practical change for midlife lesbians podcast

In this episode, we follow Ezra Baker Jr.'s final chapters: from his desperate appeals to Abraham Lincoln after losing his Indian Agent post, through the infamous Norfolk "trading with the enemy" affair, and back to Philadelphia where his life quietly ended. Along the way, we confront the reality behind the myths: Ezra wasn't a hero, nor a tragic figure—he was an opportunist, a schemer, and a man...

In part 3 of this arc of Unraveling Ezra, a sub-podcast of Practical Change for Midlife Lesbians, Ezra Baker Jr. rose from Illinois banking commissioner to river-trade entrepreneur, catching the eye of Abraham Lincoln along the way. But ambition and risk brought financial ruin, desperate appeals to his son Dorsey, and partnerships with figures like Ephraim Bishop. This episode traces his bold sche...

In part two of this multipart arc of Unraveling Ezra, a sub-podcast of  Practical Change for Midlife Lesbians , we continue our historical detour to follow the messy, fascinating life of Dr. Ezra Baker Jr. Before he ever got tangled in scandal or made his final landing in Philadelphia, he was a young man heading west with his extended family in search of cheap land and new opportunity. We rewind t...

Welcome to a special series within the Practical Change for MidLife Lesbians podcast: Unraveling Ezra — a journey into the life, legacy, and contradictions of my great-great-great grandfather, Ezra Baker Jr. MD. This arc is a departure from my usual content , but sometimes, life pulls you in an unexpected direction. This is one of those times. In this first episode, I share how a dramatic quote fr...

In this inspiring and deeply personal episode, I sit down with Allison Landry to explore the transformative power of self-compassion. Allison and certified counselor Megan Welwood are offering a free 8-week online Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) course starting February 3, 2025 . In our discussion, we dive into: What self-compassion is—and what it isn't. Unique challenges faced by the LGBTQIA+ commu...

Welcome to Season 2! Unvarnished and short, it's a new dawn for Claire and Practical Change for Midlife Lesbians, but same great insights for those of us lesbians who are working on making changes we want. Visit Practical Change Coaching for more.

Did you make some resolutions or set some goals way back in January? At the midpoint of the year, it's a great time to take stock. How's it going? Claire gives an update and offers suggestions for leaning into your values and getting past barriers to help you keep moving forward. In addition, for the months of July & August 2023, Claire is giving away coaching and a free downloadable resource, PRA...

Episode 30: Should I stay or should I go now? Sunk Cost Fallacy and Loss Aversion: Why do we tend to stay with something maybe longer than we should? How do we decide if it really *is* time to go? Doesn't the fact that I've already devoted a lot of time, money and energy to something mean that it's worth staying? What does it say about me if I decide to change direction? Live from the back yard, t...

Episode 29: Interview with award winning writer and influencer Shakira Sison, columnist for Rappler. Shakira shares what it's like to immigrate from the Philippines as a lesbian and how that experience shaped how she sees creating change in her life today. Check out her writing at  https://shakirasison.com/ and www.rappler.com/author/shakira-sison/ And here we are at our first in-person meeting! I...

Episode 28: Part 2 of the interview with actor, writer and director Alexandra Tydings, who is best known for her recurring role as Aphrodite in the TV serieses Xena, Warrior Princess and Hercules, The Legendary Journeys. Alex shared what it was really like being the scantily clad goddess of love on Hercules and Xena, being an out queer woman while on a show rife with lesbian subtext, her love for...

Episode 27: An interview with actor, writer and director Alexandra Tydings, who is best known for her recurring role as Aphrodite in the TV serieses Xena, Warrior Princess and Hercules, The Legendary Journeys. For her "pandemic project," Alex became a certified intimacy coordinator and has come full circle from lived experiences in her first roles on Showtime's Red Shoe Diaries to now supporting a...

The world is full of advice about how we should do things. Frequently that becomes a recipe for beating yourself up if what works for one person doesn't work for you. We've all been there - been offered a "system" or a collection of steps that if we follow them, we'll get the results want. We try it out for ourselves, only to find that it just doesn't work for us. And we make it mean that we are s...

Episode 25: An interview with accomplished lesbian distance runner and founder, organizer and coach for Philadelphia running group Lez Run, CC Tellez. CC is also the  Associate Director of LGBTQ+ Programing at Students Run Philly Style and has served on numerous boards and in volunteer leadership roles in the Philadelphia area and nationally.   Originally from La Paz Bolivia, CC's story is one of...

Author Kathryn Nicolai shares how she originally started what has become the immensely popular podcast "Nothing Much Happens" as a project to help share her method of easily falling and staying asleep. Nicolai tells the story of the genesis of "Nothing Much Happens", which now has 85 million downloads, a book of the same title that has been published in 34 languages, and a second podcast called "F...

Welcome to the second season of Practical Change for Midlife Lesbians, with host Claire Baker, professional certified coach. You are invited to join the private Facebook group "A Group of Our Own." January is typically a time for reflection, renewal and resolutions. Claire offers an alternative to the typical resolution – instead of focusing on outputs, set an intention to how you want to feel mor...

I have Persistent Depression Disorder, also called dysthymia. 1.5% of the US population has it, and 2.5% will live with it at some point in their lives. Not as severe or debilitating as major depression, it is characterized by two years or more of symptoms without much break. People with PDD may be "high functioning" – able to get stuff done – but in my case, I feel like I'm working on feeling "le...

Thoughts happen, right? It's part of being human to have thoughts pop into our heads. As we get used to a thought, or keep practicing it, it becomes a habit. Once it's a habit, it's easy to belief it as a fact. "My boss is a jerk!" can feel like a fact. But is it? This podcast is all about helping to sort out thoughts from circumstances, what our thoughts do to us and what feelings they evoke. And...

Midlife lesbian Stephanie Carnahan, founder and executive director of Fawn Hills Animal Sanctuary and Care Farm, is the embodiment of creating Practical Change. When coming out In her early twenties informed her life decisions and she took a path away from a career that involved the care of animals, she created a career working to improve the lives of people. Then, in her late 40's, she and her wi...

On this podcast, I share some interesting market research on our community, and how I accidentally stumbled into what felt like a hornet's nest of awful haters and trolls on Facebook. It's hard to ignore the level of venom that gets leveled at our community at the mere mention of us having relationships, even if there's nothing explicit about it. On the other hand, when I broke down the math, my a...

To showcase the fiction of best-selling author Melissa Good, enjoy chapter 1 of Partners, the first of her series of sci-fi lesbian fiction. If you are a fan of dystopian futures, imaginative evolution outcomes, dark but redeemable heroes and ingenues who become badasses, you'll love Partners. Let me know if you'd like to hear more from the series!

This is the first in an arc of podcasts featuring guests who have created interesting and inspiring avocations that enrich their lives, even as they continue to work in their "day jobs." These women are creators or helpers or both. For this episode, I am very pleased to introduce Melissa Good. Missy is a prolific author who started writing for public consumption twenty-five years ago in the genre...

We all want something. Sometimes big, sometimes modest. Lose 10 pounds. Make a million dollars. Find or repair that relationship. Learn to sew. We want what we want because of how we think we will feel once we have it. If we aren't able to find feelings along the way that we enjoy – even if it's just anticipation of the future having of the thing – then the journey to that particular outcome will...

Sometimes our brains lead us to believe that the only way to get to where we want to go is to gut it out, use a lot of effort, and never rest. But our brains don't know everything! What if you adopted some regular practices that build slow and incremental into your day or your work? Learn more, and get some ideas for how to slow it down to get you where you are going and maybe even enjoy the journ...

Sometimes the things that are holding us back from the life we want are borne from little T traumas from our past, even if we do not recognize it in the moment. What worked then might be a barrier now. So what's to be done about it?

We all go through times of feeling like we don't have what we need. Scarcity does a number on our brain. It makes us slower and worse at problem-solving when we most need to have our wits about us. This podcast illuminates what's really going on, offers some clarity on how to sort out what you really need from what you think you need, and some strategies to manage scarcity mindset. And no, the ans...