Loving that Midlife

Have you ever caught yourself doing the math? Someone casually says, "Thirty years from now," and before you even realize it, your mind is calculating how old you'll be. If so, you're not alone. In this episode of Loving That Midlife , Lori explores a midlife realization that almost no one talks about: the moment when aging stops being an idea and starts feeling personal. This...

Have you ever looked at your marriage and wondered, "How did we get here?" Maybe nothing is terribly wrong, but something feels different. The kids have grown up, the house is quieter, and now you have the space to notice changes in your relationship that were easy to overlook during the busy years of raising a family. In this episode, we're talking about why long marriages often fe...

For years, many women have been asking the same questions:  What needs to be done next? Who needs me? What's the priority?   Then midlife arrives, and suddenly a new question appears:  What do I want?   And surprisingly, many of us don't know how to answer it.  In this episode, Lori explores why so many midlife women struggle to identify their own desires, preferences, and dreams after y...

Why do so many women feel lonely in midlife—even when they're surrounded by people? In this episode of Loving That Midlife , Lori explores the surprising reasons loneliness often shows up during the empty nest and midlife years. Sometimes the problem isn't a lack of people. Sometimes it's the loss of the roles, routines, and connections that once filled our days. You'll learn:...

  One year. Fifty-five episodes. Countless conversations with women navigating midlife.  When I started Loving That Midlife , I hoped to encourage women through the challenges of this season. What I didn't expect was how much I would learn from all of you.  In this special anniversary episode, I'm sharing the biggest patterns I've noticed after a year of podcasting, coaching, and ta...

Family vacations can create beautiful memories… and also reveal every unresolved stress response you have. In this relatable summer episode, Lori Buck shares the realities of vacation prep in midlife: the packing, planning, overstimulation, hormonal stress, travel anxiety, emotional labor, and pressure women often carry while trying to make sure everyone else has a good time. This episode will hel...

Have you ever found yourself with more space than you've had in years — and somehow that space feels more uncomfortable than you expected? You're not broken. You might just be in the midlife in-between.  In this episode, Lori gets real about her own experience navigating the season after homeschooling ended, her kids grew up, and her days stopped being built around everyone else's n...

Are you stepping into the role of mother-in-law — or already in it and wondering if you're getting it right? You're not alone. And this episode is for you.  Lori shares the practical advice, mindset shifts, and honest coaching she gives to women navigating one of the most significant new relationships of midlife: the relationship with a child's spouse.  In this episode, you'll...

Mother’s Day can bring flowers, brunch, and sweet social media posts… but for many women, it also brings disappointment.  Maybe you only got a text from your adult kids. Maybe your husband didn’t plan anything. Maybe you spent the weekend celebrating everyone else and ended the day feeling unseen, hurt, or resentful.  In this episode, Lori talks honestly about the emotional expectations many women...

Have you ever felt like you should have midlife more figured out by now — but somehow the ground just keeps shifting beneath you? You're not alone. And you're not broken. In honor of 50 episodes of Loving That Midlife, Lori is sharing the five mindset shifts that she comes back to again and again — both in her coaching practice and in her own life. These are the shifts that don't ju...

Your college kid is almost home — and you have feelings about that. You're excited. You've missed them. You've maybe already planned their favorite meals. And you're also a little nervous about what it's going to look like when two very different sets of expectations collide under the same roof. In this episode, we're talking about how to welcome your college kid home...

Have you ever thought, “I’ve worked on this… so why is it still bothering me?” You’ve done the work. You understand your patterns. You’re trying to respond differently. And yet—you still get triggered. In this episode, we’re talking about why emotional triggers don’t just disappear—even after growth—and why that doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. If you’ve ever felt frustrated with yourself...

Do you ever make a decision you feel good about… and then immediately start questioning it?  You set a boundary, say no, or take care of yourself—and suddenly you feel guilty. Like maybe you’re doing it wrong.  In this episode, we’re talking about that familiar midlife feeling of second-guessing yourself—even when you haven’t actually done anything wrong.  I share a personal story from this past w...

If you’ve ever avoided a conversation because you didn’t want to upset someone, this episode is for you.  So many women in midlife struggle with confrontation—not because they don’t care, but because they were raised to be “good girls.” Good girls don’t rock the boat, don’t complain, and don’t make things uncomfortable.  But avoiding hard conversations doesn’t create peace—it creates resentment, d...

When your adult child is struggling, everything in you wants to fix it.  You want to step in.  Make a call.  Say the right thing.  Take the pain away.  But what happens when you can’t?  In this episode, we’re talking about one of the hardest and most overlooked parts of parenting adult children— watching them go through something difficult… and having no way to make it better.  Whether it’s a situ...

When your adult child makes a decision you don’t agree with, it can bring up a very specific kind of tension. You’re not in charge anymore… but you still care deeply. In this episode, we’re talking about what it looks like to navigate those moments—when your adult child chooses something you wouldn’t choose, and every part of you wants to step in, say something, or steer the outcome. You’ll hear:...

If you’ve ever found yourself standing in your kitchen, listening to your adult child share a problem… and feeling that immediate urge to fix it—this episode is for you. Because here’s the truth: Parenting doesn’t get easier when our kids grow up… it just gets different. In this episode, we’re talking about one of the hardest and least talked about parts of parenting adult children—knowing how to...

In midlife, many women begin to realize how much they’ve been carrying for years — managing emotions, solving problems, keeping the peace, and making sure everything holds together. In the last episode, we talked about what happens when you finally stop over-functioning. Instead of relief, many women feel uncomfortable, restless, or unsure what to do next. So what comes after that? In this episode...

When you stop over-functioning — stop fixing, managing, and carrying what isn’t yours — the discomfort doesn’t always come from inside you. Often, it comes from the people around you.  In this episode of Loving That Midlife , we talk about what happens after you stop over-functioning: why families, workplaces, and relationships push back, why that resistance doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong, and...

Are you responsible — or are you carrying things that were never yours to manage?  In midlife, many capable women find themselves exhausted, anxious, and quietly resentful — not because they aren’t doing enough, but because they’re doing too much . Waking everyone up. Tracking schedules. Managing emotions. Preventing problems before they happen.  In this episode, we talk about over-functioning — w...

Sometimes the low-level anxiety women feel in midlife isn’t coming from unprocessed emotions...it’s coming from an unmade decision. In the last episode, we talked about how unnamed emotions can leak out sideways as irritability, tension, or reactivity. But in this episode, we’re naming something different: the anxiety that shows up when a decision stays open too long. When a decision remains unmad...

Feeling more irritable, overwhelmed, or emotionally reactive in midlife — and not always sure why? In this episode of Loving That Midlife , we’re talking about something many women experience but rarely have language for: unprocessed, low-level emotions that build up in the background and come out sideways. You’ll learn why saying “I feel like…” isn’t actually naming an emotion, how to identify wh...

When circumstances are objectively hard, midlife can feel overwhelming — and no amount of positive thinking can change that.  In this episode of Loving That Midlife , Lori Buck, master certified Christian life coach, shares a real-time story from the Nashville ice storm and what it revealed about emotional responsibility, nervous system regulation, and how people respond so differently to the same...

Who am I now? If you’re a woman in your 40s or 50s and quietly wondering why life feels different — even though nothing is technically “wrong” — this episode is for you. In this episode of Loving That Midlife , Lori Buck, Master Certified Christian Life Coach, explores the identity shifts many women experience in midlife when long-held roles change or come to an end. Whether you’re no longer activ...

Midlife doesn’t just make women tired — it can bring many of us to a breaking point.  In this episode of Loving That Midlife , Master Certified Christian Life Coach Lori Buck talks about a pattern she’s seeing everywhere: thoughtful, capable women hitting midlife exhaustion and feeling the sudden urge to quit — to stop cooking, stop volunteering, stop carrying the emotional load, or walk away from...