Messy Midlife: It’s Not A Crisis, It’s A Calling to Connect

Connect With Jody This evening awareness practice is a simple way to check in with yourself at the end of the day — and begin trusting what you find. Trust yourself in midlife Trust yourself in midlife starts with noticing when the truth actually shows up, and for most of us it is not in the crisis; it is in the quiet. As we close The Tools, Week Three of Season Two, I want to leave you with one i...

Connect With Jody Career transition and midlife reinvention Career transition and midlife reinvention rarely arrive as one dramatic exit, and my guest this week, Dave Albrechta, is proof of that. Dave is a recovering employment litigator who spent a decade representing employees in federal court before walking away from the adversarial legal system to ask a beautiful, slightly mad question. What i...

Connect With Jody Midlife Reactions and Repeat Habits, a Morning Awareness Practice Midlife reactions and repeat habits You are not falling apart; you are waking up. If you keep noticing the same reaction showing up in your life- the sharp word, the need to control the room, the urge to disappear- it usually is not a fresh problem. It is an old file, filed away decades ago, still quietly running t...

Connect With Jody If your reactions in midlife feel disproportionate or out of control, you're not broken — you're following an old map. Friday is where we let the week settle. In this closer to Week Two, The Blocks, Jody Brooks gathers everything up- Catherine Crestani's story from Wednesday, the prediction machine from Monday, and one more careful step down into his own- and hands...

Connect With Jody What happens when the very qualities everyone praises you for are the same ones quietly taking you to the floor? This week's guest lived exactly that, and her story is Week Two of the Understanding season in living colour. Catherine Crestani is an author, a Brainz magazine executive contributor, a former speech therapist and an inner authority guide who helps women reconnect...

Connect With Jody Have you ever driven home from work, turning one moment over and over, asking, why did I do the exact thing I swore this morning I would not do? You saw it coming. You promised yourself. And you did it anyway. If you know that private sense of failing to be a better version of yourself, this episode is especially for you. Week Two of Season 2 opens the part of the Understanding P...

Connect With Jody This is the episode where the sea mist clears. Not because you have suddenly worked everything out, but because you have spent a week noticing the runaway bus, meeting an extraordinary man on Wednesday who built a new identity on purpose, and now you are ready to look, gently, at the map that has been driving you. Jody closes Week One of Season 2 the way she always closes a week,...

Connect With Jody What do you do when the identity you have carried for twenty-one years is about to end, and the next chapter is a completely blank page? Most people wait until the page is thrust into their hands. Dr William Thomas started writing on it years before. William spent twenty-one years as a United States Air Force officer. In 2007, he was deployed to Afghanistan and, at forty-two, wat...

Connect With Jody This morning awareness practice gives you three simple questions to ask before the day takes over — stopping midlife autopilot before it starts. Have you ever snapped at someone you love, agreed to something you knew wasn't right for you, or shrunk yourself in a room where you should have taken up more space, and then stood there afterwards asking, why did I just do that? Th...

Connect With Jody Practical coaching for midlife reinvention. Twelve episodes ago, Jody stepped onto a bus she had never consciously chosen. Today we close the first principle of Messy Midlife with the whole of that journey gathered up in one place. Episode 12 is the season close. Jody walks back through every episode of Season 1, the toilet cubicle moment in EP1, Hanna Curman's messy middle...

Connect With Jody A Guide for Midlife Leaders Who Know Something Has to Change What do you do when you've climbed the ladder, ticked all the boxes, and still feel empty — or worse, completely burnt out? In this powerful episode, Jody talks with Nicole Anderson, leadership and career transition expert and Partner at the Kayla Group, about what it really means to transition rather than change j...

Connect With Jody Practical coaching for midlife reinvention.  There is a particular kind of tiredness that has nothing to do with sleep. You know the one. You have had your eight hours. You have ticked every box. And yet something in you is still exhausted. Not your body. Something deeper. In Episode 10 of Messy Midlife, Jody Brooks goes one layer deeper into the awareness principle. If Episode 9...

Connect With Jody Why You Feel Empty at the End of the Day And What to Do Tonight: Evening Awareness Practice You've been in the day. You've lived it, responded to it, felt it, even if you didn't stop to name any of it. Now it's quieter. And this is the moment to look back with Kindness. In this closing episode of Awareness Week, Jody introduces the first two levels of awarenes...

Connect With Jody In this Midweek Deep Dive, Jody Brooks sits down with author and former US Navy veteran Kristof Morrow to explore how awareness, trauma and creativity intertwine in messy midlife. Kristof’s journey spans childhood abuse, violent addiction in the family, his own alcoholism, Tourette's, chronic illness, immigration, divorce and a long period of despair. He shares how a single...

Connect With Jody How to Start Your Day Without Losing Yourself: The Morning Awareness Practice Quick question: what does your Morning actually look like? Not the aspirational version. The real one. The alarm, the scroll, the rush, the commute. Before you've had a single chance to hear your own voice, the world has already taken over. In this episode, Jody explores why the Morning is one of t...

Connect With Jody Midlife Awareness: Navigating Disconnection to Connection Something is off, and you can't quite put your finger on it. You're functioning, you're keeping it together, but underneath it all, you feel numb, irritable, exhausted, and a little lost. Sound familiar? You're not falling apart. You're waking up. In this episode of Messy Midlife, Jody gets honest...

Connect With Jody Why Midlife Anxiety and Overwhelm Make Habits So Hard to Stick To S1 EP5 If you’ve been struggling with midlife anxiety, overwhelm, low motivation, or the feeling that you keep trying and failing at change, this episode is for you. In this conversation, Jody Brooks speaks with Roger Webb about why habits are so hard to stick to, why willpower and discipline are often overrated, a...

Connect With Jody Midlife Awareness: Navigating Disconnection to Connection S1 EP4 Something is off, and you can't quite put your finger on it. You're functioning, you're keeping it together, but underneath it all, you feel numb, irritable, exhausted, and a little lost. Sound familiar? You're not falling apart. You're waking up. In this episode of Messy Midlife, Jody gets...

Connect With Jody Midlife Anxiety and Overwhelm: What Self-Awareness Is Really Telling You S1 EP3 Midlife anxiety and overwhelm can feel like failure, but they may actually be signs that your life is asking for attention. In this episode of Messy Midlife, Jody Brooks explores self-awareness as the first Principle of Authentic Living and the place where real change begins. If you’re 35 to 65 and fe...

Connect With Jody Midlife Burnout and the Nervous System: Learning to Lead Differently S1 EP2 Midlife burnout can change everything — your energy, memory, relationships, leadership, and the way you show up at home. In this episode of Messy Midlife, Jody Brooks speaks with Hannah Kerman, founder of Brain Shift, about what it means to operate with your nervous system, not your ego. Hannah shares how...

Connect With Jody The Moment I Knew Something Had To Change: Why Midlife Isn't A Crisis   S1 EP1 Messy Midlife: It's Not A Crisis, It's  A Calling To Connect Midlife upheaval doesn’t have to be a crisis — it can be the moment you finally wake up. In this first episode of Messy Midlife, Jody Brooks shares the story of the “toilet cubicle breakdown” that changed everything and begins...

Connect With Jody Step into the messy middle of midlife and discover why it’s not a crisis, it’s a calling to connect . In this short trailer, you’ll hear what Messy Midlife is all about, who it’s for, and how it can support you if you’re feeling lost, overwhelmed, or unsure what’s next. I’m Jody, a midlife coach and fellow messy human, and in each episode I’ll share real stories, honest conversat...