I asked menopause fitness expert, Sam Palmer, of Midlife Makeover to answer some questions about menopause asked by women in The Midlife Movement community. We covered a multitude of issues: Sex, Mind and the Menopause Documentary with Davina McCall Forgetfulness: 14.45 Libido: 18.45 Sleep: 28.45 HRT (and whether suitable if you've had cancer) 31.51 How to get the best from your doctor 33.25 Leg pains 36.45 Social life 40.00 I am so grateful to Sam for bringing her brand of down to earth, common sense advice to the conversation. As she so rightly says, we shouldn't buy into the gloom and doom ..read more

Do you find it easy to ask for help? I suspect not, if you're anything like me! Not long ago, I went to an evening wedding celebration. As well as feeling happy for the couple, it was great to get dressed up, open my jewellery box and my make up bag and apply a bit of bling, powder and paint! There haven't been many opportunities for that over the past couple of years, have there? So you can imagine my horror when, a few hours in (and stone cold sober, I promise!) I felt myself skidding across the overly polished floor in the hotel foyer, totally helpless to stop my ankle turning over and ..read more

For the past 9 months I have been studying for a coaching qualification so that I could offer 121 sessions beyond the mentoring I have been offering for the past few years. Currently, anyone can call themselves a coach no matter what their experience or understanding, There's so much more to it than simply listening or offering advice and I don't take the responsibility lightly.   It was important to me that, to protect my clients, I was certified by a rigorous process that is accredited by one of the leading bodies, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) that seeks to ensure profess ..read more

If you've ever battled to reconcile conflicting feelings for a parent, you will relate to Laura Davis' searing memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars. This is the story of two strong and interesting women whose already volatile relationship is blown apart by memories of child sexual abuse. As anyone who has experienced this kind of abuse can attest, the telling of those events is traumatic. The rejection of the story we tell by those closest to us is not only re-traumatising, it creates a schism that can often never be healed. As she relates the twists and turns of her relationship w ..read more

What is the definition of "midlife" - and how do you know you're in it? This was a question posed by a lovely woman who was exploring joining the membership hub the other day. I told her that the commonly held wisdom was that midlife was 45-65, but that actually, in my opinion, midlife is more of a state of mind than an age bracket! It describes a bridge from one stage of life to another - like adolescence bridges childhood to adulthood. It can be confusing and tumultuous, exhilarating and full of promise by turns - just like adolescence! It even comes with hormonal upheavals. This s ..read more

The Masks we Wear Recently, I was shooting a large number of headshots in a medium sized company, so it wasn’t possible to expend the usual time and effort on each person - it was very much come in, snap snap, off you go. Not very comfortable for the people in front of the camera! I do insist even on these kinds of jobs on having enough time to talk to each person so they relax a little and I can see how their face and body moves and pose them for a flattering shot. On this occasion, I was photographing a lot of professional women. I was shocked and saddened by how lacking in confidence so man ..read more

As you read this newsletter I will be coming to the end of a week long practical intensive which is part of a course I am studying about coaching women to step into their power. There have been times over the past few months when I’ve seriously wondered what I think I’m doing, throwing myself into learning something new once again. After all, it isn’t as if I don’t have history - I studied with the Open University for my degree in my early forties. Then, at 48, I actually went back to a bricks and mortar university to study for a Master’s Degree. I never used that degree, sadly, so it ended up ..read more

I’ve always been a bit of an open book when it comes to sharing my thoughts and feelings. I’m sure that some people might have wished I’d kept some things to myself at times - TMI (too much information) being a thing! Indeed, there have been times when I’ve wondered myself whether I have been too indiscreet, or worried that I have overshared. Then I’ll get a message like this: “Unless you have gone through something you cannot say I understand.... you can only say I have an understanding of .... I have said this for many years re many situations so carry on being truthful and share it helps al ..read more

How are you? Fine? Ok - how are you really? I talk to a lot of women in their middle years and one thing that many of them say to me is that they feel tired. Not just tired through lack of sleep - though that is a topic in itself - but weary.  Very few of us get to this stage in our lives without worrying and striving and taking wrong turns and picking ourselves up again and again and again. We've seen governments come and go, catastrophic climate events, social campaigns. We've lived through a dizzying period of technological change and, more recently of course, through a global pan ..read more

Our Guest Blogger this week is The Midlife Food Guru, Sabrina Zief, who is sharing her 10 top tips for a healthy midlife. Find out more about Sabrina and the programmes she offers on her website: https://midlifefoodguru.com/  You can also listen to my conversation about eating well with Sabrina on the podcast. Hey, Superwoman, have you lost your mojo? Do you get into a ‘mood’ like the flip of a switch? Is insomnia your new best friend, and weight gain is your enemy?  Menopause can be a time of hormonal upheaval, which brings physical, emotional and psychological changes. Fo ..read more