Midlife Reinvention at 58: How Laureen Let Go, Reimagined Aging, and Reclaimed Her Authentic Self

 💜 Episode Description

At 58, Laureen found herself in the middle of an unexpected transformation — an empty nest, menopause, and an allergic reaction that ended decades of hair dye. What began as loss became liberation.

In this intimate conversation, she shares how she let go of old conditioning, reimagined what aging can look like, and reclaimed her authentic self. Her story is a beautiful reminder that midlife isn’t a deadline, it’s an awakening.

 ✨ Show Notes

This week on Reinvention Rebels, I’m celebrating the power of quiet transformation with Laureen, a content creator, model, and storyteller redefining what aging looks and feels like.

At 58, Laureen experienced a trifecta of change — her hair, home, and hormones — that sparked a deeper awakening. What started with an allergic reaction to hair dye became a journey of radical self-acceptance, self-trust, and creativity.

Through her Instagram platform @glowupsilver, Laureen inspires thousands of women to see aging not as something to fear, but as a new chapter of self-expression, curiosity, and joy.

In this heartfelt conversation, we explore what it means to unlearn the conditioning about who midlife women “should” be, listen to the whispers of intuition, and come home to the truth of who we already are.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

• How a “trifecta of change” — hair, home, and hormones — sparked Laureen’s midlife reinvention
• The quiet courage it took to let her natural silver shine
• How creativity, curiosity, and community became her lifelines
• What it means to reimagine aging and rewrite the rules for yourself
• Why midlife is not a crisis but an invitation to awaken

🌿 A Soulful Reminder

Reinvention doesn’t have to be loud or dramatic. It can unfold through small, intentional steps that bring you home to who you truly are.

🎁 Free Gift

If this episode spoke to your heart, take the next gentle step with my free 7-minute audio,
5 Questions to Spark Your Curiosity and Inspire Your Reinvention Journey.

It’s a simple, soulful way to start tapping into the wisdom that already exists within you — because sometimes we just need a gentle nudge to begin.

💌 Share the Love

If this episode inspired you, please share it with a friend who’s ready to reimagine

Ready to ease into the holidays feeling good in your body? Join the FasterWay 21-Day Reset program to embrace your midlife body in new ways.

Transcript

00:00 - Laureen (Guest)
What I'm learning in midlife is that I had to really challenge the ideas I absorbed about myself, about my worth, about beauty, about aging and unlearning that conditioning it takes time and it's a gradual journey to reclaiming ourselves and all of the things that are infinite about who we are, because we are infinite beings. 

00:42 - Wendy (Host)
Welcome to Reinvention Rebels stories of brave and unapologetic women, 50 to 90 years young, who have boldly reinvented life on their own terms to find new purpose and possibilities. I'm your host, wendy Battles. I need to kick your fears to the curb, do it scared and step into who you are meant to be in midlife and beyond. These amazing women, these reinvention rebels, can help light your reinvention path. Come join us and let's get inspired together. Hey, hey, hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Reinvention Rebels podcast. I'm your host, wendy. I am so glad you have joined me today. This podcast is about celebrating midlife boldness, and we feature women who are over 50 and are doing the work to figure out their next step with joy, purpose and curiosity. So are you ready to let go of old thinking, unlearn, societal conditioning about what aging women should be and do, and reclaim your authentic voice? Then this episode is for you. I'm in conversation with an extraordinary woman, laureen, who has rewritten the rules about aging at 58 on her terms, not somebody else's. And be sure to stick around to the end, because I've got a fabulous free gift for you to help you on your own reinvention journey. Let's come home to ourselves, like Lorene, and be reminded that we are infinite, limitless beings, capable of so much more than we sometimes give ourselves credit for. Midlife is our canvas to create the exquisite lives we envision for ourselves. So let's go. 

02:55
Today's guest is someone who truly embodies the spirit of reinvention. Courageous, curious and deeply committed to showing up as her authentic self, laureen is a model content creator and storyteller who began her midlife reinvention in the wake of a trifecta of change An empty nest, an allergic reaction that ended decades of hair dye and the onset of menopause. In an act of radical self-acceptance, she cut her hair into a short pixie and began documenting her transition to silver online, sharing not just her outer transformation but the inner work of reclaiming her identity. Laureen's content on Instagram at Glow Up Silver blends beauty, wellness and intentional living. Her journey led to unexpected modeling opportunities, deeper creative purpose and a growing community of women finding strength in vulnerability. A lifelong yoga practitioner and trained crisis counselor, laureen brings presence and compassion to everything she shares, reminding us that growth doesn't stop at midlife it begins. 

04:16
In this episode, laureen opens up about learning to bet on herself, releasing the grip of other people's opinions and embracing both her strengths and her limitations with grace. I can't wait for you to hear her story. It's honest, uplifting and full of gems for anyone curious about what's possible in midlife and beyond. Lorene, welcome to the Reinvention Rebels. Guest chair. 

04:47 - Laureen (Guest)
Hi, Wendy. Thank you so much for that absolutely warm and beautiful introduction and having me here with you today. I'm honored to be sharing some time with you. 

04:56 - Wendy (Host)
I am so equally honored. I'm so excited. We've been talking about this for so long and I know it's going to be such an amazing conversation that is going to inspire so many people. And I'd love to begin by asking you to take us back to the beginning of your reinvention journey. What was happening in your life that led you to start making changes, even if you didn't realize at the time that you were actually reinventing yourself? 

05:26 - Laureen (Guest)
Well, it began quietly but, I would say, very profoundly. First there was the allergic reaction to the hair dye, something that seemed very small on the surface, but it cracked open something deeper for me. Around the same time, my daughter left for college no, excuse me, not for college, she was actually leaving to live in her own apartment. This was not. She was coming back on holidays and summer breaks. So the empty nest was very silent and it cracked open a lot of emotion for me there as well. Then there was all of the feelings and unexpected physical, mental, emotional and spiritual reaction to the onset of menopause that I had no idea what I was now dealing with. So my hair, my home and my hormones would become the unlikely beginning of my reinvention. 

06:22 - Wendy (Host)
I love that the three H's. That's such a great way to describe that right. 

06:25 - Laureen (Guest)
All coming together. Yes, and I wasn't trying to become someone new. I was trying to meet myself again and I didn't know I was doing it. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but it was how it all began. 

06:38 - Wendy (Host)
I love that too about how you were meeting yourself again which is suggesting that we can all do this and you also need to know about the how, and so often it feels like we kind of take that leap. We just feel like you know these things manifest for us, in your case the three H's all at once kind of coming together in this trifecta that you talked about, and then it's like okay, I'm not sure, but it feels like you just decided this was the time. 

07:08 - Laureen (Guest)
Yes, absolutely, and it almost wasn't an actual concrete decision. It was little steps, you know, little steps that I'm still stepping into, but now I feel like there's a greater depth to them and it's been such a gradual journey, nothing that I could have planned, nothing that I could have foreseen for myself. And you know, here I am today, still growing, still learning, but seeing how far I've come, not only in all of my life until you know in totality, but really the midlife shift of things that I just did not expect to create, an awakening and a journey of inward lessons that would really bring me back to myself in ways I never expected. 

08:04 - Wendy (Host)
I think that's so fascinating One, this idea that you took baby steps, yes, and that it's been a journey, it's been ongoing, and just that you didn't necessarily have a lot of expectations, you just decided to kind of do it, and that you've seen how things have unfolded, often in these unexpected ways, which leads me to this idea about taking a risk with ourselves, because that's really what you were doing. You were really betting on yourself because you didn't know how it was going to turn out. The outcome wasn't clear. When you just said, now's the time, I'm feeling it in my gut that I need to make some changes. Can you share a moment when you really bet on yourself during this process and what was the result? 

08:53 - Laureen (Guest)
I think it was going to the hair salon and looking at my stylist, who knew me for many, many years, and said cut all my hair off please. And he said are you sure I'll do whatever you want, but you're sure we can start in the back and if any time you want me to stop, I will. And I just felt like I was at this moment of needing radical self-acceptance and knowing I was ready for a change and I was ready to cut it all off so that I could then let the gray start to grow in. And I had had a pixie before. So letting go of my hair was not something that I hadn't done before, but it's still a very big, big emotional shift. I've done it during a couple of other emotional times in my life and I was ready for it, but I also wasn't sure because I was much older woman and you know it's different than you know having the pixie that you saw Demi Moore have in. 

09:53 - Wendy (Host)
Ghosts all those years ago. 

09:55 - Laureen (Guest)
Yes, all I knew was I was going to have a salt and pepper pixie. 

09:59
Was it going to look like my, you know, like some of the older women in my life that were, you know, great grandmothers? 

10:08
I mean, there's nothing wrong with being a great grandmother, but I don't know if I was ready to be that at in my early fifties, you know. 

10:14
So I think that step and then coming home and a few weeks later, finding the courage to post that photo on Instagram, looking for connection, looking for community and support, because I had no other idea how to transition and I really didn't see that many other women were doing this through the gradual demarcation line of growing out their hair with the silver coming in and watching it as it grew into their dyed hair. So I was looking for support and hoping that I could also inspire somebody else. But allowing myself to feel vulnerable, stepping out without armor on and even with the fear that I felt, I think changed everything for me. It was a small decision, to be seen without hiding, and I began to share more of my thoughts, my transitions and my truth, and I really feel that it was a moment of self-trust and it became the foundation for growing and connecting with a community of women who were having the same questions that I was. 

11:20 - Wendy (Host)
Yes, I really love this story so much about how you bet on yourself by. Yes, I really love this story so much about how you bet on yourself by one, going there and saying cut it all off, which is a huge thing, Because I remember even doing that when I was 12. I had long hair and for some reason, I told the hairdresser to cut it all off, which I then regretted later, but at the time I felt so sure and I just was like I'm going to, I needed something different. So I appreciate that you took this leap and you said I'm going to do this. But not only that, because I think when I first met you, Laureen, it was when it was that short pixie. I mean, when I say met you, I didn't know you, but I started following you and I was so inspired by your bravery to post, to post your journey so authentically, to speak from your heart. It just spoke to me so powerfully. 

12:10
And I believe that when we take those leaps, when we bet on ourself and we step into our own truth, other people pick up on that and it gives them permission to do the same thing. It's like, okay, if Lorene could do that. Well, I feel empowered to have my own version of that. Whatever that is, it might not be your exact journey and whether it's about silver hair or it's about some other challenge we want to conquer in midlife, it gives us courage to say, okay, it's a little scary, but we can take those small steps as you talked about. We can ease into it. Maybe the cutting isn't easing into it, it's just going for it, but you know, we can still make those small steps along that journey Right, we can take a big step, but then we can also realize it's okay to take small steps backwards because it's not fully the whole journey is. 

13:08 - Laureen (Guest)
You know, it's not linear, right? So I did that. It's okay to acknowledge that, because that's where the effect of rebuilding comes, and it's okay to have all of that it's not a pretty perfect story wrapped in a bow, like you make this decision and then all of a sudden everything's okay in an alignment. It's not that way and it's a constant reminder. I mean, this journey will be a constant reminder to me to accept all the step backwards that I may take. We may take on the path forward and it's okay. 

13:58 - Wendy (Host)
Exactly that says it so beautifully because there will be things that come up. It won't be this perfect path, and one of the things I really like in your intro. We talked about this idea of you showing up as your authentic self, and I think that so often we want to package everything up perfectly and make it look like our lives are so great and we all have challenges. I know that we don't always share all our challenges, but I appreciate how you're so transparent about your insecurities and how you're figuring things out and you're trying different things and you're leaning into new possibilities, but doing it in that way that's so open, I think, for me also makes such a difference, because I always think that, as you're alluding to, the sort of step forward, step back, reinvention isn't always easy. Mm-hmm. We have obstacles that come up and challenges along the way, and I'm kind of curious about some of the internal challenges that you faced and how you've learned to navigate them. 

15:03 - Laureen (Guest)
Well, I think, firstly and most importantly, it's the letting go of the need to be understood by everyone, and that's one of the hardest lessons I've learned, but the most liberating. And while I'm trying to be as open and vulnerable as possible, of course you know there's certain things that are sacred, certain things that we keep to ourselves even as we're trying to take these steps forwards, to becoming more and more of our authentic selves. And I think we have to accept not everyone's going to get us, Not everyone is going to understand or see us in the same light that we maybe see ourselves when we're seeing positive things in ourselves and realize that people are not going to always understand who we are and why we do what we do. And letting go of that is really important. Growth also means letting go, letting go of what doesn't serve us and realizing that it can be a painful decision, but it's imperative to really really healing and growing, and I think I spent a lot of my life trying to keep the peace to be palatable to others. 

16:15
You know, I think what I'm learning in midlife is that I had to really challenge the ideas I absorbed about myself, about my worth, about beauty, about aging and unlearning that conditioning. It takes time and it's a gradual journey to reclaiming ourselves and all of the things that are infinite about who we are, because we are infinite beings with so much to uncover. And I think uncovering the gray hair was a release of so much shame. And where does that shame come from? It's been a great question I've had to ask myself all the time. And then, uncovering the gray, uncovering who I am, and then deciding how I want to be seen and not caring so much about how I'm the perception of me, Finally being able to tune into that and it's a big difference. 

17:12 - Wendy (Host)
It's so interesting what you just said, because part of what I hear is that this midlife journey for you, this reinvention, has been an invitation to really uncover these layers, giving yourself permission to uncover these layers and really find your true self, where it is about what's important to you and it's less about all those other people and what other people want. Because you talked about keeping the peace and kind of aligning with other people's expectations and I think as women we're just socialized to do that. It's hard. You talked about sort of society, the messages that society sends us and I don't know how we can't absorb those messages given and it's sometimes so subtle. It's not even always this blaring thing, but just the subtle things we learn growing up. 

18:12 - Laureen (Guest)
Right, that's what that's exactly, because it's society, it's culture, it's our families, it's our friends, even well-meaning people. Yes, so many things that veer us off course from trusting our own voice. 

18:30 - Wendy (Host)
Yes, and it is a lesson in finding that voice, and not only finding it but, to your point, trusting it. To trust that gut feeling, to trust when we have a little whisper of something that's coming from the universe or coming from deep within our soul and really listening. 

18:49 - Laureen (Guest)
And that whisper has been there from the very beginning. When I go back to my earliest memories, I had no idea that that was my gut speaking to me or that that was my intuitive gift, my intuitive divine gift. I ignored it and I went to the head, into my mind, into what I was supposed to think and then battling it out, you know, and really ignoring what was my right, what was my divine right to tune into myself and have that be my GPS, so to speak, my inner you and you find your way. Even when you may have gone off course and haven't listened to it, it's always there and it's always kind of pulling you back in. 

19:54 - Wendy (Host)
Yeah, it absolutely is, and I think we can. When we can begin to trust that which I think it just comes with practice, right, we do a little bit and we're like, oh okay, that kind of worked, then we get a little more confidence. Because when we talk about this idea of other people, other people's expectations and trying to crack free of that, as we want to really excavate this self, that we're talking about this truer self, this person that we're rediscovering, that we kind of forgot when we were having kids and working and doing all those other things. We forgot she was in there, right, we got so buried. What would you say is the most important thing? If you had to come up with one thing which I know is hard, but if there's one thing that really helped you stop worrying so much about what other people think and to start trusting that voice more fully, what would you say? That is Because so many women struggle with this. 

20:48 - Laureen (Guest)
I think, reaching the point where hiding became heavier than being seen. I mean, I realized, if I kept molding myself to fit others' expectations, I never, ever really get the opportunity to feel truly known by others or myself, and I think that's helped me. That's really helped me. And the most surprising part of it all is that by doing so, I am reminded that it's my truth that connects us with people that are supposed to be in our lives, that we can help and that they can help us as well on our path. And hearing from other women who saw themselves in my words, and seeing and learning from their stories and how they were finding their way back to themselves, the synergy of that just helped propel me forward. 

21:45 - Wendy (Host)
I love that. I love that in this community, especially on Instagram, we lift each other up, we encourage, we empower, we help each other see different paths that maybe we couldn't see ourselves. So your story, Lorene, the things that you've done, how you've come home to yourself when you share that, especially through your poetry, your tap dancing, your yoga, your piano play, like in all these, like that's what I love. I love watching you because you do these amazing creative things and I'm like, well, wow, maybe I should tap into some of my creativity too, Like maybe you know, because you're talking about how you're rediscovering things. 

22:27 - Laureen (Guest)
Yes, and it's fun. I mean we are all creative, we all have the ability to be creative. It's part of your soul, it's who you are. We are all born with the gift to be creative and I ignored it for many, many years and I would say that that has been allowing myself to be creative without judgment. I mean, wow, what a healing, cathartic, beautiful gift to myself. And then to even hear you say that you enjoy it, I mean that's a gift. I mean I can't even express to you the emotion I feel in how just you saying that made me feel and knowing that, something that I think we all ignore because we think, oh, we're not good enough, I'm not an artist, I'm not practiced enough, I'm not, I don't have qualifications that say I'm good in X, y and Z. No, no, you don't need that, you don't need that. 

23:32 - Wendy (Host)
It says everything to me about this idea of enoughness, that all of us are enough as we are I think we get so caught up in these other things that steer us wrong but that within all of us there is this just amazing human being, and we are becoming her as we navigate midlife, and I love that. So I have to ask you this If you had to give your reinvention a personal motto or theme, given this fantastic journey you've been on, what would that be and how does that continue to guide you Well? 

24:22 - Laureen (Guest)
I would say a personal motto or theme would be beauty in presence, growth through resilience, wellness through intention. That's become, I think, the thread in everything I do intention that's become, I think, the thread in everything I do. My reinvention isn't about becoming someone else, it's about being deeply present with who I am already, who I am right now, and living from that place with softness, honesty and purpose that is so beautiful you stepping onto center stage of your own life in all these amazing ways. 

25:02 - Wendy (Host)
That is so powerful. 

25:04
And for me this is so empowering because I think that so many of us in midlife struggle and feel unsure and, of course, right, because you mentioned you were an empty nester at one point and your girls have left, and menopause and your hair and all the things that we all deal with. 

25:28
For some of us it's aging, parents, caregiving, career changes, being down. We could all fill in the blanks of our own life about all of the challenges we've had, but to be able to shift this and see this opening to me, I think it's encouraging for all of us listening to be reminded that when we bet on ourselves, even when we don't know what will happen, as you talked about when there are a lot of unknowns my gosh, anything is possible. It just cracks open so many new possibilities and that's what I hear in your story. When you talked about well, I started sharing my story you know, just slowly sharing my story about my hair journey and that opened up these new opportunities I didn't even see coming. You said they were unexpected. Yes, so we could do anything. 

26:18 - Laureen (Guest)
We absolutely can. We absolutely can, Wendy. You said it absolutely beautifully too. I agree with you. 

26:24 - Wendy (Host)
I know that people who are listening Lorene are saying I have got to follow this woman, I need to find her, I want to be inspired by her. So I do want to ask where can people find you? 

26:38 - Laureen (Guest)
Well, I'm on Instagram, which has been really the only place that I've been sharing everything over the past four years since you know, this journey began and I'm considering, maybe, sub stack, but right now I'm on Instagram with a beautiful, wonderful, supportive community of women that every day, I'm thankful for with all of my heart, with all of my heart, I'm thankful for these women. 

27:11
I owe them so much to what they have added to my life, how they've enriched my life, how they've helped me along my journey, and it's because of that community that I keep showing up, even when sometimes there's self-doubt or questions lingering or moments where you just feel maybe not creative or not inspired or not yourself giving yourself the space and then realizing how much you know you have built and how much support you have, and that you have this safe place to be yourself, which is really surprising to say that you would think social media, with all its pitfalls and downsides. I could never have imagined the positive impact it's had on my life. But, like anything else, it's with intention you have to use it. It's with being truly aware and finding a balance in social media so that it can bring beautiful, wonderful insights to your life. 

28:13 - Wendy (Host)
You said that so perfectly because it's true. When you said intention. I know that so often we're like well, you know it's true. When you said intention. I know that so often we're like well, you know it really stinks. I don't like social media, and I feel the same way about Instagram that you do that there is this amazing community of people that I am so fortunate to have found, and the way we lift each other up is nothing short of truly inspiring and heartwarming, and so we can find our people. 

28:40 - Laureen (Guest)
We can find our people right. I'm here with you right now. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for you. I mean, it's you. It's you that brought me to this moment. It's you that made me speak on my first podcast. It's your energy, it's your support, it's your creativity and kindness. It's your energy, it's your support, it's your creativity and kindness. It's you bringing out the best in me because of who you are, and wow, what another amazing gift that is. I mean, you know you just. 

29:07 - Wendy (Host)
Well, thank you, thank you for those kind words, and it's a mutual feeling. I am so incredibly grateful. I stumbled upon your profile one day and started following you and I just, I, just I just love this friendship we've developed and I'm so honored that you're coming on like I'm your first podcast and I'm so honored and I want to say, lorraine, that I hope you'll continue to do this. I hope you'll find more podcasts, so many amazing podcasts, out there, and share your story, because people need to hear this. So many people these days need hope and inspiration. 

29:42 - Laureen (Guest)
Yes. 

29:43 - Wendy (Host)
About what's possible. 

29:45 - Laureen (Guest)
I hope I will do more and I hope people realize that stepping out of your comfort zone actually brings comfort. 

29:53 - Wendy (Host)
It does right, when we can kind of work through the fears but do it anyway, right. But when we do that, though, we can get more comfortable. I think that's the irony of it. If we actually give ourselves the space and grace to actually do it, amen, right, we build our confidence. And then the next time it's like, oh hey, I'm on my second podcast. Then you're going to be like Wendy, I'm on my 10th podcast Before you know it. You're going to be like I'm a podcast pro. So I love this so much. I am so grateful for your time, your energy, your brilliance, your ideas, your authentic self. I am so happy you joined me today. Thank you so much for gracing all of us with your beautiful presence, lorene. 

30:38 - Laureen (Guest)
Thank you with all my heart for having me, wendy. I'm grateful, grateful, grateful, and I'll be seeing you again real soon, I'm sure. 

30:45 - Wendy (Host)
Yes, you will. What a beautiful conversation. I'm so moved by what we talked about, and Lorene reminds us that reinvention doesn't have to be loud or dramatic. In fact, it can unfold quietly through small, courageous choices that bring us home to who we truly are. If her story spoke to your heart, maybe it's your time too, to let go of old thinking, to unlearn the conditioning about who midlife women should be and, honestly, to reclaim your authentic voice. 

31:33
I'm doing this same work. I'm working on figuring it out too. So if you're ready to take that next gentle step, I've got something special for you. It's a free seven-minute audio called five questions, to spark your curiosity and inspire your reinvention journey. It can help you start tapping into that wisdom that already exists within you. Sometimes we just need a little nudge to get us started. You'll find all the details are in the show notes. Until next time, may you stay curious, stay kind to yourself and remember you are an infinite evolving being and so much more powerful than you realize. Rebels, keep shining your light. The world needs you and all that you have to offer.