132. Permission to Pause- New episode schedule

 This week’s episode is a real-life, unpolished, sit-on-the-couch-with-me kind of conversation. If you noticed there was no episode last week… you’re right. And today, I’m sharing exactly why.

The last several weeks have been overwhelming in ways I didn’t fully acknowledge until everything came to a stop. After the fire at my Annapolis clinic, the smoke and water damage, the rebuild, the logistics of reopening, caring for patients in my other clinic, planning a huge anniversary celebration and bringing home a new puppy (yes, really!) — I hit a wall. I simply forgot to record an episode. And instead of beating myself up, I decided to listen to what my body was trying to tell me: I needed to pause.

In this episode:

• How the clinic fire and rebuild pushed me past my limit
• What it feels like to juggle everything—and still have things fall through the cracks
• The shame of forgetting simple tasks… and the truth that it happens to all of us
• The reminder I coach women on constantly but sometimes forget myself:
   You’re allowed to rest. You don’t have to do things the way you always have.
• Why I’m not quitting the podcast, even though I considered it
• How I’m shifting into a more grounded, intentional production rhythm
• Why midlife can feel so full, so chaotic, and so deeply human—and why we need real conversations, not polished perfection

My New Podcast Schedule

To honor my own capacity (and sanity!), new episodes will now drop on the:
 📅 Second and fourth Thursday of every month

This gives me breathing room to show up for my patients, run my business, and create episodes that are meaningful, deeper, and more intentional—rather than rushing to fill every Thursday.

If You’re Feeling Overwhelmed Too…

Let this be your sign.
 It’s okay to pause.
 It’s okay to change your mind.
 It’s okay to shift the rules.
 It’s okay to let one version of yourself go and step into something new.

We’re not here to perform. We’re here to live these messy, beautiful, imperfect lives — and sometimes living requires letting something drop so you can breathe.

Upcoming Annapolis Day Retreat

If you’re local, I would love to see you at the co-ed day retreat I’m hosting with my friend and breathwork practitioner, Trish Brewer:

🗓 January 4
📍 Restore Studio, Annapolis

There will be breathwork, Hatha yoga, restorative yoga, and a whole day designed to help you reset and reconnect.
 Search “Annapolis retreat” on Eventbrite to find the link.

Connect with me, Dr. Sara Poldmae:

Website: https://risingwomanproject.com

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/drsarapoldmae

Transcript

Sara Poldmae: 0:01

Sarah, welcome to menopause. Rise and thrive. I am Dr Sarah pulled May, and this podcast is your go to guide for navigating perimenopause and menopause. If you are feeling a little overwhelmed, trust me, you are in great company each week, I'll bring you expert advice, raw, honest conversations and simple tips to help you stay grounded and maybe even find some humor in the process. Let's rise thrive and tackle this wild ride together. Hey, friends, welcome back to menopause. Rise and thrive. It's Dr Sarah, and if you're a regular listener, you may have noticed something. There was no episode last week, and honestly, there's a reason for that, and that's exactly why I am talking with you today. This isn't a polished episode, and it's more of a real life kind of sitting down with you on the couch, kind of chat, and that's exactly where I am sitting on my couch with a brand new puppy. I know it's crazy. I'm about to tell you how insane my life has been, and why get a puppy in the middle of it. That's a whole nother story, but the last few weeks have been a lot. And as many of you know, my Annapolis clinic had a fire and significant smoke and water damage. And even though we stayed open in the other clinic that I have and kept serving patients and planned an amazing Grand Reopening and 20th anniversary party for the clinic. The truth is, it's been completely draining. And while I'm so grateful for the turnout that we had for the reopening celebration, the rebuild, the emotions, the logistics, I just like, hit a place where I was like, nope, not today, and frankly, I forgot to record a podcast episode for last week, so there wasn't much that I could do about it. I didn't get it in on time, and I've forgotten a few things like that. I forgot to pay a bill last week, which was I was super ashamed about, but I really just haven't been keeping up. I've been in a million different places. I'm sure that you can feel those feelings, or know those feelings that sometimes when things really just start spiraling, you forget things. And so one of the things I coach women about all the time is this, you do not have to do things the way that you've always done them. You don't have to play the role that you've always played, and you're allowed to take a break. So here I am trying to crank out a podcast in the midst of pretty much everything else going on, and I was trying to keep up with business as usual, but nothing in my life has been usual. So this week, I just decided I am going to stop beating myself up over missing a podcast episode, and I took it as a reminder or a nudge that I needed, that rest is allowed. It's okay to give yourself permission to pause, and I need to practice what I preach. So here's what's changing and what's not changing. I am not quitting the podcast, although at times I was super tempted. It was just another thing on my plate. Problem is I love everything that's on my plate. So, you know, just like we love our families and we love our, you know, job most of the time, if we're lucky enough to say that, like I am, I've decided to slow down the release of episodes. So what's changing is that I'm shifting to a schedule that feels more sustainable and more aligned with my schedule at work and just how I want to go forward in the new year. So new episodes from now on will come out on the second and the fourth Thursday of each month, and this will give me some space to breathe, especially with the clinic that had the fire will be reopened. We reopened for a soft launch with a big party on Saturday, but for the rest of the year, we'll be ironing things out at the at the clinic, but it also gives me room to be present with my patients. Run my business, and occasionally, like I don't know, have a social life like a normal person, but mostly it's going to allow me to create episodes that feel deeper and more intentional, instead of rushing just to fill a Thursday. And I've loved all my episodes, but I really want to start curating and being more intentional about what I want to. Speak to each time I hop on the mic. So I'll be honest there. There really was a moment when I thought about ending the podcast entirely. Frankly, there's been moments this year that I want to kind of burn it all down, not literally, like my clinic burned down. But there's been moments when I thought, gosh, I just want to kind of go travel or what have you? Life just felt really heavy, and I think that the fire has given me permission to pause. I think I talked about that a couple of weeks ago on the podcast, just to pause and say, How do I want to do things? How do I want to show up in this world? And I don't want the podcast to feel like just one more thing, and I really enjoy recording, and I really enjoy being with you all, so every time I sit down and talk to you, I really remember exactly why this podcast matters. Women do need real conversations. We don't need perfection or polished scripts or another expert voice telling us to, you know, eat more protein. I really do feel that midlife is complex, and hormones can feel like chaos, and that life can be really full, and that we, all including myself, are trying to figure it out all the time, and that's why I'm staying with the podcast. I'm just changing it up to something that feels a little bit more sustainable. And if you've been feeling stretched thin yourself, if something you normally keep up with has fallen through the cracks, you're, you're, you know your sign could be this episode, right? If you've been carrying more than usual, this could be your sign. This episode right here me sharing what I've been through and how I'm just working to refine things and really show up in a different way. This episode could be, and I hope it is for a few people out there. It could be your permission to tell yourself, it's okay to pause, it's okay to change your mind. It's okay to shift the rules. It's okay to say, I missed a week, and that's okay. It's okay to walk away from the old person or the old version of the person that you were and say yes to everything new. It's okay just to tweak and refine. We're not here to perform. We're here to live these beautiful, imperfect lives that we live, and sometimes, sometimes living, at least for me, means letting something drop for a moment, just so that you can breathe it. You know, I could come back and do the podcast every week. At some point, I don't know what the future will look like, but for right now, I just want to thank you for sticking with me even even for the weeks when I disappear for a moment. Thank you for giving me grace. I'm going to thank myself for giving myself grace. Think we should thank ourselves more often than we do, and thank you for being a part of this community of women who are trying to figure out midlife and thrive through it together. I'm going to give you a plug if you're in the Annapolis area. My dear friend and breath work practitioner, Trish Brewer, she's been on this podcast before. We're going to be hosting a lovely day retreat in the beginning of January. If January 4 is a Sunday, that's when it is I don't even have it on my I don't have my calendar pulled up. I'm going to confirm that really quickly with you. Again, we're showing up imperfectly today. Yes, January 4, we're going to have a lovely day retreat at my new restore studio. There'll be breath work, there'll be yoga, both hatha yoga and then a more restorative yoga. We're going to plan a lovely day for for all of you, this will be a co Ed retreat, which is something that we don't do that often, but we figured, since it's a day and we won't be sharing living spaces, we can do a co Ed retreat. So bring your hubbies, if you'd like, and you can make it to Maryland. I'd be so excited to show you my brand new space. If you have not been to my Annapolis clinic before, I would love, love, love to welcome you. So I invite you to come to that retreat. The link should be up on let's see where do we have it again, imperfect this episode, the link is up on Eventbrite. So if you Google retreats in Annapolis on Eventbrite, you should find it again. This is not a polished episode. I should have the link in my show notes, but I'm running late even to get this to you. But I hope you join us, and if you have any questions about that? Hello at rising woman project.com it's always a great way to get in touch. Still offering my coaching sessions if you'd like to hop on those again. Episodes will be back on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, and they will be intentional. Hopefully even more grounded and honestly, just more me. Just gonna have more breathing space to pick things, refine things. It's gonna be amazing. I'm super excited to give myself this permission to pause, and I hope that you take care of yourselves. Take a breath, and I will talk to you soon you.