Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships
Coping Skills for Midlife Stress and Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships
Forget the midlife crisis—how about creating midlife calm? The anxiety and stress of this life stage can drain your energy, fuel overthinking, and make it hard to enjoy what should be the best years of your life. This podcast offers practical coping skills to help you reduce anxiety, manage stress, and rediscover a calmer, more confident version of yourself.
In Creating Midlife Calm, you’ll discover how to:
- Be happier, more present, and more effective at home and work.
- Transform stress and anxiety into powerful tools that boost your clarity, energy, and confidence.
- Cultivate calm and joy through practical, affordable coping skills that help you handle life’s daily challenges.
Join MJ Murray Vachon, LCSW, a seasoned therapist with over 50,000 hours of clinical experience and 32 years teaching mental wellness, as she guides you to reclaim your inner calm. Learn to stay grounded in the present, navigate midlife transitions with clarity, and build emotional resilience using proven coping tools.
Every Monday, MJ dives into real stories and science-backed insights to help you shift from anxious to centered—ending each episode with an “Inner Challenge” you can practice right away. Then, on Thursdays, she shares a brief follow-up episode that connects, deepens, or expands the week’s topic, helping you apply these skills in real life.
Let’s evolve from crisis to calm—and make midlife your most balanced and fulfilling chapter yet.
🎧 Start with listener favorite Ep. 138 to feel the difference calm can make.
Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships
Ep.274 How Brewing Coffee Can Help Decrease Anxiety & Stress in Midlife
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What if one of the simplest ways to create calm is already part of your morning routine?
If your mind tends to race ahead before your feet even hit the ground, you're not alone.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- How to use an ordinary moment—waiting for your coffee to brew—to ground yourself, slow your mind, and begin your day with a little more calm and presence.
🎧 Take 2 minutes to create a calmer start to your day—you’re worth it.
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About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon, LCSW, is a seasoned clinician, educator, and host of the podcast Creating Midlife Calm, recognized by Maria Shriver as a “Listen of the Week.” Over the past 40 years, MJ has led more than 50,000 therapy sessions and developed the Inner Challenge mental wellness program and the Inner Challenge Master Class, practical tools for emotional regulation, self-awareness, and resilience taught for more than 30 years in junior high schools and at the University of Notre Dame for freshman football players. Through her podcast, teaching, and coaching, MJ helps people build calmer lives, stronger relationships, and healthier communities.
Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.
Welcome to Creating Calm in the Wild. I'm MJ Murray Vachon, and every Friday I'll be sharing a short, practical way to create a little more calm in the middle of real life. Because calm isn't something you have to wait for, it's something you can learn to create right in the middle of the wild I'm gonna share with you this morning a simple way to start your day to decrease anxiety and stress. It is 6:13 and I am standing in front of my Keurig coffee maker, getting ready to start my day. If you're like me, your mind naturally races ahead to your to-do list. What I wanna invite you to do is to start your day taking control of your mind, slowing it down. This simple practice just asks you to stand in front of your coffee maker, ground your feet, and take a few calming breaths can you hear the coffee? What do you notice? I notice that my mind goes from there to here. Instead of it racing, planning, my body begins to settle and I feel more present to my morning. Do I do this every morning? Absolutely not. But I at least try to do it 70% of the mornings. The other mornings, my mind gets away from me. But because I have a second cup of coffee every day, I always have another chance to try this easy grounding and calming exercise. Will this change your world? No. But it does help you in this simple way become more grounded and present, centered and settled as you head into your day. The beauty of this simple little practice is it works with any coffee maker or at your local coffee shop or even when you're brushing your teeth. Thanks for listening, and I hope you join me Monday on Creating Midlife Calm for my full-length episode.