements of our lives are intertwined, and none more so than health. It’s crucial for women from their late 30’s onwards to understand their body’s biological journey, and how to travel through it as easily as possible. This article reinforces the most important message to women in midlife - mind your health and take charge of your body, and I’m...

3 Steps to Managing Menopause

(rather than being taken hostage by it).

It was the bus ride home from town that finally convinced me that ‘life as I knew it’ had ended. As we lumbered through Rathmines, I glanced nervously at the people around me, wondering could any of them tell?  Numb with fear, I was a stationary tornado of crippling thoughts, catastrophising about how, at the age of just 48, I would soon have to give up my young children and require constant care; no...

For five and a half years I had to leave my babies every other weekend, and drive (crying for them) for nearly three hours from Dublin to Belfast to care for my mum after her stroke. I would spend the next 36 hours confined in her bed-bound room, trying to converse with a woman who had loved me my whole life, but who could no longer speak to me. Then I would drive for nearly three hours home (crying for her). For five and a half years.

I’d had no choice.

My dad desperately needed support...

How do you live your best midlife?

Day by day.

Your plans, ambitions and dreams create the framework for a life you want, but it’s the day to day habits - your routines, schedules, boundaries and priorities - that create the experiences of your life. 

If your daily behaviour isn’t taking you in the direction you want to go, it’s unlikely you’ll get there any time soon! 

Because it’s our daily habits that will either make us or break us. Yet often we...

 Is the story of your past serving you in the future?

Storytelling is one of the most profound traits that separate humans from other animals.  From the earliest cave drawings and pre-written word oral traditions, we have striven to contextualise our lives.

The most important story however, is the one we tell ourself. 

Words make worlds and the narrative we tell about ourselves isn’t just a story of our past, but a glory or gory arrow pointing us towards our future.

We...

When recently asked about my Sunday self-care routine, I explained that I’ve learned the hard way that self-care isn’t a once a week treat, but a fundamental way of living intentionally. (That’s not to say Sundays aren’t a good day to indulge more thoroughly!)

But while there’s certainly been increased discussion around the importance of self-care, with the feminist author Audre Lourde going as far as to declare that “Caring for myself is not...

We hear a lot about the importance of self care but I feel that's actually an umbrella term for a myriad of mental, physical and emotional approaches we need be living to our full potential.  A powerful part of the process is self-focus.  It's more than taking care of yourself, but really connecting (or reconnecting)  with your values, your sense of self and what makes you tick. 

The most crucial time to do this is that busiest of times - the mayhem of...

Despite being about to discuss yoga and pilates, I'm not going to go all whispers and woo woo on you.  I'm so passionate about women finding the magic of midlife amid the often mayhem, I'm more tempted to be all yell-y and yay yay on you! 

As anyone who knows me well can testament, my mantra for anyone who wants to listen is that we should say:

Fuck it to ageing gracefully; here's to ageing powerfully!

'Midage' is being redefined (and possibly even totally reinvented). Today,...