Midlife? No crisis!!

Katy and Katie

Two midlife mates navigating their 50s, no filters, and plenty of laughs. A funny, honest podcast about friendship, women, and surviving midlife with humour, nostalgia, and too much Prosecco. Expect real talk about relationships, teenage memories, and the chaos of life after 50. Get in touch with us at hellomidlife@icloud.com, and please consider supporting us so we can keep making it better and better - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537176/support  

  1. 1h ago

    Midlife: September - New Season, Same Old Shit?

    September has arrived, we're both 50, the kids are getting older, summer is disappearing… and apparently we're supposed to use this moment to completely reset our lives. But do we actually need a September Reset? In this episode, we're talking about why September feels like a fresh start, whether it's genuinely different from January, and why we might just prefer the idea of a little seasonal shift rather than reinventing ourselves every five minutes. We chat about: Turning 50 and why, actually, it might not be as depressing as we thoughtTeenagers, money and the shocking realisation that £25 doesn't buy a week's worth of food when you've spent it on WingstopWhy September feels like a natural time to sort your house, wardrobe, habits and life outThe joy of new stationery, new notebooks and that back-to-school feelingWhether we really need to call everything a “reset”Hobbies, decorating, gardening and the things we keep saying we're going to doSocial media outrage and why everyone seems to have an opinion these daysEd Sheeran, Sydney Sweeney and the latest internet pile-onsWhy sometimes the best thing you can do is simply… not commentGetting older, having more freedom and realising we're actually quite excited about this next decadeAnd, as always, there's plenty of completely unnecessary chat, questionable advice and at least one conversation we probably shouldn't have left in. Crisis Talks And don't forget to join us for Crisis Talks, our shorter episode where we take one of the week's conversations and try to work out what we're actually going to do about it. Because apparently we have a plan. We're just not entirely sure what it is yet. Listen, subscribe and come and join the Midlife? No Crisis! gang. Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

  2. 5d ago

    CRISIS TALKS: LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD? CONFIDENCE, CLOTHES & GETTING OLDER

    In this week’s Crisis Talks, we’re carrying on our conversation about confidence — but this time we’re getting into the complicated relationship between confidence, appearance, clothes and getting older. Does looking good really make you feel more confident? Why can one outfit make you feel fantastic one day and completely rubbish the next? And why, as women, are we still so obsessed with what we’re “allowed” to look like as we get older? We talk about: * Why what you wear can have a huge impact on how confident you feel * Why getting older can make confidence around appearance more complicated * The ridiculous idea that an older face is somehow a “worse” face * Wrinkles, grey hair and why we should be allowed to actually LOOK our age * The pressure on women to maintain a younger-looking appearance * Hollywood, social media and the unrealistic image of what women in their 40s, 50s and beyond are supposed to look like * Body changes as we get older — and learning to accept that your body isn't supposed to look like it did in your 30s * Why we need to stop trying to “fix” every change that happens to our bodies * The dreaded tummy, post-kids bodies and the pressure to train ourselves into a completely different shape * Why sometimes you just need to say “f**k it” and wear the bikini * Dressing for confidence at work * The outfits we reach for when we want to feel good * Why getting older might actually mean caring less about what everyone else thinks * Quality over quantity when it comes to clothes * Wearing the same outfit twice without having an existential crisis * Why we should experiment more with clothes as we get older * Barrel-leg trousers, skinny jeans and the eternal fashion struggle * And, most importantly… WHY ARE WE SO RUBBISH AT ACCEPTING COMPLIMENTS?! Our challenge this week is simple: Tell someone they look nice. And when someone tells YOU that you look nice? JUST SAY THANK YOU. No “Oh, it's only from Tesco.” No “I've had it for years.” No “God, I've put weight on.” No explaining why the compliment isn't valid. Just… THANK YOU. Because maybe giving compliments — and actually accepting them — is one of the easiest ways we can make each other feel a little more confident. And, of course, there’s plenty of nonsense along the way, including Saga cruises, The Golden Girls, Hollywood, Alton Towers, raincoats, ponchos and Katy preparing to celebrate her 50th birthday! Watch/listen now and let us know: What makes YOU feel confident? And are you any good at accepting a compliment? #MidlifeNoCrisis #CrisisTalk #Confidence #WomenOver40 #WomenOver50 #Turning50 #MidlifeWomen #Aging #Ageing #BodyConfidence #BodyImage #Menopause #Perimenopause #FashionOver40 #FashionOver50 Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

    CRISIS TALKS: LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD? CONFIDENCE, CLOTHES & GETTING OLDER

  3. Sep 21

    Midlife: 50, Fabulous & Faking It. Confidence, Women & Turning 50

    50, Fabulous & Faking It: What Actually Makes Us Confident? Katy is five hours away from turning 50 and, naturally, the countdown involves bad sleep, Prosecco, questionable sunglasses and a serious discussion about whether she is about to become a completely different person overnight. 😂 Meanwhile, Katie has been battling London, discovering that apparently everyone under 35 actually enjoys the chaos, mourning the fact that everyone owns her Zara coat and discovering the confidence boost that comes from finally having nice white teeth. But underneath all the birthday silliness, this week we get properly stuck into confidence. What actually makes someone confident? And is confidence something you're born with, or something you can practise? We talk about: ✨ Why women can sometimes let less capable but more confident men take the limelight at work. ✨ The impact of perimenopause and those moments when you lose your train of thought, second-guess yourself or simply don't feel like the person you used to be. ✨ Why looking confident doesn't necessarily mean you feel confident. ✨ The difference between confidence, cockiness and arrogance — and why women can sometimes feel they shouldn't be "too confident". ✨ How much confidence is actually a performance, particularly in the workplace and at networking events. ✨ Stepping outside your comfort zone and why doing the things that scare you can actually make you more confident. ✨ How confidence can be different depending on the situation — you can be hugely confident socially but terrified of walking into a room full of strangers. ✨ Whether confidence really does come with age — or whether we simply get better at caring less about what other people think. ✨ The idea of becoming your own best friend and being kinder to the voice inside your head. ✨ Why believing in your own abilities might just be a superpower. ✨ How travelling alone forced Katy to become more confident — including the terrifying experience of eating in a pub on her own! And, because this is Midlife? No Crisis!, we also find time for: 🛍️ A very early-morning car boot sale and the mysterious world of professional car booters. 🧥 Katie's increasingly controversial Zara coat. 🍂 People who make autumn their entire personality. 🎃 Boo baskets — and why they have absolutely no place in our houses. 📱 Influencers, fairy microphones and the never-ending stream of identical clothes hauls. 🎢 Katy's plans for her 50th birthday at Alton Towers. And then, right at the end, Katie gives Katy a very special 50th birthday present: a poem that manages to sum up their friendship, their adventures, their ridiculous laughter — and their complete inability to know what they're doing but somehow figure it out anyway. It's funny, it's honest, it's very us — and underneath all the chaos, it's a reminder that confidence isn't necessarily about never being scared. Sometimes it's simply doing the thing anyway. 🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to join us for Crisis Talk, where we're carrying on the confidence conversation and getting into the particularly complicated relationship between confidence, appearance and getting older. Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

    Midlife: 50, Fabulous & Faking It. Confidence, Women & Turning 50

  4. Sep 16

    Crisis Talks: It's Outside the Circle of Control!

    It's Wednesday. It's Crisis Talks. And we're back to normal and very much NOT taking Ivan Rose's advice about being calm, rational and living in the moment. 😂 After our conversation with Ivan about midlife, anxiety and emotional regulation, we put some of his advice to the test particularly the idea of focusing on what we can actually control. Which is easier said than done when your adult children are living on the other side of the world... Katie's daughter has just headed off to Japan, leaving her feeling a little bit emotional (and slightly lost in a very big house), while her son is busy working, saving money... and spending it again. We also catch up on: • Katie's new varifocal glasses and whether she's going to throw up wearing them. • Dave's new teeth and the imminent whitening operation. • Our ongoing debate about emergency liposuction. • Katy's 50th birthday celebrations and a very good night out. • The house purchase, renovation plans and Katy's growing obsession with 1806, lead paint and horsehair plaster. • Katie's pension and the eternal question: retire early or keep working? • Why work is annoying. (Obviously.) • Our one-year podcast anniversary and our complete lack of plans to celebrate it. • And why, despite everything, we're trying to be a bit more Buddha and live in the moment. Plus, we revisit some of Ivan's best advice from this week's main episode — including the reminder that our thoughts aren't facts, we can't control everything, and sometimes we just need to stop taking ourselves quite so seriously. Basically, it's a midlife catch-up with a side order of existential crisis. Come and have a chat with us. ❤️ Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

    Crisis Talks: It's Outside the Circle of Control!

  5. Sep 14

    Midlife: Where Did I Go? Losing Yourself & Finding Yourself Again in Midlife

    What if the problem isn't that you've lost yourself in midlife but that you've got stuck in a few unhelpful loops? This week we're joined by therapist, author and international speaker Ivan Rose, whose work focuses on helping women navigate the psychological and emotional challenges of midlife. We talk about something we've discussed a LOT on Midlife No Crisis: confidence. Why do so many capable women seem to lose their confidence as they get older? Is confidence something we're born with, or something we build? And why are we so much kinder to everyone else than we are to ourselves? Ivan explains his approach to what he calls the three key areas of mental wellbeing: managing our inner dialogue, building a better relationship with ourselves and dealing with things from the past that may still be affecting us. We also get into emotional regulation, anxiety, overthinking and that particularly midlife habit of catastrophising about things that haven't even happened yet. And then there's the big one: control. Ivan shares a simple exercise for separating the things that are within our control from the things that aren't - something that becomes particularly challenging when you're worrying about adult children who have flown the nest (or flown to the other side of the world!). Plus, Ivan gives us some practical techniques for anxiety, including a surprisingly simple visualisation exercise, and three things he thinks every perimenopausal and menopausal woman should remember: • Work with facts and evidence rather than guessing, predicting or assuming. • Stay in the moment. • Let go of the things you can't control. And perhaps our favourite takeaway? Don't take yourself too seriously. Give yourself some slack. Be kind to yourself. Because menopause might explain some of the changes we're experiencing — but it doesn't get to decide who we become. Find out more about Ivan and his work at ivanrose.co.uk and on Instagram @ivanrosementalwellbeing. As always, this is a conversation, not medical advice. If you're struggling with your mental or physical health, speak to an appropriate healthcare professional. Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

    Midlife: Where Did I Go? Losing Yourself & Finding Yourself Again in Midlife

  6. Sep 9

    Crisis Talks: The Things We Actually Love About Summer ☀️

    After spending Monday’s episode putting pretty much everything into Room 101, this week’s Crisis Talks is our Reverse Room 101 a celebration of the things we absolutely LOVE about summer. Because despite the flies, spiders, wasps, sweating, noisy neighbours and general British inability to cope with warm weather… there are some things about summer that we're really not ready to give up. We're talking: 🍺 Cold pints & Aperol Spritzes — plus Katy's new summer discovery, the Hugo Spritz. 🥪 Picky bits tea outside — the ultimate summer meal, preferably involving good bread, Serrano ham, olives, avocado, tomatoes, goat's cheese and enough M&S cocktail sausages to feed a small army. 🧥 Not needing a coat — the glorious freedom of walking out of the house without having to consider the weather, layers or whether your outfit is going to survive the day. 🦶 Having your feet out — flip-flops, bare feet and absolutely no socks. Katie is VERY passionate about this one. ☀️ Washing drying outside — the smell, the speed, the fact that it doesn't have to live on radiators and the sheer satisfaction of getting six loads done in a day. 🎪 Festivals — the freedom, the music, the atmosphere and why summer festivals are just better. 😊 Cheerful people — because, generally, people really do seem happier when the sun is shining. We also have a little chat about Katie's festival-going daughter, Katy's Barcelona drinking habits, the joys of outdoor living and why September already feels like it's trying to steal summer from us. And, naturally, we manage to turn a wholesome conversation about positivity into a debate about “picky bits”, the mysterious “Burr Months”, and whether anyone actually wants to embrace autumn yet. Spoiler: we're not ready. 💬 Get involved! We're looking for your Reverse Room 101s as well as your normal Room 101 nominations. Tell us: ❤️ What makes you happy? 😡 What's getting your goat? ☀️ What are you going to miss about summer? 🍂 What are you absolutely NOT ready for? Send them to hellomidlife@icloud.com or message us directly on social media. And next week we're joined by Ivan Rose, therapist, speaker and creator of the Midlife Reset, for a very special conversation about midlife, change and resetting your life. Midlife No Crisis - we're back, and we're trying to be positive. Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

    Crisis Talks: The Things We Actually Love About Summer ☀️

  7. Sep 7

    Midlife: We're back … and Everything’s Getting Our Goat! 🐐

    After three weeks away, Katy and Katie return for Season 4 and their second year -  and despite having promised themselves they’d be more professional this year, it takes approximately 30 seconds for things to descend into chaos. We’ve got new branding, new colours, a new logo… and apparently a new Northern pronunciation of AI.  The girls catch up on everything that’s happened over the summer, including GCSE results day, Barcelona, festivals, house moves, 23 years of marriage, Brighton, questionable fashion choices and the increasingly urgent need for Katie to get some new glasses. There’s also a worrying discussion about sharks, snorkelling and whether being “too old and chewy” makes you less appealing to a shark. We’re not sure that’s how it works. And then it’s time for a Summer Room 101, featuring: 🪰 Flies 🕷️ Massive spiders 🐝 Wasps 🚆 Broken trains and broken air conditioning 🥵 Sweating 👃 BO 🔊 Noise 🦆 Noisy ducks 🔥 People who insist on having barbecues when the country is basically a tinderbox 🎃 Halloween appearing before September has even properly started 🍂 The dreaded “Burr Months” …and pretty much anything else that gets on our goats. We also hear about Katie’s 23rd wedding anniversary celebrations, the joys of Leeds Festival, Katy’s love affair with Barcelona and her plans for a Gaudí-inspired garden, plus the ongoing saga of when the bloody house move is actually going to happen. Basically, we’ve been gone for three weeks and absolutely nothing has changed. Except the branding. And possibly the amount of grey hair. 💬 We want your Room 101s! We’re bringing Room 101 back as a regular feature but we want your nominations. What is getting your goat at the moment? It can be big, small, ridiculous, irrational or something that genuinely makes you want to scream. Send us your Room 101 and you could hear it discussed on a future episode! And don’t forget to join us on Wednesday for Crisis Talks, where we’ll be doing the complete opposite of Room 101 and celebrating the good stuff from the summer. Because apparently we’re capable of positivity too. Midlife No Crisis YEAR 2. We’re back, baby. ❤️ Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

    Midlife: We're back … and Everything’s Getting Our Goat! 🐐

  8. Aug 10

    Midlife: Turning 50, Climbing Ben Nevis & Our Summer Room 101

    Katie has officially joined the 50 club... by climbing Ben Nevis in sideways rain, hailstones and cloud. In our final Summer Special before we're back in September, we catch up on birthday adventures, surprise poems, house-moving frustrations, Egypt plans, Kendal Calling, festival fashion, and our latest Summer Room 101 entries. From blisters and watering plants to suncream, estate agents and menus asking you to "choose your protein"... nothing is safe. Plus Katie reads a poem inspired by one of Britain's worst train journeys. This episode is basically two friends catching up after a busy summer—and we suspect you'll recognise yourself in at least one of the moans. We chat about: Katie climbing Ben Nevis on her 50th birthdayWhy turning fifty feels so strangeFriendship spanning over 35 yearsThe birthday poem that nearly made Katie cryHouse move updates (and conveyancing frustrations)Why we swapped Dubai for EgyptKendal Calling highlightsFestival fashion then vs nowSummer Room 101CrossCountry trainsWhat's coming next for Midlife? No Crisis!Turning 50, women over 50, Ben Nevis, friendship podcast, midlife women, menopause podcast, Kendal Calling, Room 101, house move stress, conveyancing delays, Egypt holiday, festival fashion, podcasts for women, female friendship, UK podcasts, funny podcasts, life after 50 Get a message straight to the show! Thanks for listening - don't forget to follow and share! Support the show Listen if you want a laugh and a comforting reminder that friendships don’t have to be perfect — they just have to be real.

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About

Two midlife mates navigating their 50s, no filters, and plenty of laughs. A funny, honest podcast about friendship, women, and surviving midlife with humour, nostalgia, and too much Prosecco. Expect real talk about relationships, teenage memories, and the chaos of life after 50. Get in touch with us at hellomidlife@icloud.com, and please consider supporting us so we can keep making it better and better - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2537176/support  

Information

  • Creator
    Katy and Katie
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    75
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Midlife? No crisis!!
  • Show Website
    Midlife? No crisis!!

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