The Courageous Middle Podcast

“I just think maybe we should revisit the timeline.” Say that sentence out loud. Now say it again without the first four words - We should revisit the timeline. Same thought. Completely different weight. In this episode, Lisa breaks down the small, automatic words so many of us insert before we've finished a sentence, words like think, maybe, and sorry, and why they show up most in the exact momen...

In midlife, your body is changing, so is everything else, all at once. This episode is about learning to tell the difference between the change you choose and the change that chooses you. In this episode, Lisa unpacks why menopause was never meant to be called the end, what a program on perimenopause taught her about estrogen and grace, and the real difference between chosen change and unchosen ch...

You're not behind because you're doing it wrong. You're behind because everything on your list looks the same. In this episode, Lisa Blanchet gets into the thing underneath the to-do list, the cognitive spiral that happens when your brain tries to hold everything at once and can't distinguish what actually matters today. If you've ever ended a full, productive day and still felt like you didn't ge...

On his 18th birthday, my son's school communication app revoked my access. No warning. No transition. Just: you no longer belong here. And while that sounds like a small, practical thing, it didn't feel small at all. In this episode, I'm sharing what that moment stirred up, and why I think it matters, not just for me, but for anyone navigating a season where something is quietly closing before the...

What if trusting yourself didn't require a dramatic decision or a complete life overhaul? What if it started with just noticing? In this episode, Lisa introduces the Courage Circle, a simple three-part practice grounded in awareness, curiosity, and choice. It's not a to-do list item. It's a way of being. A lens you can bring to any moment, any decision, any whisper that surfaces when life gets qui...

We’ve been told that change happens in a moment, a leap, a lightning bolt, a breaking point that clarifies everything. And sometimes it does. But most of the time, that’s not the whole story. In this episode, Lisa gets honest about what choosing yourself actually looks like from the inside. Not the dramatic version. The real one: slow, quiet, built out of small moments of awareness long before any...

You know something no longer fits. So why is it so hard to move on? In this episode, Lisa Blanchet names what's actually underneath that question, and it's not a lack of courage. Most women who stay in jobs, relationships, or roles that no longer feel like theirs don't stay because they don't know. They stay because they were deeply conditioned to keep going, to be dependable, to hold everything t...

In her mid-forties, after leaving a 25-year career, Lisa sat across from her first coach and couldn't answer a simple question: " What do you love to do?" She didn't know. And she beat herself up about it for a long time. This episode is for the woman who is in the middle of something she can't quite name yet. The one who thought the answers would arrive faster. Who feels the doubt and the curiosi...

How many hats are you wearing right now? And more importantly, did you choose them, or were they placed on your head by someone who believed in you, needed you, or simply assumed you'd figure it out? In this episode, I share a story from my own career, a hat that slowly cost me more than I was willing to admit. Not because the people around me were wrong. But because the hat was never mine to begi...

Ten years ago, I was working seven days a week, missing time with my son, watching my health decline, and genuinely believing I had no choice. I thought I was supposed to stay, and figuring it out was just what the responsible one did. This episode is my story. Not the polished version. The honest one. The doctor's appointment, I almost didn't keep. The whisper I ignored for months until I finally...

If you've been carrying a lot lately this episode is for you. The kids leaving or coming back. The aging parent. The career that no longer fits. The relationship that's shifted. The body that's changing. And underneath all of it, a quiet wonder: is there any space left for me? There is. But you won't find it by accident. You have to choose it. In this episode I share a story that I think about oft...

The guilt of wanting more when your life already looks good on the outside, that's what this episode is about. And if you've ever felt it, you know exactly how quietly it arrives. You can be grateful for the life you have and still want something more. Those two things aren't in conflict. Gratitude isn't the same as settling. And wanting more does not mean you're ungrateful for what you already ha...

Something brought you here today, even if you can't quite name what that something is, you're in the right place. This first episode is an invitation. Into the space I call the courageous middle, the beautiful, messy in-between, where the life you've been living and the life you can feel pulling at you finally get to meet. It's a space where dreams and possibilities live right alongside fear, doub...