Midlife Butterfly: Stop Self-Abandoning & People Pleasing by Healing Your Nervous System — Feel Alive Again

Kena Siu
  • 5.0 (15)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women who are tired of abandoning themselves just to hold everything else together. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide, this podcast explores emotional truth, nervous system healing, self-remembrance, feminine aliveness, and what it really means to come home to yourself after years of over-functioning, caregiving, people-pleasing, and survival mode. If you've been feeling emotionally exhausted, disconnected from yourself, overwhelmed by everyone else's needs, or unsure who you are beyond your roles and responsibilities — you are not alone. Each episode meets you where you are — in the exhaustion, the confusion, the quiet longing — and gently guides you back to yourself through nervous system awareness, embodied reflection, and deeply honest conversation. This is a space for women navigating midlife awakening, emotional burnout, identity shifts, relationship patterns, self-worth, feminine healing, and the quiet longing to finally feel alive again. You don't need to become someone new. You just need to remember who you truly are. 🔗 Connect with Kena:🦋 Instagram: @midlifebutterfly🌐 Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Much love 💜, Kena Siu

  1. 1d ago

    #75 - How Much Longer Are You Willing to Wait? Breaking the Comfort Zone in Midlife

    Is there a friend you keep meaning to call — and you haven't? Is there a life you keep meaning to start living — and you're still waiting? This is one of those episodes that came from real life, raw and unfiltered. This week, Kena lost a dear friend. And in the weight of that loss, she returned to the question that changed her life after losing her father — and she's asking it now, directly to you. 🦋 You'll Discover: Why the comfort zone isn't a safe place — it's just a familiar one. And the difference between the two might be costing you the life you actually want to experience.How self-grief can become the most powerful doorway back to yourself, and why slowing down in those moments brings clarity and wisdom.The one question that changed everything for Kena — and that has the power to shift how you move through your life from this moment forward."💜 Coming Home Question:  If you knew — really knew — that time was not guaranteed, what would you stop waiting for?" 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    23 min

  2. Jun 3

    #74 - From Functioning to Feeling: How to Reclaim Your Aliveness in Midlife

    Are you moving through your days efficiently — but feeling strangely empty inside? What if the life you've built looks fine from the outside, but something underneath has gone quiet? This episode is an invitation to stop, feel, and ask the question most women never give themselves permission to ask: what does it actually mean to feel alive — not just functional, not just grateful, but genuinely alive? 🦋 You'll Discover: Why feeling "fine" is not the same as feeling alive — and why so many high-achieving women have been living in the space between the two without a name for what's missingWhat aliveness actually feels like in the body: presence, sensation, desire, and unperformed joy — and why you've probably felt glimpses of it and dismissed themWhat has been quietly suffocating your aliveness over time, and the surprisingly gentle way back to yourself✨ Coming Home Question: When did you last feel genuinely, unmistakably alive — and what was it about that moment that made you feel that way? 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    32 min

  3. May 27

    #73 - Reconnecting with Pleasure in Midlife: Intimacy, Shame & the Path to Feminine Aliveness with Trina Read

    Have you ever felt completely disconnected from your own body — like pleasure was something that happened to other women, not you? What if the shame you carry around sex isn't a personal failing — but a pattern you were never meant to carry in the first place? In this deeply honest conversation, I sit down with Dr. Trina Read — a women's sexual health expert with over 25 years of experience — to explore why so many high-achieving midlife women feel cut off from their own pleasure, how shame quietly runs the show in our intimate lives, and what it actually takes to come home to our bodies again. This episode is a permission slip to stop self-abandoning in the one place we most need to feel alive. 🦋 You'll Discover: Why so many high-achieving women feel disconnected from their own pleasure — and the surprising truth about where that disconnection actually startsHow shame silently shapes your sexual experiences and what it takes to break the cycle so you can finally stop abandoning yourself in intimacyThe small, embodied shifts that can completely transform how you experience your body — whether you're in a long-term relationship, navigating midlife, or rediscovering yourself on your own ✨ Where to Find Trina: Website: TrinaRead.comThe Taboo Show web page: www.trinaread.com/596436bd-6146-4371-a1b0-e85707400a54Product page with OMGYES: www.trinaread.com/productsSubstack: substack.com/@drtrinareadYouTube: www.youtube.com/@DrTrinaRead  🦋 Coming Home Question: Where in your body have you been holding back — and what would it feel like to finally give yourself permission to be fully present there? 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    1h 3m

  4. May 19

    #72 - The Slow Fade: How People-Pleasing Steals Your Identity

    You didn't lose yourself all at once. It happened one small yes at a time. In this episode, we trace it back — to the exact moment the slow fade begins, and why most women can't pinpoint when they stopped being themselves. People-pleasing isn't a bad habit or a character flaw. It's a survival response your nervous system learned a long time ago to keep you safe, loved, and accepted. And that's exactly what makes it so hard to stop. Today I'm walking you through the four layers of the slow fade — the edited self, the shrinking, the performance, and the forgetting — so you can finally name what's been quietly happening inside you, maybe for decades. We also go into what it actually costs you. Your voice. Your desires. Your self-trust. Your connection to yourself. And then, the part that matters most: what it actually takes to come home to yourself. Not a reinvention. Not a breakdown. Something quieter and more powerful — it starts with one small, honest moment of noticing. If you've ever felt like a stranger in your own life, this episode is for you. ✨ Key Topics Covered Why people-pleasing is a nervous system survival strategy, not a weaknessThe four layers of the slow fade: edited self, shrinking, performance, and forgettingHow thousands of small self-betrayals build a life that fits everyone elseThe real cost of people-pleasing: erased voice, lost desires, broken self-trustWhy midlife is often the first moment life gets quiet enough to noticeHow to begin restoring your inner signal — without a dramatic reinventionWhy guilt during change means your nervous system is recalibrating, not that you did something wrong 🦋 Listener Takeaways People-pleasing lives in the body, not the mind — you can't think your way out of a pattern that lives in your nervous systemThe slow fade happens through ordinary moments, not one big lossGuilt is not a sign you did something wrong — it's a sign you're recalibratingYou haven't lost who you are. She's been quietly waitingNoticing is where everything begins — not fixing, not reinventing. Just noticing Coming Home Reflection Question Where in your life have you been slowly fading? And what small, true part of yourself has been quietly waiting for you to come back? 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    26 min

  5. May 14

    #71 - Why High-Achieving Women Feel Exhausted from Self-Abandonment

    Many high-achieving women think they’re exhausted because they’re doing too much. But beneath the over-functioning, caregiving, people-pleasing, and constant responsibility, there’s often something deeper happening: self-abandonment. In this episode of Midlife Butterfly, Kena Siu explores the emotional exhaustion that builds when women spend years disconnecting from their own needs, emotions, desires, and truth while staying endlessly available for everyone else. This conversation dives into the hidden cost of being “the strong one,” how achievement and productivity can become emotional survival strategies, and why midlife often awakens the parts of ourselves we’ve ignored for decades. You’ll hear reflections on nervous system overwhelm, identity loss, emotional numbness, resentment, and the quiet longing many women carry to finally feel alive again. Kena also shares how embodiment, self-awareness, and emotional honesty can help women reconnect with themselves gently and safely — without needing to become someone new. If you’ve been feeling emotionally drained, disconnected from yourself, or unsure who you are beyond your roles and responsibilities, this episode offers a grounded and compassionate invitation back to yourself. Because exhaustion is not always a sign that you’re failing. Sometimes it’s the soul asking you to stop leaving yourself behind. 🎙️ Key Topics Covered Emotional exhaustion and self-abandonmentPeople-pleasing and over-functioning patternsAchievement as emotional survivalNervous system overload in midlife womenIdentity loss beneath caregiving rolesMidlife awakening and self-remembranceEmbodiment and reconnecting with the selfLearning to stop overriding your needs ✨ Listener Takeaways Self-abandonment can look highly capable and successfulEmotional exhaustion often carries deeper truth and unmet needsMidlife can become a powerful season of identity reclamationYour nervous system responds to how often you override yourselfComing home to yourself happens through small moments of honesty and awareness 🦋 Coming Home Reflection Question Where in your life have you become emotionally absent from yourself? 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    27 min

  6. May 5

    #70 - The Real Reason You Reach for Food — And What Your Body Knows

    Have you ever finished eating something and immediately felt worse — not from the food, but from the story you told yourself about it? What if there was nothing wrong with you — and the only thing missing was understanding how your brain and body actually work? In this conversation, Kena sits down with Lizzie Merritt — certified life coach, bestselling author, and former science teacher — to unpack what's really happening when we eat emotionally in midlife. Lizzie how learning the science of her nervous system changed everything.    🦋 You'll Discover: Why emotional eating isn't a weakness or a lack of willpower — it's your nervous system trying to keep you safe, and once you understand that, the shame starts to lose its grip.What's the real reason you reach for the cookie at 9:30 at night — and why it has almost nothing to do with food and everything to do with what you've been quietly saying no to all day.A practical three-step framework to break the cycle — not through restriction or control, but through curiosity, self-compassion, and finally learning how to feel what's actually there.  Coming Home Question: The next time the house gets quiet and something inside you reaches for comfort — what if you paused, placed a hand on your heart, and asked: what am I actually hungry for right now? ✨ Where to Find Lizzie Website: www.confidentbody.coach The Confident Body Podcast: https://confidentbody.coach/podcast IG: @coachlizzie.merritt FB: www.facebook.com/coachlizzie.merritt Lizzie invites you to enjoy all the extra bonuses from her book LIGHT: The New Psychology of Weight Loss. Those bonuses can be found at https://confidentbody.coach/light 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    59 min

  7. Apr 28

    #69 - Fragmented, Exhausted & Disconnected: What Your Taboo Body Parts Are Telling You

    What if the disconnection you feel from your body isn't a problem to fix — but a doorway leading you back home to yourself?  This episode is for the woman who's been doing everything right and still feels like something's off. In Part 2 of A Doorway to Home, Kena goes deeper into why midlife isn't a crisis — it's your soul calling you back. We explore the invisible weight of the roles we carry, the cost of living in constant doing mode, and a revolutionary body-based practice — neuroepigenetic breathing — that rewires the nervous system and brings the fragmented parts of you back home. Honest, grounded, and deeply human.   🦋 You'll Discover: Why that quiet "something is off" feeling in midlife isn't a flaw — it's your body asking to come home.How so many high-achieving women stay exhausted despite doing everything right — and why doing more isn't the answer.What neuroepigenetic breathing actually does — and why it works with your taboo body parts.  ✨ Coming Home Question: Where in your body are you holding tension you've never given yourself permission to release — and what might become possible if you finally did? 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    29 min

  8. Apr 23

    #68 - The Three Places Your Body Armours For Protection & How to Heal

    What if the reason you can't seem to change isn't a lack of knowledge — but that the body hasn't been part of the conversation yet?  This is the episode for the woman who has done everything right — the courses, the therapy, the journaling — and still feels like something is missing. In Part 1 of A Doorway to Home, Kena introduces neuroepigenetic breathing and explores the three centers where women hold the most armor: the mind, the heart, and the pelvic floor. Honest, grounded, and deeply human — this is embodiment, not as a concept, but as a coming home.   🦋 You'll Discover: How your identity was built — and why you might feel disconnected even when you know so much. Why the heart closes to protect itself — and what it's quietly costing you in love, pleasure, and receiving.What the tension in your pelvic floor is holding — and why your body heals through feeling, not thinking.  💜 Coming Home Question: Where have you been keeping your heart closed to protect yourself? 💜 I created Coming HOME for the woman who has done everything right and still feels something is missing. It's free, it's private, and it might be the most important thing you listen to this year — sign up here! 🦋 Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women navigating emotional exhaustion, people pleasing, self-abandonment, nervous system healing, identity shifts, and midlife awakening. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide. Instagram: @midlifebutterfly Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Music: Back Home by Alex Productions and  Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

    25 min
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Midlife Butterfly is a podcast for high-achieving midlife women who are tired of abandoning themselves just to hold everything else together. Hosted by Kena Siu, Identity & Embodiment Guide, this podcast explores emotional truth, nervous system healing, self-remembrance, feminine aliveness, and what it really means to come home to yourself after years of over-functioning, caregiving, people-pleasing, and survival mode. If you've been feeling emotionally exhausted, disconnected from yourself, overwhelmed by everyone else's needs, or unsure who you are beyond your roles and responsibilities — you are not alone. Each episode meets you where you are — in the exhaustion, the confusion, the quiet longing — and gently guides you back to yourself through nervous system awareness, embodied reflection, and deeply honest conversation. This is a space for women navigating midlife awakening, emotional burnout, identity shifts, relationship patterns, self-worth, feminine healing, and the quiet longing to finally feel alive again. You don't need to become someone new. You just need to remember who you truly are. 🔗 Connect with Kena:🦋 Instagram: @midlifebutterfly🌐 Website: midlifebutterfly.ca Much love 💜, Kena Siu

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