Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast
Have you ever felt like you’ve become lost in your own life?
Many men struggle to talk about their problems and mental health and grew up believing that to do can be perceived as a sign of weakness or failure. There is also a lack of open discussion in society around men’s mental health, especially aimed at mid-life men. As a result, at times many men can feel alone and lost in their own lives.
In this podcast series, I talk to mid-life men about their stories; the challenges, the turning points, and the support received to help them find their way so that others who may be suffering in silence or don’t know what to do next, realise that they are not alone and there is help available.
Stories will cover a whole range of challenges faced by mid-life men mainly relating to the causes of mental health issues including feelings of isolation, depression, job dissatisfaction, addiction, PTSD, and long-term illness.
The podcast is NOT a replacement for professional support and we signpost to organisations and their contact details by episode.
If you have a story you would like to share or any feedback on the podcasts, please email me: midlifemen01@gmail.com.
Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast
What if the Life You Built Isn't You Anymore? with Nick Shelton
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What happens when the work stops, the job title is no longer relevant, and the role that defined you disappears?
In this episode, Nick Shelton tells the story so many midlife men silently live: achieving everything you thought you wanted… only to find yourself fading, drifting, or feeling strangely empty once the structure and purpose of working life falls away.
Nick retired young, thinking it would feel like freedom. Instead, it felt like slowly disappearing, like waking up one day and realising the man you were has nowhere to go and nothing to do.
This episode is about what happens next.
It’s about not losing yourself when life changes and about the courage it takes to create a second life, one built on meaning, curiosity, relationships, and identity, not just achievement.
Most importantly, it’s about the truth midlife men rarely hear: you’re allowed to reinvent yourself. You’re allowed to want something different. You don’t have to stay who you’ve always been.
What You’ll Learn
- Why so many men feel lost after retirement or a career shift, and why no one talks about it.
- How identity becomes wrapped around work, status, and achievement. often without us noticing.
- The emotional crash that happens when the job ends, even when it’s a choice.
- Why “freedom” can feel frightening or empty if you don’t have a new purpose.
- Nick’s practical “Reset Button” framework for reinventing yourself step by step.
- How to rediscover passions, confidence, and agency after years of routine.
- Why you don’t have to keep doing the same job just because you’ve always done it.
- The difference between finding your purpose and revealing it.
- How to move from the achievement phase of life to the impact, connection, and meaning phase.
- Why you are never too old to start again, and why reinvention is an option at any age.
Why Men Should Listen
Because Nick’s story answers the midlife question men avoid the most: “If I’m not my job anymore… who am I?”
Whether you’re thinking about retirement, feeling stuck in the same role, quietly burning out, or just sensing that life is shifting beneath your feet, Nick puts words to the feelings men rarely voice:
- “I thought I’d be happy, but I felt like I was disappearing.”
- “Everyone thought I was fine, but I wasn’t.”
- “No one taught us how to start again.”
His honesty is the bridge that helps men realise they’re not alone, not weak, and not broken; they’re just at a crossroads no one prepared them for.
This episode permits men to rethink everything: career, identity, purpose, direction, and even the shape of their everyday lives. And it offers a practical system for stepping into a life that actually fits who they are now, not who they used to be.
Nick brings humour, honesty, and humility to a conversation many men desperately need but rarely have.
His story is your story just told aloud.
If you want to find out more about Nick and his work, visit his website: resettheman.com, and you can also find him on LinkedIn as Nick Shelton.
His book, “An Introvert's Guide to World Domination,” is available to buy on Amazon and through other online retailers.
