Late Bloomer Living Podcast

The Hidden Grief of Midlife — Empty Nests, Lost Identities & Letting Go with Kathy Mela

When was the last time something changed in your life and you just... moved on? Didn't name it, didn't sit with it, just kept going? That's worth a second look.

Kathy Mela spent 45 years in the NICU before becoming The Grief Navigator. Her take on grief will probably surprise you. Because she's not just talking about loss through death. She's talking about the grief of an empty nest, a career that ends, an identity you outgrow, a version of yourself you quietly left behind.

In this conversation, Kathy breaks down why so many of us are walking around with unnamed grief and what it actually looks like to move through it. 

We get into the difference between sorrow and grief, why anger and disconnection are often grief in disguise, and a framework for navigating any life transition with more self-compassion and less self-judgment.

Are the Questions You're Asking Keeping You Stuck? with Larry Robertson

What if the questions you're asking right now are actually working against you?

Six years into this podcast, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the power of curiosity. And then Larry Robertson showed up in my inbox — through our mutual friend Lynn Borton of the Choose to Be Curious podcast — and I realized I'd only scratched the surface.

Larry is an innovation advisor, Fulbright Scholar, and author of four award-winning books. His latest, Great Question: The Art of the Ask and Getting More of What You Really Want, is the result of years of research and interviews with some of the world's most original thinkers. His central argument: asking great questions might be the most underrated human skill we have. And most of us stopped practicing it a long time ago.

In this conversation we talk about why jumping straight to "why" can actually shut down your thinking, what intellectual humility really is and why it matters more than we think, the specific trap that midlife sets for our curiosity, the difference between reinvention, rewiring, and renewal, and the one question Larry returns to every time he's navigating uncertainty.

I also made an on air confession….  After six years of hosting a podcast about aging playfully, I still catch myself having ageist thoughts. Turns out that's not something to be ashamed of. It's just proof that the question never really ends.

Larry Robertson's book is available now. Find him at lrspeaks.com.

How High-Functioning Women Quietly Disappear — with Vera Knight

You look capable. You hold it all together. But somewhere along the way, you started leaving yourself behind — one small retreat at a time.

Vera Knight calls it the half-second exit. And once you see it, you can't unsee it.

After a burnout and a cancer diagnosis cracked her open, Vera stopped managing her life from a distance and started actually living it. Now she helps high-functioning women find their way back to themselves — and in this conversation, she'll help you find yours.

The Midlife Identity Crisis Nobody Talks About with Dr. Kathleen Perry

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Have you ever had a role or title that felt so much like you that losing it felt like losing yourself?

Maybe it was a career you'd built over decades. A relationship that defined you. A version of yourself you'd outgrown but didn't know how to leave behind. Whatever it was — when it disappeared, the question that remained was the hardest one of all.

Who am I now?

Dr. Kathleen Perry spent forty years as a chiropractor, acupuncturist, and functional medicine practitioner. When her husband became ill and COVID upended everything, she walked away from her practice and spent eighteen months sitting with that exact question. No rushing to reinvent. No five-step plan. Just the slow, quiet work of finding out who she was underneath the role.

What she discovered — and now helps other women discover — is that the discomfort of that unraveling isn't a sign something is wrong. It might be the most important signal you've gotten in years.

In this conversation we explore identity loss in midlife, what it really means to let go of who you've been, why your body knows the answer before your mind does, and how play and presence can open the door to what's next.

If the waters feel choppy right now — this one is for you.

Why We Believe We're Too Old (And What to Do About It) with Sally Duplantier

What if the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want isn't your age — it's the story you're telling yourself about your age?

Sally Duplantier started her first business at 28, retired twice, went back to school in her mid-60s, earned a master's degree in gerontology, published seven peer-reviewed research papers, and is currently finishing her doctorate at 75. And she'll be the first to tell you she's not special — which is exactly the point.

In this conversation, Sally breaks down the science of internalized ageism and why so many of us quietly absorb the world's low expectations for older adults without even realizing it. She draws on Dr. Becca Levy's landmark Yale research showing that a positive attitude about aging can add 7.5 years to your life — and explains why simply deciding to think differently isn't enough. The real shift, she says, has to come from action. Small, specific, sometimes terrifying action.

We also get into the trap of "comparanoia" — comparing yourself not just to other people but to the younger version of yourself — the Japanese concept of ikigai as a gentler alternative to the pressure of finding your purpose, and the one scary email Sally sent at 66 that opened doors she never could have predicted.

Sally is the founder of Zing and hosts free monthly Wellness Wednesdays — expert-led webinars on healthy aging open to anyone. Find her at MyZingLife.com and on Instagram and Facebook at @MyZingLifeSally.

If this episode got you thinking, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

She Felt Invisible — Then She Got BRAVE with Karen Rae

What if the thing holding you back isn't fear — it's the story you've never let yourself tell?

Karen Rae knows that feeling. After 27 years as a stay-at-home mom, an unexpected divorce, empty nest, and menopause all arrived at once. In a therapist's office, she and her counselor held up pieces of paper at the same time. They had written the same word: invisible. That moment became the spark for everything.

Today Karen is the founder of the Being Brave Tour, author of the anthology Being Brave, and creator of a free digital magazine celebrating women's stories and wisdom. Her mission is to celebrate one million women — one brave story at a time.

In this conversation we talk about what everyday bravery really looks like, why your story matters more than you think, and why celebration — not self-improvement — might be the real key to feeling alive again.

Read or submit your own story for free at favelifestyles.app.

Comparanoia: Are You Stuck in the Comparison Spiral?

Have you ever been in a room full of brilliant, accomplished women — genuinely inspired, genuinely moved — and then found the comparison spiral creeping in when you were alone with your thoughts? That's Comparanoia. And I had a bad case of it recently.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak at Quest, a remarkable storytelling event for women in their third act created by Diana Place of Third Act Quest. I was also there as the event photographer, which meant I spent days behind my lens watching incredible women take the stage and share their most powerful stories. I loved every minute of it.

And then my turn got closer. And in the quiet moments alone, running through my talk for the hundredth time, the voice showed up. Her story is more dramatic. She's more accomplished. She's more everything. Who am I to be up here after that?

In this episode I share what finally got me out of my own head — it came down to one word — and why I've come to believe that curiosity and Comparanoia genuinely cannot exist in the same moment. I also share four practical tools for getting out of the spiral the next time it shows up for you.

You are not behind. Your path is not finished. This one's for you.

What If You Stopped Trying to Look Younger? with Skylar Liberty Rose

Beauty culture is loud. And most of us have been listening to it for so long we've forgotten it was never actually our voice.

Writer, meditation teacher, and midlife coach Skylar Liberty Rose joins me for a conversation that kept surprising me. We're talking about beauty standards, the invisible pressure women carry around their appearance, and what it feels like to finally start shedding expectations you never consciously agreed to.

Skylar believes midlife is both a reckoning and an invitation. And in this conversation she makes a compelling case that the rules we've been handed about how we should look and how we should age were never really ours to begin with.

We get into her essay in Midlife Private Parts, her "is this mine?" practice for interrupting negative self-talk, why she started doing over-the-top mirror monologues (and why they actually work), how guided meditation carried her through a brain tumor diagnosis and craniotomy in 2022, and what aging has given her that her younger self simply couldn't have received.

This one is for any woman who's ready to stop shrinking and start becoming.

🔗 Find links to Skylar's work, her guided meditations on Insight Timer, and her ceremonies for midlife women in the show notes at [latebloomerliving.com/episode271]

 

 

🌻 If you’re feeling inspired, I’d love for you to share your thoughts about this episode on social media and tag me @latebloomerliving.

 

🌻Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode! 

 

🌻 Need a little more FUN in your life? Come to The PLAYshop!  Sign up for the waitlist and get in on the fun! 🛼 💥

You can also join the Age Agitators Club for more fun and inspiration as we navigate midlife together. Find out more at https://www.latebloomerliving.com/

Are You Letting One Awkward Moment Define Your Whole Life?

Have you ever had one embarrassing moment — one failed public speaking experience, one bad drawing, one time you couldn't keep up — and quietly decided that was just who you are?

That's what this episode is about.

After a conversation with psychologist Gail Rice about re-storying our lives, something clicked for Yvonne — and it came straight from her work as a photographer. When she shoots headshots in burst mode, she captures dozens of frames of the same person in seconds. One frame? Guarded. The next? Laughing. Same person, completely different story.

And yet most of us are walking around defined by a single frame — one moment, usually from childhood, with very little context and even less life experience.

In this solo episode, Yvonne explores what happens when we confuse one awkward moment for the whole truth about who we are — and what it looks like to start creating new frames instead.

Because you are not the worst photo ever taken of you. You are the entire album. And the next frame hasn't even been taken yet.

🎧 If this one resonates, go back and listen to last week's conversation with Gail Rice — it's the episode that sparked this one.

Late Bloomer Living — because midlife is not the end of becoming.

 

🌻 If you’re feeling inspired, I’d love for you to share your thoughts about this episode on social media and tag me @latebloomerliving.

 

🌻Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode! 

 

🌻 Need a little more FUN in your life? Come to The PLAYshop!  Sign up for the waitlist and get in on the fun! 🛼 💥

You can also join the Age Agitators Club for more fun and inspiration as we navigate midlife together. Find out more at https://www.latebloomerliving.com/

Not Fading. Expanding. — Gail Rice on Refusing to Disappear After 70

Scaring Yourself Alive: How to Re-Story Your Life at Any Age with Gail Rice

What does it actually look like to choose expansion over disappearance — not just as an idea, but as a daily act of courage?

This one is for the woman who has ever felt the pull to play it smaller, quieter, safer. The one who wonders if her best chapters are behind her. The one who's tired of waiting for permission.

Spoiler: the permission slip is yours to write.

Gail Rice is a psychologist, writer, and late bloomer who got her psychology degree at 50, built her own practice, and moved to Australia temporarily — then stayed for 40 years. When she turned 70, she felt something she wasn't expecting: an existential dread that she was fading away. Becoming invisible. Losing her voice. So she did something about it. Something unexpected. Something that didn't go the way she planned — and ended up changing everything anyway.

In this conversation, we get into:

— Why Gail is more afraid of not living than dying

— The decision she made at 70 that woke her up (it's not what you think)

— What she calls "re-storying" — and how to actually do it

— Why the worst moments became the loudest wake-up calls

— How regret and anger might be the most useful emotions you're not using

— What it means to step onto the stage of your life without a script

This one is for the woman who has ever felt the pull to play it smaller, quieter, safer. The one who wonders if her best chapters are behind her. The one who's tired of waiting for permission.

Spoiler: the permission slip is yours to write.

🔗 Find Gail Rice on Substack, Instagram, and at gailricepsychologist.com

Until next time — bloom like you mean it. 🌸