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

Marianne DeMello-Smith
  • 5.0 (34)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

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

    What No One Tells You About Life After Work

    We spend years preparing for retirement. We save, invest, plan for healthcare, and think about how we'll spend our time. But what about preparing for who we'll be when the work is gone? What no one tells you about life after work is that retirement isn't simply a change in schedule. It's a change in identity. When the meetings end, the calendar goes quiet, and the role you've spent decades becoming disappears, the freedom you imagined can sometimes feel surprisingly unfamiliar. In this episode of Message in the Middle, I sit down with Cheryl Fimbel, who spent forty-five years leading healthcare organizations through major change before experiencing an unexpected career transition of her own just before retirement. That experience led Cheryl to explore the emotional side of retirement that financial planning often overlooks. We talk about why the first ninety days matter so much, why high achievers can struggle with unstructured time, how grief can show up even when retirement is a choice, and why purpose isn't something you discover overnight. We also explore emotional readiness, relationships, routine, community, and what it takes to begin building a meaningful life after work. Because the question isn't simply, "What will I do when I retire?" It's also, "Who am I when I'm no longer doing the work that defined me?" Whether retirement is years away or already part of your story, this conversation offers a different way to think about the transition and a reminder that the next chapter isn't about replacing who you were. It's about making space for who you're becoming. Connect with Cheryl: Crown Years Media Website: https://crownyearsmedia.com The Hidden Side of Retirement Book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/08hFM0IJ 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...

    What No One Tells You About Life After Work

  2. Aug 29

    Midlife Reinvention, Inner Wisdom, Authenticity and Aging Well with Kathy Robinson

    Episode Description What happens when you've achieved everything you thought you wanted, only to discover there's something deeper calling you? For more than thirty years, Kathy Robinson built an impressive corporate career, rising to become Chief Audit Executive and Chief Risk Officer at a Fortune 250 company. Then, at the height of her success, she made the courageous decision to walk away. What followed wasn't the end of her story. It was the beginning of a profound transformation. In this thoughtful conversation, Kathy shares the inspiration behind her new book, Walking with the Sage: A Story of Leaving Everything to Find More, and explores why midlife isn't a crisis to survive, but an invitation to become more fully ourselves. Together, we talk about identity, reinvention, aging with intention, and the wisdom that often emerges when we're willing to slow down and listen. If you've ever wondered whether your best years are behind you, or if there's still another chapter waiting to be written, this episode offers hope, practical insight, and a gentle reminder that the answers you're searching for may already be within you. In this episode, you'll discover: • Why major life transitions are invitations for growth rather than signs of failure • What it means to be "in the goo" and why the messy middle is where transformation begins • How nature and stillness help us reconnect with our inner wisdom • The difference between living as a warrior and living as a sage • Practical ways to navigate uncertainty with greater self-trust and authenticity • Why your most meaningful chapter may still be ahead Whether you're navigating a career change, an empty nest, retirement, or simply feeling called toward something more meaningful, this conversation will leave you feeling grounded, encouraged, and inspired to trust your own path. Because sometimes the bravest journey isn't climbing higher. It's having the courage to come home to yourself. Connect with Kathy:  https://athenawellness.com/ Free book companion that offers three wellness practices: https://athenawellness.com/sage 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...

    Midlife Reinvention, Inner Wisdom, Authenticity and Aging Well with Kathy Robinson

  3. Aug 22

    What Happens When the Strategies That Made You Successful Stop Working?

    For years, Nancy Deyo lived by the same rules many of us have been taught to follow: work hard, stay disciplined, push through discomfort, and keep going. Those strategies helped her build a successful career as a Silicon Valley CEO. But after a medical crisis on Mount Kilimanjaro left her living with chronic pain, years of misdiagnosis, opioid dependence, and an entirely different reality than the one she had planned, she was forced to ask a difficult question: What do we do when the strategies that made us successful stop working? In this deeply honest conversation, Nancy shares what it was like to grieve the loss of the life she expected, navigate years of being told nothing was wrong, redefine resilience, and learn that perseverance doesn't always mean pushing harder. Together, we explore what it means to stop fighting for the person you used to be and begin building a life that honors who you are now. Whether you're navigating chronic illness, burnout, caregiving, grief, retirement, or simply discovering that the old rules no longer fit, this episode is an invitation to consider a different path forward. Because sometimes resilience isn't about enduring more. Sometimes it's about learning to listen. In this episode, we discuss: • Living with chronic pain and medical uncertainty • The emotional impact of being dismissed or misunderstood • Opioid dependence and recovery • Grieving a former version of yourself • Acceptance versus giving up • Slowing down and redefining success • Reinvention in midlife • What resilience looks like when pushing harder no longer works • Lessons from Nancy's forthcoming memoir, Perilous Ascent Connect with Nancy: Substack Life Inside Pain: https://nancydeyo.substack.comWebsite: https://nancydeyo.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...

    What Happens When the Strategies That Made You Successful Stop Working?

  4. Aug 15

    What Remains When Memory Fades? Alzheimer's, Caregiving, and the Legacy of Storytelling

    What happens when the person who once cared for you begins to need your care? For many people in midlife, one of the most unexpected transitions isn't retirement, an empty nest, or a career change. It's becoming the caregiver for an aging parent. In this deeply moving episode of Message in the Middle, Marianne sits down with psychologist, memoirist, and poet Sarah Vosburgh to discuss her memoir, Who Will Name the Bees?, a powerful reflection on her mother's journey through Alzheimer's disease and her own experience navigating the emotional realities of caregiving. Together they explore: • The moment a daughter becomes a caregiver • The complicated emotions of loving someone through Alzheimer's • Guilt, grief, and the weight of making difficult decisions • The role reversal that happens when parents begin to depend on their children • What remains when memory begins to fade • The invisible emotional labor caregivers carry • How writing became part of Sarah's healing journey • Resilience, family dynamics, and finding meaning through loss Through lyrical storytelling and honest reflection, Sarah offers a compassionate look at one of life's most challenging experiences while reminding us that connection, love, and identity often endure long after memories begin to disappear. Whether you're caring for an aging parent, grieving a loved one, navigating dementia or Alzheimer's, or simply trying to make sense of a changing family relationship, this conversation will leave you feeling seen, understood, and a little less alone. Connect with Sarah Vosburgh: Website: https://www.SarahVosburgh.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/SarahVosburghAuthorInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/scvosburghX: http://x.com/SCVosburghTikTok: http://tiktok.com/SarahVosburghAuthorAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/sarahvosburgh 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...

    What Remains When Memory Fades? Alzheimer's, Caregiving, and the Legacy of Storytelling

  5. Aug 8

    Beyond This Lifetime: Past Lives, Healing & Soul Patterns

    Some questions don't have easy answers. Have you ever experienced an unexplained fear that didn't seem connected to anything in your life? Felt an immediate connection with someone you had just met? Or found yourself repeating the same emotional patterns despite years of self-reflection and personal growth? In this follow-up conversation, Marianne welcomes licensed somatic psychotherapist and certified spiritual integration hypnotherapist Melanie Smithson back to Message in the Middle to explore a topic that invites curiosity more than certainty: past-life regression and the possibility that some of our present-day struggles may have roots beyond this lifetime. Whether you approach this conversation through a spiritual lens, a symbolic one, or with healthy skepticism, Melanie offers thoughtful insights into why some experiences seem resistant to traditional explanations and how exploring them can sometimes open the door to deeper healing. Together, they discuss:  What past-life regression actually is  Why some fears and emotional patterns seem to have no obvious origin  Soul connections and why certain relationships feel instantly familiar  How the body and spirit may work together in healing  The role curiosity plays in personal growth  Why some of life's biggest questions don't always have simple answers This isn't an episode about convincing you what to believe. It's an invitation to stay curious. Connect with Melanie:  http://www.smithsonclinic.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...

    Beyond This Lifetime: Past Lives, Healing & Soul Patterns

  6. Aug 1

    Why Do I Keep Reacting Like This? Understanding the Hidden Stories Behind Your Triggers

    Why do we keep reacting in ways we don't fully understand? Why do certain situations seem to hit harder than they should? And why can we have years of insight into our patterns and still feel stuck repeating them? In this episode of Message in the Middle, Marianne sits down with Karen Rubinstein, speaker, author, and creator of The RETURN Way™, to explore the hidden fears and stories that often drive our reactions, relationships, and behaviors. Drawing from her own journey through alcoholism, recovery, trauma healing, and personal transformation, Karen shares how she discovered that most of what we call stress isn't actually about the moment we're living through. It's about the meaning our nervous system attached to experiences long ago. Together, Marianne and Karen discuss: • Why insight alone doesn't always create change • The difference between self-awareness and self-judgment • How shame keeps us stuck in familiar patterns • What survival mode can look like in high-functioning women • Why emotional intelligence is more practical than most people realize • The shift from self-improvement to self-alignment • How naming our fears begins to loosen their grip If you've ever wondered why certain emotional triggers keep showing up, why healing feels harder than simply trying harder, or why you still struggle with patterns you thought you'd outgrown, this conversation offers both understanding and hope. Because real transformation doesn't begin with becoming someone new. It begins with understanding who you've been all along. Connect with Karen:  https://www.karenrubinstein.comhttps://substack.com/@karenrubinsteinoutloudhttps://www.karenrubinstein.com/the-return-way 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...

    Why Do I Keep Reacting Like This? Understanding the Hidden Stories Behind Your Triggers

  7. Jul 25

    The Cost of Speaking Up: Lisa Cornwell on Truth, Self-Awareness, and Finding Peace After Conflict

    What happens after you speak up? In this deeply thoughtful conversation, Marianne sits down with broadcaster, author, and keynote speaker Lisa Cornwell to explore truth, conflict, accountability, emotional healing, and the complicated aftermath that can follow when someone chooses to speak openly. Following her memoir Troublemaker: A Memoir of Sexism, Retaliation, & the Fight They Didn’t See Coming and a Washington Post investigation into systemic issues in sports media, Lisa became a central figure in a national conversation about workplace culture and retaliation. But what makes this conversation so compelling is not just what happened publicly. It’s what happened internally afterward. Together, Marianne and Lisa explore the difference between being right and being effective, the emotional exhaustion of constantly defending yourself, the survival skills high-achieving women often have to unlearn, and the life-changing power of self-awareness. They also discuss emotional regulation, communication with intention, healing after conflict, making peace with being misunderstood, and what it means to stop living in a constant state of defense. This episode is thoughtful, emotionally honest, nuanced, and incredibly relevant to the cultural moment we’re living in. If you’ve ever struggled with speaking up, questioned whether the fallout was worth it, or found yourself trying to rebuild peace after difficult experiences changed you, this conversation will resonate deeply. Connect with Lisa: https://www.lisacornwell.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...

    The Cost of Speaking Up: Lisa Cornwell on Truth, Self-Awareness, and Finding Peace After Conflict

  8. Jul 18

    One Cup of Coffee Changed Everything: Jody Zarn on Homelessness, Empathy, and the Power of Truly Seeing People

    What happens when we slow down long enough to truly see another human being? In this deeply thoughtful episode of Message in the Middle, Marianne sits down with Jody Zarn, an author, corporate trainer, and TEDx speaker whose life changed after buying a cup of coffee for a man named Leroy who was experiencing homelessness. What began as one small act of kindness became a life-changing friendship that challenged everything Jody thought she understood about trauma, mental illness, dignity, and human connection. As she slowly earned Leroy’s trust, she discovered a man whose story, intelligence, pain, and humanity were far more layered than the labels people placed on him. Together, Marianne and Jody explore the emotional tension between helping and rescuing, the invisible ways trauma shapes us all, and why so many people today are quietly carrying the ache of feeling unseen. This conversation is emotional, nuanced, hopeful, and a reminder that every human being has a story beneath the surface. Connect with Jody:   https://www.jodyzarn.comhttps://mybook.to/JodyZarn 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...

    One Cup of Coffee Changed Everything: Jody Zarn on Homelessness, Empathy, and the Power of Truly Seeing People
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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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