Message in the Middle: Midlife Women, Reinvention & Personal Growth

Marianne DeMello-Smith
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Message in the Middle is a podcast for women navigating the challenges, transitions, and reinventions that often come with midlife.  Hosted by Marianne DeMello-Smith, each episode explores the messy, meaningful moments that shape who we become. Through honest conversations with experts, authors, thought leaders, and everyday women, you'll discover practical insights, inspiring stories, and new perspectives on what it means to grow through life's most difficult seasons. Whether you're facing a career change, caregiving responsibilities, health challenges, grief, relationship shifts, menopause, identity changes, or simply wondering what's next, Message in the Middle offers encouragement, wisdom, and real-world strategies to help you move forward with greater confidence and purpose. Together, we'll explore resilience, personal growth, self-discovery, emotional well-being, and the power of turning life's messes into meaningful midlife messages. Because midlife isn't the end of your story. It may just be the beginning of your next chapter.

  1. 3d ago

    How to Leave Corporate Without Blowing Up Your Life

    For many women, leaving corporate life can feel like choosing between two bad options: keep pushing through or risk the financial security they’ve worked hard to build. But what if there’s a way to make a change thoughtfully, with a plan instead of a leap? In this episode of Message in the Middle, I’m joined by Shannon Baird, Corporate Exit Strategist and founder of The Clean Exit. After being laid off on Valentine’s Day at 46, following 11 years in corporate, Shannon became focused on a question so many women quietly ask: How do I leave without blowing up my life? We talk about why burnout can be useful information rather than a personal failure, how to start calculating the number you need to feel financially prepared, and how to turn skills you already have into a simple service-based offer. Shannon also shares how to begin testing an idea and building income while you’re still employed, so you can make your next move with more clarity and less chaos. You don’t have to resign tomorrow or have your whole future figured out. If you’ve been wondering whether your current career still fits, this conversation offers practical questions and first steps to help you explore what comes next. Listen in, then follow Message in the Middle so you don’t miss future conversations about midlife reinvention, personal growth, and navigating the changes that shape our next chapters. Connect with Shannon:  https://shannonbaird.substack.com/ Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

    How to Leave Corporate Without Blowing Up Your Life

  2. Oct 24

    How the Patterns We Carry Shape Our Next Chapter

    What if the thing keeping us stuck isn’t our circumstances, and instead, it's the patterns we keep carrying into them? In midlife, we may find ourselves questioning old choices, stepping into new roles, or realizing that the life we worked so hard to build doesn’t quite feel right anymore. And even when our circumstances change, familiar patterns can follow us: looking for approval, second-guessing ourselves, over-functioning, or tying our worth to how much we can handle. My guest, Amy Sanders, is a best-selling author, master-certified life and business coach, and creator of The Unblocked Method. After rebuilding her life as a single mother and going on to build successful businesses, Amy realized that external success doesn’t automatically change the identity patterns underneath it. That insight became the foundation of her work helping women recognize the patterns shaping their decisions, relationships, confidence, and success. In this conversation, we explore what it means to be patterned rather than broken, why awareness alone may not be enough to create lasting change, and how we can begin building self-trust instead of looking outside ourselves for permission. We also talk about the difference between striving to prove our worth and making choices that feel genuinely aligned. If you’ve ever wondered why you keep falling into the same responses even after you’ve done the work, or if you’re ready to figure out who you are beyond the roles you’ve spent years filling, this conversation may give you a new way to look at yourself. Because sometimes the next chapter doesn’t begin with changing everything around you. It begins with seeing what you’ve been carrying, and deciding what no longer needs to come with you. Connect with Amy: Amy's website - https://amysanders.co/ Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

    How the Patterns We Carry Shape Our Next Chapter

  3. Oct 17

    How Well Do We Really Know Our Parents?

    We know our parents as Mom and Dad. We know the stories they’ve told us, the family history, the traditions, the big moments. But how well do we really know the people they were before they became our parents? In this episode of Message in the Middle, I’m talking with Neil Taylor, founder of Me and My Old Man, about the conversations we so often put off with our aging parents and the stories we may never get to hear if we wait too long. Neil’s own journey into this work began in 2021, when he lost his dad, Patrick, after a long struggle with dementia. Six days later, his son was born. In that space between losing his father and becoming a father, Neil found himself thinking about all the questions he still had for his dad and could no longer ask. That realization led him to create Me and My Old Man, a 12-week guided experience that helps adult children sit down with their parents and talk about the things that really matter. The conversations are recorded and turned into a life story audiobook the family can keep. Neil has now recorded more than 350 hours of life stories with families across six countries. We talk about why we often know our parents through the role they played in our lives, but may never take the time to know the whole person behind that role. We talk about the ordinary stories that can turn out to be the most meaningful, why we keep waiting for the “right” time to have these conversations, what dementia can teach us about not waiting, and what adult children often wish they had asked. And we go somewhere a little more personal too. I ask Neil what he would ask his own dad if he had one more hour. This conversation left me thinking about my own grandparents and parents, and about all the stories sitting inside the people we love that we may never think to ask about. Because sometimes the question isn’t whether we love our parents. It’s whether we’ve taken the time to really know them. Connect with Neil: WebsiteThe 107 questions (free resource) LinkedIn Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

    How Well Do We Really Know Our Parents?

  4. Oct 10

    Are You Grading Yourself by Your Children’s Lives?

    What if your child’s success has quietly become your success, and their struggles feel like your failures? For many mothers, that connection can be hard to see, especially after our children become adults. We know we can't control their choices, yet we still worry, advise, fix, compare, and sometimes lie awake at 2 a.m. wondering if we somehow got it wrong. That is exactly where today’s conversation with Gigi Baxter begins. Gigi spent thirty years quietly grading herself as a mother. When one of her three children was thriving, she gave herself an A. When one struggled, that grade dropped. Eventually, she realized she had confused motherhood with her own identity and was carrying emotional problems that were never hers to carry. That realization became her book, Your Children Are NOT Your Report Card: How to Love Your Adult Children Without Losing Yourself. In this episode, Gigi and I talk about the invisible report card so many mothers carry, grieving the imaginary versions of our children, and recognizing the difference between loving support and trying to fix or control their lives. We also talk about the "emotional suitcases" we carry for our adult children, the Parenting Olympics, Gigi's "Board Seat, Not CEO" approach, and her simple "Mute & Pause" practice for those moments when our instinct is to jump in. If you've ever wondered whether you're carrying something that belongs to your adult child, or if you've ever questioned where your identity ends and motherhood begins, this conversation is for you. Because loving our children deeply doesn't mean we have to carry their lives for them. Sometimes, putting down the report card is where we finally begin coming home to ourselves. Connect with Gigi:   WebsiteAmazon Book Page InstagramFacebookTwitter/X Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

    Are You Grading Yourself by Your Children’s Lives?

  5. Oct 3

    Rebuilding a Life You Didn’t Choose

    There are some life changes we choose. And then there are the ones that choose us. In January 2024, Jennifer White woke from a coma following brain tumor surgery and found herself facing a life she barely recognized. A retired registered nurse, Jennifer knew the healthcare system from one side of the bed. Suddenly, she was experiencing it from the other. She had to relearn how to walk, think and talk. Some memories returned slowly through writing. Others may never return. And while many of the changes were visible during her recovery, others remain hidden: depression, exhaustion, difficulty finding words and the emotional weight of rebuilding a life she never planned to have. But somewhere in that recovery, something unexpected happened. Jennifer began to reinvent herself. Writing became a way to reconnect with memories, discover new interests and make sense of who she was becoming. Today, she writes medical thrillers and children's books, drawing from both her experience as a nurse and her experience as a patient. In this episode of Message in the Middle, Jennifer and I talk about what it really means to rebuild your identity after life changes without your permission. We talk about grief, resilience, invisible struggles, the difference between surviving and becoming, and what happens when you finally stop trying to get back to the person you were. Because sometimes the goal isn't to get your old life back. Sometimes it's to discover what comes next. Connect with Jennifer:   https://www.jennywhite.cahttps://www.molsonjennyadventures.ca Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

    Rebuilding a Life You Didn’t Choose

  6. Sep 26

    When Life Is Lifing: How We Keep Going Anyway

    Sometimes life isn’t falling apart because of one big thing. It’s just… a lot. The news feels relentless. The world feels increasingly complicated. Family dynamics can be difficult. Aging parents bring a whole new set of responsibilities. Health concerns, work, relationships, and the everyday stuff of life keep piling on. And somehow, we’re still supposed to keep going. In this solo episode of Message in the Middle, Marianne talks about what it feels like when life is really, truly “lifing.” Not from a place of having all the answers, but from the middle of her own messy, complicated season of life. She reflects on the things we can’t control, the difference between what is ours to carry and what isn’t, and why sometimes the best thing we can do is stop trying to solve everything at once and focus on the next right thing. She also talks about something that has been grounding her lately: intentionally noticing the good. A good cup of coffee. A conversation with a friend. A hug. A laugh with her grandchildren. A quiet moment when the sun comes out after a rainy day. Because the hard things don’t disappear when we notice the good. But the good can keep the hard things from becoming the only things we see. If life has been lifing for you lately too, this episode is a reminder that you don’t have to figure everything out today. Sometimes keeping going looks like taking care of yourself, loving the people you love, letting go of what you can’t control, noticing the small moments that make you smile, and simply taking the next step. One day at a time. One small moment at a time. One deep breath at a time. Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

  7. Sep 19

    Can You Create a New Marriage Without Finding a New Spouse?

    What if your marriage doesn't need a new person? What if it needs two people willing to become new versions of themselves, intentionally choosing each other, over and over?   That's the question at the heart of my conversation with Kameran Alareqi, a Gottman Certified marriage coach, host of the Married and Connected podcast, and founder of the Recognizing Potential Coaching Program. Kameran doesn't talk about marriage from a textbook. She's lived through infidelity, infertility, divorce, and ultimately reconciliation with her husband. And what she discovered is that rebuilding a marriage isn't necessarily about going back to what you had. Sometimes it's about creating something neither of you has ever had before. In this conversation, we go much deeper than communication tips and marriage advice. We talk about identity, childhood patterns, pride, friendship, resentment, humility, and what it really takes to change the person you're bringing into a relationship. We also explore a question I think many people quietly wrestle with: When is fighting for your marriage an act of courage, and when does it become self-abandonment? Kameran shares what reconciliation actually required, how she learned to take responsibility for her own transformation, and what it can look like to fall in love with the same person again, not by recreating the old marriage, but by intentionally building a new one. If you've ever wondered whether people can really change, whether a disconnected marriage can become a connected one again, or whether it's possible to find your way back to the person sitting across the table, this conversation is for you. Because sometimes the question isn't, "Do I need a different marriage?" It's, "Am I willing to become the person who can build the marriage I want?" Connect with Kameran: IG YouTube  Skool Community Book- Connected To Me: The Blueprint Substack Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

    Can You Create a New Marriage Without Finding a New Spouse?

  8. Sep 12

    When Anxiety Shrinks Your Life: How to Take It Back

    Anxiety doesn't always arrive with racing thoughts or panic attacks. Sometimes it shows up as perfectionism. People pleasing. Constant overthinking. Staying busy so you never have to slow down long enough to notice how exhausted you've become. It quietly convinces us to stop taking chances, stop trusting ourselves, and settle for surviving instead of truly living. This week on Message in the Middle, Marianne sits down with registered psychotherapist, internationally certified EMDR therapist, expressive arts educator, and author Elke Scholz for an honest conversation about reclaiming your life from anxiety. Drawing from more than thirty years of clinical experience and her own personal journey with anxiety, Elke shares practical, compassionate tools that help people move from fear toward confidence without waiting until anxiety disappears. Together they explore: • The subtle signs of anxiety many people never recognize • Why workplace stress feels heavier than ever • How overthinking, perfectionism, and people pleasing often mask anxiety • Why listening to your body may be the first step toward healing • How creativity can unlock healing in ways words sometimes cannot • Daily practices that build resilience and emotional freedom • Why you don't need more time. You need more life inside the time you already have. If you've been waiting until you feel less anxious before living the life you really want, this conversation is your reminder that you don't have to wait. Connect with Elke: Website: www.elkescholz.comhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYf99EPFC3m01ft5ugIIC-ghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/elke-scholz-a2aa6b17/https://www.facebook.com/elke.scholz.71https://www.instagram.com/lovingyourlife1?igsh=M3hpbWNsb2R2Y29l Connect with Marianne: Website:  Message In The Middle with MarianneMessage In the Middle Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlistsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966Email:  Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne Subscribe to Message In the Middle: Apple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeLeave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content. Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

    When Anxiety Shrinks Your Life: How to Take It Back
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About

Message in the Middle is a podcast for women navigating the challenges, transitions, and reinventions that often come with midlife.  Hosted by Marianne DeMello-Smith, each episode explores the messy, meaningful moments that shape who we become. Through honest conversations with experts, authors, thought leaders, and everyday women, you'll discover practical insights, inspiring stories, and new perspectives on what it means to grow through life's most difficult seasons. Whether you're facing a career change, caregiving responsibilities, health challenges, grief, relationship shifts, menopause, identity changes, or simply wondering what's next, Message in the Middle offers encouragement, wisdom, and real-world strategies to help you move forward with greater confidence and purpose. Together, we'll explore resilience, personal growth, self-discovery, emotional well-being, and the power of turning life's messes into meaningful midlife messages. Because midlife isn't the end of your story. It may just be the beginning of your next chapter.

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