A Grown Up's Gap Year

Monique van Tulder
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How to Runaway, Seek Joy, & other Handy Mid Life Hints.

  1. 3D AGO

    A Grown Up’s Gap Year, From “I Can’t” to “Of Course I Can": My Year of Choosing Yes

    Hello, for the first episode of season three, I'm going to replay one of our most downloaded, most messaged about episodes to ease you into the year and ask, what about me and what about right now? Season 2, episode 8: If you’ve ever looked around your life and thought, “Is this it?” while simultaneously being needed by everyone, this one’s for you. In the final episode of Season Two, author and nutritionist Monique van Tulder looks at what actually happened when she stopped just writing about A Grown Up’s Gap Year and lived it – running away, coming home, writing the book, and then spending a year saying “yes” to things that made her mildly nauseous but curious: TV couches, radio interviews, speaking gigs and all. Monique shares: how one “Mum got mad and took off” moment became a book, a podcast and a very public experiment in mid-life reinvigorationwhat readers and listeners have done with the ideas – from cruises and retreats to blunt conversations at home and long-service-leave experimentswhy the Sydney Morning Herald comments and Morning Show clips made her double down on solo women’s travel, money, and the mental loadwhat changed in her 25-plus-year marriage when she stopped being the default setting and both partners decided to partner with purposeYou’ll also hear how her new Your SPACE Prescription quiz (the “anti-guilt calculator”) and the 52 Ideas for Your Version of a Grown Up’s Gap Year list fit into all of this – simple tools to help you put yourself back in the picture, whether your escape is a solo night in a hotel or something more adventurous. No resolutions, no 75-day challenges, no pressure to be anyone else. Just one woman reporting back from the field so you can plot your own version, in a way that fits the life you have now. Additional Resources: Your SPACE Prescription - calculator Free Weekly Newsletter Dear Blokes Downloadable Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    37 min

  2. JAN 26

    Ask Why Not You: How Values Become Your North Star

    Hello and Happy New Year. During January, I'm replaying four of our most downloaded, most messaged about episodes. Think of them as a short series to ease you into the year and ask, what about me and what about right now? So we're going right back to the Foundations. Season 1, episode 5: Ever feel like you’re circling the same question - What now? Why not me? - without actually moving forward? This episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year takes you straight to the compass you’ve been missing: your values. In less than half an hour, you’ll learn how to uncover your 3–5 non-negotiables - the litmus test for every yes, no, and “not for me.” Monique van Tulder guides you through her five-step “Values Lab,” weaving in real-life stories, Joan Didion wisdom, and practical micro-actions you can try this week. Episode Resources & Links: Download: Grown Up's Guidebooks - Core Values List Additional Resources: Your SPACE PrescriptionFree Weekly NewsletterDear Blokes DownloadableSetting Boundaries That Stick - checklist52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    21 min

  3. JAN 19

    Emptier Nest And Everyday Resets That Work: with Prue Francis

    Hello and Happy New Year. During January, I'm replaying four of our most downloaded, most messaged about episodes. Think of them as a short series to ease you into the year and ask, what about me and what about right now? So we're going right back to the Foundations. Season 1, episode 6: If your house is quieter and you aren't quite sure what comes next - this episode is for you. Mid-life reinvigoration, an emptier nest, and the everyday resets that stick. Monique talks with Prue Francis about naming the wobble, choosing small changes that actually work, and rebuilding connection - fun and supportive. Practical, candid, immediately usable. Why not now? Why not you? Plus, an invitation, to join us at 'A Grown Up’s Gap Year – THE CLUB' (Facebook) to keep the conversation going — plan escapes (big or small), share what’s working, meet some new friends - all to 'put yourself back in the picture'. Prue highly recommends this article: Why growth requires saying goodbye - Ozan Varol. ozanvarol.com/why-growth-requires-saying-goodbye/ Use this program to check in with better eating and nutrition habits: healthwithbec.com/ And if you would like to get in touch with Prue you will find her business details here: Agricultural Consultants. Experts in farm business strategy and growth. instagram.com/agrista.au/ Additional Resources: Your SPACE PrescriptionFree Weekly NewsletterDear Blokes DownloadableSetting Boundaries That Stick - checklist52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    35 min

  4. JAN 12

    Why More Women Over 50 Are Travelling Solo: And Loving It

    Hello and Happy New Year. During January, I'm replaying four of our most downloaded, most messaged about episodes. Think of them as a short series to ease you into the year and ask, what about me and what about right now? So we're going right back to the Foundations. Season 1, episode 7: Somewhere between society decided women need permission slips to take a breath. If you need it (and of course we don't 'require permission' - our lives, we need look to only ourselves for how to live life fully) “But if a good nudge is required — take this episode as your signed slip." Episode Resources & Links: glamgirlsluxtravels.cominstagram.com/pineapplevillaintrepidtravel.com/au/womens-expeditions Additional Resources: Your SPACE PrescriptionFree Weekly NewsletterDear Blokes DownloadableSetting Boundaries That Stick - checklist52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    34 min

  5. JAN 5

    Treat Yourself Like a Project: How Small Actions Lead to Big Clarity

    Hello and Happy New Year. During January, I'm replaying four of our most downloaded, most messaged about episodes. Think of them as a short series to ease you into the year and ask, what about me and what about right now? So we're going right back to the Foundations. Season 1, episode 1: What happens when you hit your limit - and run away instead of continuing to ‘run on empty?’ In this first episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, host Monique van Tulder (author of #1 amazon bestselling A Grown Up’s Gap Year - The Guidebook for mid Lifestyle. Wellbeing. Adventure) shares the real story behind her eight-month escape, why she left, what she discovered, and what it means to hit pause without burning your whole life down. This is the beginning of a bold, heartfelt season - and a cultural reset for women everywhere who’ve been juggling it all. 👂 Plus: A book reading, a listener prompt, and a surprising note for ‘The Blokes’ Free Resources Additional Resources Your SPACE PrescriptionFree Weekly NewsletterDear Blokes DownloadableSetting Boundaries That Stick - checklist52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    26 min

  6. 12/29/2025

    A Grown Up’s Gap Year, From “I Can’t” to “Of Course I Can": My Year of Choosing Yes

    If you’ve ever looked around your life and thought, “Is this it?” while simultaneously being needed by everyone, this one’s for you. In the final episode of Season Two, author and nutritionist Monique van Tulder looks at what actually happened when she stopped just writing about A Grown Up’s Gap Year and lived it – running away, coming home, writing the book, and then spending a year saying “yes” to things that made her mildly nauseous but curious: TV couches, radio interviews, speaking gigs and all. Monique shares: how one “Mum got mad and took off” moment became a book, a podcast and a very public experiment in mid-life reinvigorationwhat readers and listeners have done with the ideas – from cruises and retreats to blunt conversations at home and long-service-leave experimentswhy the Sydney Morning Herald comments and Morning Show clips made her double down on solo women’s travel, money, and the mental loadwhat changed in her 25-plus-year marriage when she stopped being the default setting and both partners decided to partner with purposeYou’ll also hear how her new Your SPACE Prescription quiz (the “anti-guilt calculator”) and the 52 Ideas for Your Version of a Grown Up’s Gap Year list fit into all of this – simple tools to help you put yourself back in the picture, whether your escape is a solo night in a hotel or something more adventurous. No resolutions, no 75-day challenges, no pressure to be anyone else. Just one woman reporting back from the field so you can plot your own version, in a way that fits the life you have now. Episode Resources & Links: Your SPACE Prescription - calculatorFree Weekly NewsletterDear Blokes DownloadableSetting Boundaries That Stick - checklist52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    38 min

  7. 12/22/2025

    Ditch the “New Year, New You” Resolutions: Pick Up a Notebook, Not a 75-Day Challenge

    If “New Year, New You” makes you want to throw your phone in the sea, this one’s for you. In this episode, Monique van Tulder – author of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – calls time on the standard New Year resolutions and 75-day “transformation” challenges. Instead of treating yourself like a renovation project, she invites you to treat yourself as the project and turn January into your own creative test kitchen. Monique shares how notebooks, scribbles, walks, paint, and “making something with no outcome attached” have pulled her through turbulent seasons – and why a cheap notebook can be more powerful than any 12-week program. She nods to Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way (Morning Pages and Artist Dates) and to research showing that everyday creativity is linked to better mood, more energy and clearer thinking. If you’re a midlife woman who’s done everything for everyone and is tired of being told to fix herself every January, this episode hands you a different brief. Perfect to listen to while you’re wrapping presents, hiding in the car with a hot coffee, or quietly planning what your January notebook might hold – with zero before-and-after photos required. Episode Resources & Links: Your SPACE PrescriptionFree Weekly NewsletterDear Blokes DownloadableSetting Boundaries That Stick - checklistJulia Cameron: Living The Artist's WayWild With Sarah Wilson Podcast with Julia CameronRemarkable People Podcast with Guy Kawasaki and Julia Cameron 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    11 min

  8. 12/15/2025

    Mid-Life Maintenance Mojo: Just Wear the Bikini & Other Handy Hints

    In this episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, Monique unpacks mid-life maintenance mojo – from mammograms and strength training to swimsuits, perimenopause, and why you should just wear the bikini (if you want to). You’ll hear:  Why mid-life maintenance is not vanity – it’s logistics for the adventures you still want (Italian hills, ocean swims, last-minute trips)The real talk on swimmers, bodies and confidence: kaftans you don’t actually like, “sensible” shorts, and finding swimmers that let you get in the water, not hide beside itA quick, evidence-based nod to Dr Stacy Sims and why women in perimenopause and menopause are not “small men” when it comes to training, hormones and recoveryThe 60% rule: how aiming for “good enough” on decorations, grazing platters and emails can free up the energy you actually need for your own health and happinessA listener story about booking five nights at a wellness retreat – just for her – and why maintenance is part of your adventure strategy, not an optional extraPlus, Monique shares three simple Weekly Actions to get your mid-life maintenance mojo going: Book one appointment for Future You (hair, health check, mammogram, GP, physio, strength coach).Audit your swimmers and one outfit – anything that makes you wince or tug, goes.Choose one area this festive season to apply the 60% rule, and use the saved time for a walk, a swim or a lie-down with a book. Episode Resources & Links: Your SPACE PrescriptionFree Weekly NewsletterDear Blokes DownloadableSetting Boundaries That Stick - checklistMID Podcast with Dr Stacy Sims 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

    17 min
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About

How to Runaway, Seek Joy, & other Handy Mid Life Hints.

Information

  • Creator
    Monique van Tulder
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 A Grown Up's Gap Year
  • Show Website
    A Grown Up's Gap Year

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