School of Midlife

Laurie Reynoldson
  • 4.9 (42)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

This is the podcast for high-achieving women in midlife who want to make midlife their best life.   Women who have worked their entire lives, whether that’s in a traditional career or as the CEO of their household, or for many women, both. And they look around at their life in midlife, and think “I’ve worked my ass off for this?”  They have everything they always thought they ever wanted, but for some reason, it feels like something is missing. This is the podcast for midlife women who are experiencing all sorts of physical changes in their bodies, while navigating changes in every other part of their lives, too: friendships, family life, work life. This is the podcast for midlife women who find themselves wide-awake at 2.00am, asking themselves big questions like “what do I want?” “is it too late for me?”, and “what’s my legacy beyond my family and my work?” Each week, we’re answering these questions and more at the School of Midlife. When it comes to midlife, there are a lot of people talking about menopause and having a midlife crisis. This isn’t one of those podcasts. While we may occasionally talk about the menopausal transition, but that’s not our focus. Because we believe that midlife is so much more than menopause. And it’s certainly not a crisis.At the School of Midlife, we’re looking to make midlife our best life.

  1. Sep 15

    191. "Must Be Nice": What Women Actually Mean When They Say That

    Why "must be nice" says more about the person saying it than it does about you — and what it actually takes to build the life other people call lucky. Someone found out Laurie is going to France and said, "Must be nice." A week later, a different woman heard the exact same news and said, "Oh my God, that sounds amazing." Same information. Two totally different responses. In this episode, Laurie digs into that gap — why some women respond to another woman's choices with inspiration, and why others respond by building an airtight case for why it could never work for them. Along the way: the limiting beliefs that keep women small, the wildly different way men and women give themselves permission to want things (hello, husband's golf trip), and the real, unglamorous, five-years-in-the-making story of how this France trip actually happened. Spoiler: it wasn't luck. By the end, Laurie leaves you with one question to sit with — the next time you catch yourself building a case for why something can't happen for you, is it actually impossible? Or have you just not given yourself permission to want it yet? What we cover: The "must be nice" comment at a summer party — and the smirk that came with itThe dental hygienist who heard the exact same news and said, "Oh my God, that sounds amazing"Two types of women: the ones who see possibility, and the ones who shut an idea down before it ever gets the chance to growWhy "no time, no money, wrong season of life, too selfish, too late" is a script — not the truthThe limiting-beliefs idea Laurie can't shake: the more you argue for your limitations, the more you get to keep themWhy women weren't born into this pattern — we were trained into itThe husband's golf trip: how he announces it, doesn't ask permission, and never feels guilty about the kids' soccer cleatsHow women do it differently — checking the schedule, clearing it with a spouse, then still drowning in guilt over the moneyWhy "it's different if you're a man" isn't just a feeling — it's a pattern Laurie sees in her coaching practice every single dayThe truth about the France trip: five-plus years of researching schools, watching the timing fall apart, and choosing it again anywayWhat actually got in the way, year after year — Mike's parents' health, his father's passing, a move, a remodelWhy this trip isn't happening because the timing is perfect (it's not) — it's happening because Laurie decidedThe first time Laurie landed in France and realized it was a place she'd been homesick for her whole lifeWhy midlife is a dress rehearsal for your third act — and why you shouldn't wait for retirement to test-drive the life you wantWhat Laurie is actually doing on this trip: a month of language school, hosting the Paris retreat, then Frankfurt for a client workshopThe real test: does the romanticized "live part of the year in France" fantasy hold up in practice, or just in theoryThe challenge Laurie leaves you with: the next time you catch yourself building a case for why something can't happen for you, ask if it's actually impossible — or if you just haven't given yourself permission to want it yetQuotable moments "Two women, same information. One sees possibility, one shuts it down before it ever even gets a chance to be real.""The more you argue for your limitations, the more you get to keep them.""Whatever you believe is possible for yourself is actually what becomes possible.""He doesn't ask for permission. He just says, 'It's something we're gonna do.'""She isn't giving herself permission to want something different. She's letting her limiting beliefs keep her stuck.""Nothing about this trip is luck or circumstance. It's conscious. It's been a repeated choice to continue building towards it.""Is it actually impossible, or is it just something you haven't given yourself permission to want yet?"Resources + links mentioned JOIN MY MAILING LISTCONNECT WITH LAURIE📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

  2. Sep 8

    190. One-on-One, Retreat, or Mastermind: Which Kind of Support Do You Actually Need? | Back to School - Ep. 5

    One-to-one coaching, BEST LIFE Retreats, and the BEST LIFE Mastermind — what each one actually is, who it's for, and the honest story of why one of them just got rescheduled. It's episode five in the Back to School of Midlife series, and Laurie is calling this one registration day. You've sat through a month of lectures — the coaching philosophy, the BEST LIFE framework, Learn/Earn/Yearn, the Four C's — and now it's time to actually look at the course catalog and figure out what you're signing up for. There are three ways to work with Laurie right now: one-to-one coaching, the BEST LIFE Retreats, and the BEST LIFE Mastermind. In this episode she breaks down exactly what each one is, who it's actually built for, and how to tell which one is right for you (hint: it's not a spreadsheet decision). And she doesn't dodge the elephant in the room — she also tells you exactly why the Mastermind, originally slated to launch in September, has a "rescheduled" sign taped to the door right now, and what changed. This is the most practical, least tactical episode of the series so far — less framework, more "here's literally how you'd work with me if you decided today." What we cover: Why Laurie is calling this episode "registration day" — and finally handing you the actual course catalog for working with herThe three ways to work with Laurie right now: one-to-one coaching, BEST LIFE Retreats, and the BEST LIFE MastermindWhy so many high-achieving women instinctively reach for 1:1 coaching first — and the fear (not the logic) that's usually driving itWho 1:1 coaching is actually built for: a woman who already knows the decision and needs support implementing it, on her own timelineWhy group coaching is Laurie's personal favorite way to be coached — and what she gets from listening to someone else get coachedWhat the BEST LIFE Retreats actually look like: 4-7 day immersive experiences, not a ballroom full of note-takingWhere the 2027 retreats are happening: Civana in Arizona, Sun Valley (the original BEST LIFE Retreat location), the Viceroy in Cabo, and ParisThe surprisingly common reason your body gets sick right when you finally clear space to focus on yourselfWhat you actually leave a retreat with: full clarity on your BEST LIFE, plus a real 5, 10, or 15-year planWhy a retreat alone isn't always enough — the gap Laurie kept watching her clients fall into once they got homeWhat the BEST LIFE Mastermind is: two in-person retreats plus monthly group coaching calls, including "hot seat" coachingThe honest, real-time story of why the Mastermind's original September 2026 launch got rescheduledWhy the original Tuesday–Friday retreat format didn't account for how much vacation time women already had booked for the yearThe new format: Thursday evening–Sunday morning retreats, cutting the time-off ask from eight days to one or twoWhy the container grew from a planned 9 months to a full 12, now starting January 2027, capped at 10 womenHow to actually know which of the three options is right for you — and why it's a body response, not a logic exerciseThis week's homework: noticing which option sparked something in you, and getting curious about whyQuotable moments "Sometimes the class you actually want has a sign taped to the door that says, 'Rescheduled.' Not canceled, just not today.""Anytime somebody tells me they just need to work harder, it just means that they're lacking clarity.""I mean, we've got our shit together, and we can turn it on when we need to.""It's a little shot in the arm, right? It's go in, get this shot of clarity, and then go home and implement it.""The time off math wasn't mathing, right?""Let's stop living the same week on repeat and start making choices that actually reflect who you are now.""There's no pressure and no pitch, just a real conversation about where you are and what might actually help."Homework assignment for this episode: Notice which of the three ways to work with her actually sparked something in you — not which one makes the most sense on paper, but which one you felt something about in your body. Write it down. You don't have to act on it yet — just get curious about why that one. → Send her an email → DM on Instagram → Book a no-pressure, no-pitch conversation with Laurie Resources + links mentioned BEST LIFE Mastermind — launching January 2027, applications/waitlist open nowJoin My Mailing LIstEmail Laurie📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

  3. Sep 1

    189. The Four C's. Why Confidence Is Never the First Step | Back to School - Ep. 4

    Curiosity, Clarity, Courage, Confidence — the four phases every high-achieving woman moves through on her way back to herself, and why they only work in that order. This is episode four in the Back to School of Midlife series, and it's one that Laurie purposely saved. Not because it's the least important — because it's one of the most important, and if she'd led with it, you would have tuned out. Here's the setup: most of Laurie's clients arrive having already done the physical work of midlife. Hormones optimized. Sleep dialed in. Alcohol cut back. Steps logged, protein hit, strength training on the calendar. They're doing everything right. And they still don't feel like themselves. That's where the Four C's come in — the actual transformational arc underneath every coaching relationship Laurie has, whether her clients realize they're moving through it or not.  And one thing she definitely wants to correct: Confidence does not come before Courage. It's the other way around, and getting that order backwards is exactly what keeps so many capable women stuck. What we cover: Why Laurie deliberately waited until episode four to introduce the Four C's, even though it's the "30,000-foot view" of everything she doesThe exact moment most of her clients hit: feeling good physically, but still not feeling like themselvesWhy optimizing your health further isn't the fix — and how that instinct keeps women in a burnout loopThe four phases, in order: Curiosity, Clarity, Courage, ConfidenceWhy confidence does NOT come first — and what actually produces it (hint: it's the action itself)What Curiosity feels like: the big questions most women have never once asked themselves — What's next for me? What's my legacy? Who am I in this season?How every core identity — daughter, mother, wife, career woman — is shifting at the same time in midlife, and why that's what makes the disorientation so intenseWhy "what don't you want" is often an easier, more honest starting point than "what do you want"Why Laurie thinks the "what do you want" question really is that simple — just not easyWhere the word "Courage" actually comes from (it's not what you think), and what that means for the decision you're sitting withLaurie's own "calculated risk" stories: training for her first marathon having never run more than a 5K, hiking 15 laps of a mountain in 36 hours to match Everest's elevation gain, and leaving her law partnership in the middle of a recessionWhy Courage is a full-body "yes" in your heart, not certainty about how things will turn outWhat Confidence is actually for: staying the course once Courage gets you movingWhy you're not going to magically find more time in your schedule — and what has to come off it insteadThe pushback you should expect once you start changing, and why it usually comes from the people who love you mostThis week's homework: figuring out — honestly — which of the four C's you're actually in right nowQuotable moments "Confidence doesn't come first. Confidence actually comes from taking the action.""Courage means you're willing to take the first step in the direction of the life you want to live, not because you know it's going to work out, but because it means so much to you.""You can have everything you ever thought you ever wanted and still feel like there's something missing.""It starts and ends with: what do you want? Just because it's simple, though, doesn't mean it's easy.""Courage actually comes from the Latin word cor, meaning heart.""Your biggest cheerleaders are the ones who are gonna throw up the most walls because they like the old you.""People don't chase dreams to get what they already have.""We need to have the Confidence to continue on the path that our Courage put us on."Laurie's ask for this episode Figure out which of the four C's you're actually in right now — Curiosity, Clarity, Courage, or Confidence — and be honest about it, not aspirational. Then ask yourself how you feel about that, and what you're going to do about it. → Send her an email→ DM on InstagramResources + links mentioned Episode 1: Overview of the School of Midlife and the coaching Laurie providesEpisode 2: The BEST LIFE™ FrameworkEpisode 3: Learn, Earn, Yearn — the three phases of lifeJOIN MY MAILING LISTCONNECT WITH LAURIE📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

  4. Aug 25

    188. 25 Years to Learn. 40 to Earn. 13 to Yearn...If You're Lucky | Back to School - Ep. 3

    25 years to learn. 40 years to earn. And if you're lucky — 13 years to yearn. Once you see that math, you can't unsee it. Session three of the Back to School (of Midlife) series. This week, Laurie lays out the three seasons of life — Learn, Earn, Yearn — on a simple timeline from zero to 80, using the average U.S. female life expectancy of 78.8 years as the anchor. The math is blunt: 25 years learning, 40 years earning, and only about 13 years left to yearn — and that's if you're lucky, since that number is actually decreasing, not increasing. She calls it one of the biggest grifts sold to high achievers: give your most vital, vibrant years to climbing the ladder, and get a shorter, less certain stretch at the end as your reward. She brings in Bill Perkins' Die With Zero and its health/time/money framing — good health and time but no money in the first third, health and money but no time in the second, and money and time but no guaranteed health in the third — to make the same point from a different angle. Then she tells the story of her Dad: retired on his 66th birthday after 48 years of work, moved back to Boise, had real, specific plans for retirement, and he never got the chance to live out those retirement dreams. The episode closes with this week's assignment: identify one thing you've been deferring to your "someday" Yearn season, and find a way to move it into your Earn season now — the same thing Laurie's doing with her own upcoming France trip. What we cover: The three seasons of life, laid out on a simple zero-to-80 timelineWhy the math changes once you use the real average life expectancy (78.8, and declining) instead of assuming a full "65 to 80"The "grift" framing — why trading your most vital years for a shorter, less certain retirement is a bad dealBill Perkins' Die With Zero and his health/time/money breakdown of the three phases of lifeWhy health is the one resource in that equation nobody can guarantee, no matter how well you planLaurie's dad's story — 48 years of work, five months of retirement, and the retirement dreams he never got toThe reframe: you don't have to wait for the Yearn season to start living like your life mattersA BEST LIFE Retreat client who moved up her own retirement date by five years after doing this workLaurie's own example: finally taking the France trip she's talked about for five years, instead of deferring it againThe "must be nice" reaction some women have when they hear about the trip — and why that reaction is worth examiningThis week's assignment: do your own version of the math, name one thing you've been deferring to "someday," and move it into your Earn season nowA preview of next week: the Curiosity, Clarity, Courage, Confidence framework — the actual mechanics of how this work happensQuotable moments "Once you see it laid out, you won't be able to unsee it.""I think this is one of the biggest grifts sold to high achievers.""Why should we spend forty to sixty hours a week at work during our most vital life years?""He got five months of his Yearn years. And when he died, so did every dream he'd put off.""You don't have to wait to the Yearn season to start living like the life you want matters.""You have to plan for your own dreams just like you do your kids' schedules and your work projects."Resources + links mentioned: Die With Zero by Bill PerkinsEpisode 187 — Attainable Is Overrated: Why "Wildest Dreams" Beat "Realistic Ones | Back to School - Ep. 2Episode 186 — Orientation Day: When Being a High-Achiever Isn't Enough | Back to School - Ep. 1CONNECT WITH LAURIE: Email Laurie or book a call 📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

  5. Aug 19

    187. Attainable Is Overrated: Why "Wildest Dreams" Beat "Realistic" Ones | Back to School - Ep. 2

    Most of us would fire our contractor building our dream home if she tried to make the plans conform to "specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound." So why do we do that to our own lives? Session two of the Back to School (of Midlife) series. If last week was orientation, this is the core curriculum — the actual framework behind everything Laurie coaches: BEST LIFE™. She starts by naming the pushback she hears constantly — "I'm not a high achiever" — and dismantles it directly: if you've ever solved a problem nobody asked you to solve, put yourself last on the list, or believed your rest had to be earned, you're a high achiever, whatever your job title says. From there she walks through the two real reasons she built BEST LIFE™: the goal-chasing problem (achieving the goal without ever asking what you actually wanted, and feeling empty anyway), and her long-standing issue with SMART goals as personal-life advice. The dream house metaphor she opened with threads through the entire back half — you wouldn't build a house without a plan for what you actually want to live in, so why are you building a life that way? Then she breaks down BEST LIFE™ letter by letter — BEyond your wildest dreams, Success on your terms, Truly want, so you can build a LIFE of Legacy, Impact, Fulfillment, and Excitement — with homework at the end: pick one letter, write down what it actually means to you. What we cover: Why Laurie built BEST LIFE™ for two specific reasons, not oneThe "I'm not a high achiever" pushback, and why she doesn't let anyone off the hook for itThe success playbook checklist — school, job, marriage, kids, house, promotion, retirement — and why finishing it doesn't always feel the way you expectWhy chasing the right goal without checking in with yourself first still leaves you emptyWhat changes when clients do the foundational work first — what do you want, what does success mean, what does your best life look likeLaurie's own story: 20 years in commercial real estate and brokerage before she became "student one" at the School of MidlifeWhy the SMART goals framework is excellent for a sales quarter and terrible for a marriage or a health goalA closer look at two SMART letters specifically — Attainable and Time-Bound — and why Laurie thinks both are the wrong filter for your personal lifeThe dream house metaphor, used to explain why you plan a life the same way you'd plan a home: you can't hand someone the blueprints until you know what you wantBE: Beyond your wildest dreams — letting yourself want something big before your brain talks you out of itS: Success on your terms — redefining success outside of money and job title, specific to this season of lifeT: What you truly want — stripping away everyone else's opinion, including a nod to that scene in The NotebookLIFE: Legacy, Impact, Fulfillment, and Excitement — including the generational angle: what your daughters and sons learn by watching how you liveThis week's homework: pick one letter, write down what it actually means to you — not a dictionary definition, the real oneA preview of next week: the three seasons of life — Learn, Earn, Yearn — and why waiting for the last one is a bad betQuotable moments "You have to remember, I was student one at the School of Midlife.""If there is a problem in your life, more often than not, you're the one who solved it, even when nobody asked you to.""I don't care if you get there. When we talk about attainable and achievable, I want you to make it so big — wildest dreams big.""If this is something you genuinely want... who cares how long it takes?""You have to stop trying to make everybody happy and start living a life that is true to you.""If, like, none of it excites you, it's probably someone else's goal or dream that you've just adopted.""This is not just some rosy saying that should make you feel good. There is intentionality behind this."Resources + links mentioned Episode 186 — Orientation Day: When Being a High-Achiever Isn't Enough (Back to School [of Midlife] series, session one)Best Life PlannerJOIN MY MAILING LISTCONNECT WITH LAURIE📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

  6. Aug 12

    186. Orientation Day: When Being a High-Achiever Isn't Enough | Back to School - Ep. 1

    The problem with high-performance coaching for high-achieving women? They're already high performers. That's exactly the problem. This episode kicks off something new: a multi-week series Laurie's calling Back to School (of Midlife) — not the pencils-and-Trapper-Keeper kind of back to school, the adult kind. Every week for the next several weeks, she's walking through the frameworks she's built over the years, where they came from, and how she actually uses them with clients. Today's episode is the origin story. Before there was a BEST LIFE™ framework, before Learn/Earn/Yearn, before Curiosity → Clarity → Courage → Confidence, there was a certification — an elite one, one of only 1,100 in the world — and a realization that cracked everything else open. Laurie walks through exactly what that certification taught her (and still uses in every session), and exactly how "she's already a high performer" turns out to be the whole problem, not a strength to lean on harder. She also gets into two decades of living this pattern herself — first in law, then in commercial real estate — before she ever became a coach. What we cover: Why Laurie is kicking off a new podcast series, and why she's leaning all the way into the back-to-school metaphorThe "adulting playbook" — school, job, marriage, kids, promotion, retirement — and the homework she gives you about itWhy she chose Certified High Performance Coaching, and the Brendon Burchard connection that led her thereWhat the CHPC curriculum actually taught her — and why she still uses those skills in every session todayWhy "busyness" is often an avoidance technique, including her own real example of over-boarding on volunteer work and marathon training to avoid being homeThe most important piece her clients kept missing: checking in with themselvesWhy it wasn't a gap in the curriculum — it was just more of the sameThe two decades she spent living this exact pattern herself, in law and then commercial real estateWhat Personal Leadership Development actually means, and why it's not life coaching or executive coaching — it's the umbrella above bothA preview of the entire Back to School series: BEST LIFE™, Learn/Earn/Yearn, Curiosity/Clarity/Courage/Confidence, and an honest look at what's happening with the MastermindThe adult "back to school supply list" — a new notebook, a hall pass, an elective, and office hoursWhy "I just need to work harder" is almost never actually about working harderQuotable moments "You have one life. You need to bring all of those pieces of your life instead of compartmentalizing them.""That feeling of having to become someone different depending on which room you walked into — that's not just a career problem. That's the whole thing I coach on now.""The problem with high performance coaching for high-achieving women is they're already high performers... they're missing the most important piece, which is checking in with themselves.""It wasn't so much a gap in the coaching curriculum. It was just more of the same.""Probably 95% of the time, the statement 'I just need to work harder' usually means I haven't asked myself what I actually want.""We use a busy schedule as an avoidance technique.""It's not the work that's leaving you burned out. It's the requirement to show up as a different person in every different role you're asked to fill."Resources + links mentioned Episode 183 — "Did You Actually Choose This Life? Or Did You Just Do What Was Expected?"Best Life Planner JOIN MY MAILING LISTCONNECT WITH LAURIE📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

  7. Aug 4

    185. Untethered: The Retirement Shock Nobody Warns You About

    Why retirement, whether it's the literal kind or one you haven't named yet, doesn't automatically hand you the fulfillment you've been waiting for. There's something in the water lately. Laurie keeps having the same conversation, over and over, with women in their mid-to-late 50s who are planning to retire in 2027. And she loves it for them, genuinely. But there's a question she can't help asking right after she says "bravo" — and it's the question this whole episode is built around. That question: how do you want to spend the rest of your life? Not the checklist version. The feeling version. And almost every time, she gets a blank stare back. This episode digs into why that blank stare happens (hint: decades of fulfillment tied to applause and approval will do that to a person), tells the story of the "laundry pile test," and makes the case for testing your retirement dreams now, in small pieces, instead of waiting for the retirement party to find out if they actually fit. What we cover: Why Laurie's been hearing "something in the water" — a wave of high-achieving women all planning retirement in 2027The question she can't help asking right after she says "bravo": how do you want to spend the rest of your life?Why "everyone I know who's retired says they don't know how they had time to work" isn't actually an answerThe real question underneath it all: how do you want to feel when you're not working, and what does a perfect day look like?Why she's not asking you to build a checklist or a minute-by-minute plan, and what she's actually asking for insteadThe mechanism: why validation and external approval have quietly run your fulfillment for decades, and what happens when that supply disappearsThe laundry pile story: the retired client whose biggest win is that she's finally caught up on laundry, and why Laurie is skeptical that's the win it looks likeWhy "a clean floor and an empty hamper are not a life plan"Why Laurie loves the in-between time: the season where you still have a job, a marriage, a kid at home, but you're starting to ask what's nextWhy literal retirement (a job) and metaphorical retirement (a marriage, a city, a life you've outgrown) run on the exact same emotional playbookWhy we put our dreams and goals on a pedestal for decades, and what that does to them by the time we finally "arrive"The dress-rehearsal idea: testing your retirement dream in small pieces now, before you've quit anythingWhy waiting until "after the retirement party" to start living the life you've been dreaming about sets you up for a shockThe two questions Laurie wants you to ask yourself this week, and the one small thing she wants you to do about themQuotable moments "You can retire from your job, but you can't retire from yourself.""A clean floor and an empty hamper are not a life plan.""It's very difficult to take a hard-charging, high-achieving woman out of a high-stress environment and move her to the point of her day, of her week, of her month that she has no laundry pile.""We've made retirement this very precious season because we've been working towards it with this idea that we'll just figure it out once we get there.""If we don't dip our toe into that proverbial pool we think we wanna be swimming in, then that fulfillment we've been delaying, we might be surprised to find out it's not coming in the way we think it is after we retire.""I feel like you can take the attorney out of the law firm, but you can't really take the law firm out of the girl.""You are a high-achieving, wildly successful woman. You owe it to yourself to make the second half of your life as exciting and as impactful as you have made the first half."Laurie's ask for this episode Laurie wants to know your biggest takeaway from this episode. → Email here here → DM her on Instagram Resources + links mentioned BEST LIFE Mastermind — Last change to join the Mastermind! Founding member applications open now, launching September (2 in-person retreats: Sun Valley, ID in September + Civana Wellness Resort & Spa, AZ in February)1:1 coaching — Book a call hereConnect with Laurie 📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

  8. Jul 28

    184. Stop Calling It a "Passion Project." How Brooke Amidei Built Babble

    The "anti-influencer" who's been sharing midlife hacks in a weekly newsletter called Babble. Brooke Amidei didn't set out to build a business. She was on a hike with her dog, post-COVID, trying to figure out what to do with the next chapter of her life, when a podcast question stopped her mid-step: "What would you do if you were Oprah?" Her answer was simple...she wanted to spend all day talking with her girlfriends. Three years later, that answer is Babble: a free weekly newsletter that's part magazine, part group chat, and fully allergic to being another influencer account. This conversation goes everywhere a real girlfriend hangout goes. Brooke and Laurie talk about the moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her job...and the fear that came with finally saying that out loud. Then it gets into the good stuff: the docuseries that inspired Brooke to rent out a movie theater, the bone density scan she didn't know she needed, and the pelvic floor information that's about to change how every woman in this audience uses the bathroom. It's a conversation about building something real without pretending to have all the answers, and about why the most useful thing you can hand another woman in midlife is just the truth, curated with love. What we cover: How a hike, a dog, and one line from a Rachel Hollis podcast turned into a business called BabbleWhy Brooke calls herself "the anti-influencer" and refuses to fake the polishThe real definition of Babble's "top layer" — and why it's not another deep-dive wellness accountHow a panel of 15 women actually decides what makes it into the newsletter each weekThe moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her jobWhy she almost didn't want to admit, even to herself, that this was real work worth being paid forThe docuseries trailer that led Brooke to rent out a movie theater in Boise — and then do it again in Salt Lake CityWhat she learned putting together a health and wellness resource lounge for a room full of midlife womenThe perimenopause "cheat sheet" Brooke built after watching the docuseries and interviewing experts — including the one line an expert had the whole room repeat out loudBrooke's own experience going on vaginal estrogen — and what changed for her after almost two decades of a problem she thought she'd just have to live withThe book and the Instagram account Brooke says are the two non-negotiable resources for anyone starting to learn about perimenopauseWhy women aren't supposed to get a bone density scan until 65 — and why that might already be too lateWhat happened when Brooke and her business partner got their own bone density scans and found out about risk factors they never knew they hadThe colonoscopy prep Babble has covered so many times Brooke jokes she has a "frequent flyer card"The pelvic floor tip about how women are peeing "wrong" — and the small daily habit that might be doing damage without you realizing itHow Babble started monetizing without losing the trust that made it work in the first placeBrooke's manifestation experiment with the Best Life Planner's "10 Dreams I've Achieved" — and the three unplanned massages that showed up after she almost deleted it from her listWhy Brooke and Laurie both push back on being called a "female" doctor, pilot, or scientist — and what that language habit revealsBrooke's current favorite Amazon dupe, and the one product category she says is always worth the searchQuotable moments "I actually call myself the anti-influencer.""Stop calling it a 'passion project'. This is your job.""Every vagina deserves estrogen.""We are peeing incorrectly.""It's the conversation in a newsletter form that you are having with your girlfriends.""Go for it, girl. Just go for it.""It feels kind of like a sisterhood, and I love it."Resources + links mentioned BabbleSign up for Babble's newsletterBabble on InstagramBooks recommended by BrookeThe Perimenopause Cheat SheetThe Bone Health Wake-Up Callhttps://www.babblewithbrooke.com/post/bone-healthThe Korean skincare Brooke lovesThe Anthro Maeve pant dupesThe Vuori dupesThe Best Life Planner — School of Midlife📩 JOIN MY MAILING LIST 👉 CONNECT WITH LAURIE: 📩  Email Laurie 💻 Website On Instagram On LinkedIn Schedule a call with Laurie

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4.9
out of 5
42 Ratings

About

This is the podcast for high-achieving women in midlife who want to make midlife their best life.   Women who have worked their entire lives, whether that’s in a traditional career or as the CEO of their household, or for many women, both. And they look around at their life in midlife, and think “I’ve worked my ass off for this?”  They have everything they always thought they ever wanted, but for some reason, it feels like something is missing. This is the podcast for midlife women who are experiencing all sorts of physical changes in their bodies, while navigating changes in every other part of their lives, too: friendships, family life, work life. This is the podcast for midlife women who find themselves wide-awake at 2.00am, asking themselves big questions like “what do I want?” “is it too late for me?”, and “what’s my legacy beyond my family and my work?” Each week, we’re answering these questions and more at the School of Midlife. When it comes to midlife, there are a lot of people talking about menopause and having a midlife crisis. This isn’t one of those podcasts. While we may occasionally talk about the menopausal transition, but that’s not our focus. Because we believe that midlife is so much more than menopause. And it’s certainly not a crisis.At the School of Midlife, we’re looking to make midlife our best life.

Information

  • Creator
    Laurie Reynoldson
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    193
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 School of Midlife
  • Show Website
    School of Midlife

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