Let's Talk Midlife Crisis Podcast
Hosts Ashley & Traci are creating a community and empowering women going thru midlife and aging, exploring the topic of midlife crisis an all its complexities. This is a space where we can come together to share our stories, our experiences, and our perspectives on this pivotal moment in our lives.
Whether you're going through a midlife crisis yourself, going through menopause, dating in midlife or just interested in learning more about this fascinating topic, we invite you to join us for insightful conversations with experts, personal stories from real people, and practical advice on how to navigate this challenging time.
Our goal is to create a community where we can support each other through the ups and downs of midlife, and help each other find meaning, purpose and fulfillment in the second half of our lives.
So buckle up and get ready for an engaging and thought-provoking journey into the world of midlife crisis. We can't wait to share this adventure with you!
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Let's Talk Midlife Crisis Podcast
From Menopause Apps to Meaningful Connections
Ever wondered how technology could transform your journey through menopause? Meet the apps that have made a significant impact on our lives. We kick off by sharing our experiences with the Balance app and how its initial charm led us to explore others like Health and Her. With its intuitive design and handy features like hydration reminders and breathing exercises, Health and Her has become a beacon of support in our daily lives. Join us as we discuss the power of tracking moods and symptoms and how these insights prompted deeper self-care, even leading one of us to seek professional guidance.
Building on the theme of empowerment, we delve into a new app that's reshaping the way women connect through shared stories and experiences. Oprah's Book Club ties into this narrative, bringing spotlight to Riley, Lisa Marie Presley's daughter, and her poignant journey of finishing her mother's unfinished book. We reflect on the legacies of Oprah and Maria Shriver as advocates for menopause awareness and discuss the natural ways many of us navigate this stage of life. Plus, we open up about finding purpose amidst life's chaos and share personal stories about evolving family dynamics and LGBTQ+ acceptance. You won't want to miss this exploration of life's transformations and the communities that support us along the way.
As discussed our our show
apps ~ found in your app store or online at
https://www.balance-menopause.com/balance-app/
https://healthandher.com/en-us
Oprah Daily Insider Membership via Facebook for a limited time special offer of $15/year.
https://www.facebook.com/oprahdaily/videos/1704205813675175/
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Hello and welcome to let's Talk Midlife Crisis with your hosts, ashley and Tracy. Pull up a chair for your seat at the table as we talk about menopause app.
Speaker 2:We both signed up for balance.
Speaker 1:Right, we both signed up for balance. Okay, you know what, when I signed up, there was something that I was interested in. It was like oh, sign up and, you know, answer these few short questions and we're going to give you, like, the secrets to whatever right, and I don't know what happened, but I missed that part.
Speaker 2:Then I kind of got it once you brought to my attention that one balance um. I started looking on the app store at other options. Right and holy cow, there's so many, so many. Not what I expected at all. Um, so I kind of just started looking through, like the ratings and the comments and things like that one that I, that I and and you can read most. When you go into, you know, look at the apps.
Speaker 2:They give you like a little blurb on what the app is, what it does right right, the one that um kind of resonated with me the most, I think, is it was called health and her health. So I'm both of those, okay, health and her, yeah, okay, um, they both do kind of. You know, they do like an intake where they ask you all these questions what are your symptoms? How old are you? Um, you know about your cycle? Um, a bunch of different things, right. So you do all that and then, based off the information that you provide, they have kind kind of I wouldn't say remedies, but things you can do to. You know, I am not good at going in every single day and logging my symptoms and my mood and my how did I sleep and what did I eat and did I work out? Like I just I, first of all, I don't even think about it. Things will go by and be like ah yeah, what am I doing?
Speaker 2:but I but I also just don't really have the time, you know. I mean, I guess if it was that important to me I could set aside the time.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:This was just more of a let's you know, see what these are about. I have to say, they both have a plethora of information. It gives you all kinds of articles and links, and workouts and meditations, like all kinds of different things that you can be doing to feel better, or you know. The one I liked the most, though, was Health and Her.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:I did. I really liked it. It sends you throughout the day. It sends you reminders like to hydrate.
Speaker 1:Oh you, throughout the day it sends you reminders like to hydrate.
Speaker 2:Oh, so I'll get a little ding and it'll be like time to hydrate, drink some water, which for some people I don't think that's an issue, but for me it's like oh yeah, I, I should do that. Even if it's sitting here on my desk, I don't always stop to take a drink of water, so I never hydrate yeah.
Speaker 2:So I definitely improved my hydration. It also, you know, like mid afternoon almost like toward the end of your workday, it was like okay, time to kind of take a minute and do a breathing exercise. You know, it's your days coming to an end, You're probably overwhelmed, but it's time to kind of get relaxed. So I really liked that. It did those kinds of things and it also as far as like logging all that information, I felt like it was a little more user friendly.
Speaker 1:Okay, so is it more for overall health or do you feel that it's specific to perimenopause and menopause? Specific to perimenopause and menopause.
Speaker 2:I think it depends on a 20-year-old could download this app and enter their information, and it determines whether or not you're actually in perimenopause or menopause whatever it might be so if you're not, it's not going to send you information regarding that.
Speaker 2:So, like I said, it asks for your age, it asks for any symptoms. It asks for you know, any symptoms you're experiencing where you know in your twenties I, I, it could be stress and anxiety I guess it seems to be pretty prevalent in that decade, and you know. But it doesn't like balance. I didn't really notice anything about mood, which I think is also very it's important mood right.
Speaker 2:Which I think is also very it's important for any age group.
Speaker 2:But I think it's very important for for midlife to kind of track, um, you know what you're experiencing and you know how bad or how little, or whether it's happiness or depression or anxiety or stress or um.
Speaker 2:It was a really good way to gauge and this is where it actually really helped me. I've talked a million times in our episodes about, you know, the last year and how crazy it's been for me and I kind of, you know, paying attention to this app and kind of like really looking at what I was experiencing personally. It made me realize I'm not like getting the joy and excitement that I used to get about things that you know always made me happy and not that they don't anymore, but it's just like, oh yeah, it was fine and I'm like that's not cool, that's that's really not good and I'm just I'm really kind of blocked. I think I should be, and so I talked to my therapist about it. I'm going to see a psychiatrist and probably get on something to kind of help regulate that Probably short term hopefully it could be circumstantial, but it created that awareness for me, so I found that very useful and helpful.
Speaker 1:Interesting, interesting, but I've noticed that the same. But I didn't have, I didn't use that app. So now I'm like, hmm, maybe I will download it. I like to balance. Initially just because I thought it was, you know, I thought it was a new and unique thing, right? But like you said, then you go to the app store and there's a gazillion apps for menopause. So I didn't. I signed up for it, but honestly, I'm so bad I haven't used it and also Did you look at any of the others by chance?
Speaker 1:I did. I did and I do want to share with you it may or may not be a surprise to you and to our audience of the one that I picked, but this one I like it. But you know what's interesting, it's from Europe, so and also you have to pay. There's you, and also you have to pay. When I was looking through the App Store to try to find one, it's like in-app pay, in-app pay, so you can download it and you can sign up, but then if you want to do anything, it's like you have to pay, and I was trying to stay away from that. I didn't want to have to pay for it. I wanted to kind of try it.
Speaker 2:First, I did pay for the balance, the health and her. I don't, I didn't pay anything for that one. I don't think. But yeah, I really I think it was free and I think you can pay. I don't, I don't think I paid anything for what I've been doing.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. So I found an app I just happened to stumble upon it and you're gonna laugh. It's the. It is for menopause, but it isn't. It's maybe more like health for her. That, um, you know, it's a very covers a wide range of, you know, just feminine topics, subjects, you know, and stuff like that, and it's something. It's Oprah's Daily Insider. Oh, she has, and I thought it was kind of funny. She's created an app now to create a community where people can come together and, like she has been listening to our show because we use her lists and a lot of.
Speaker 1:We get a lot of our content from her, from Oprah Daily, so every day they send out an email. She's got fantastic content, but of course, she's Oprah, right? Yeah, it's called the Oprah Daily Insider and it's an app, but it is a pay, which is why I wanted to talk about it. But what I thought was funny was because it just shows, I guess, how frugal I can be. But you know, it's $55 for a year, okay. And then I was like, okay, well, then I found a special. It's like $35 for a year. So I go to checkout. I'm thinking you know what? This would be? Great research. We use her content all the time.
Speaker 1:You know, I was really interested in it, so I thought I was going to do it and as I was going through the purchase, if you will process there was a part in there that said promo code. And whenever I see promo code, I don't know about you guys, but I go to Google and I'm like coupon for you know, a discount because you're just leaving money on the table. Well, sure enough, I found that you can get it and sign up on Facebook for $15. For a year, for a year, for a year. So that's on our Facebook link. Check it out, let us know what you think about it. But so I signed up and then from there, because I kept trying to sign up on the app and it's like the email isn't working, you're not in our network or something, so you have to be in their network, which means you have to be a paid subscriber.
Speaker 1:So then I took that information and I downloaded the app. I had already downloaded the app, but I signed into the app. So as I'm signing in, you fill out your profile, right, right. So I'm filling out the profile. I was like name and address and birthday, but I don't think they asked for the year, which I thought was good. I just hate giving out too much personal information and I usually lie slightly, just because I don't want all that information my address, my birthday, you know, my full name, everything to be out there for everybody to use. So I usually just lie about my birthday, either, you know, by a couple of days of the month, or generally years, you know, and I'll just drop back 10 years so, but anyhow. So I'm going through all this stuff and it gets to the part where it says photo and I'm like oh, do I have a photo, is it?
Speaker 2:required.
Speaker 1:I don't think it is. But you know, like anything else, you'd rather have a photo, right? So this is actually a social, it's designed to be a social app, right? So you kind of want it to be a have a photo there, right? Um, so I'm like, hmm, do I have a picture? So I wanted to tell which brings me to a funny story that I wanted to tell.
Speaker 1:So ashley and I were invited to do an interview for a magazine and we needed headshots. So we had weeks and weeks and weeks to get them done and all of a sudden we never did it. And the time is almost up, so we panic. So I find this AI website. I think it was a website it wasn't an app, right. It was a website that, for $29, you can take selfies and they turn them into headshots. It had great reviews and a bunch of examples and all this kind of stuff. So I shared it with Ashley.
Speaker 1:I did it and then, about the same time, maybe an hour or so later, ashley did it, and it takes what a couple hours. And then they send you all of your photos, right, you can download them and everything. So when you do this, they ask you a bunch of questions, right, your name, your age, your height, weight. What else did they ask us? Maybe that's it. But then they ask you like they show you different outfits or they say you know what type of clothing would you rather? And just stuff like that. So we both end up doing it and it takes two to four hours. The pictures come in and I got mine. I'm not happy. Some of them don't even look like me. Don't even look like me.
Speaker 1:I was really offended at the amount of wrinkles they put on my face.
Speaker 2:That does not look. I don't have that many wrinkles. I should have lied about my age I know it's hilarious.
Speaker 1:So then I'm uploading these images and I think I put six on there. So three of you, three of me, and and then I realized that we were wearing the same clothes. They put us in the same clothes. So we had, when you go through the process of selecting different things, you select different backgrounds and different things, different clothing, but we both selected the same thing for the most part. So I ended up using I ended up being generous and kind to you and putting the ones I thought looked best of you and then just slamming stuff in for me because I don't really care, nobody really knows, unless you know me but I ended up putting one up there that just doesn't look like me at all, but I was wearing a totally different outfit. So I just thought that was what was important. So, anyhow, when I was back to the story, thanks for the sidebar, just thought that was what was important. So, anyhow, when I was back to the story, thanks for the sidebar. But that was hilarious. It was the funniest thing looking at those photos.
Speaker 2:But for 30 dollars.
Speaker 1:There were so many options yeah, yeah, yeah it's pretty crazy that we picked the same clothing so when they asked for a picture, I I was like, oh well, let me just look back through these pictures. And I actually thought about it like, oh, should I update my you know personal Facebook picture or stuff at work? And oh, but no, I like the pictures that I have that are like 20, 10, 20 years old, that I already use, but anyway. So I looked through and I used one for this app. So, anyhow, thanks for listening. I know it was a long story, but I looked through and I used one for this app. So, anyhow, thanks for listening. I know it was a long story, but I love it. So it's designed to be an app similar to maybe some of the menopausal apps or health apps, but I think it's designed specifically for women.
Speaker 1:But you can communicate with other people. It's a network, right? So here are. It says find your village and I haven't even gotten this far yet. So menopause. So when you go through, of course they ask a bunch of different questions. You know, what are you passionate about? I put my family. I mean, what else are you going to put? But find your village. It says menopause, weight relationships, parenting, grief, caregiving, lgbtq plus. Yeah, I thought that was pretty interesting. And then oprah's weekly intentions and you can select things like books and reading, which I didn't, because I don't, but she does a book club right. That's very yeah, she's.
Speaker 2:It's a very popular book club, yeah and I just saw something.
Speaker 1:It was actually an interview and she interviewed Lisa Marie Presley's daughter. Oh, about the new book. Did you see that?
Speaker 2:She, yes, in fact. So my son works at the Strand in New York and Oprah was there one day and it was the same time that Lisa Marie's granddaughter or daughter was doing. She finished this book that Lisa Marie started and published it, and my son held an event to launch it. I have a video of her interview. Yeah, it's really cool. Anyway, I got a copy of the book.
Speaker 1:I think it's Riley. I think her daughter's name is Riley. Yeah, did you get the book? Okay? So's Riley. I think her daughter's name is Riley. Yeah, did you get the book? Okay. So she talked about it and they were actually at Graceland. But anyhow, if you sign up for that, you can also get. I think this $15 annual membership will get you onto Oprah's book club. I'm not a big reader so I'd rather just wait, and you know she does an interview, yeah, do an audio book or just watch her at the interview. It was really a moving, you know interview, I thought, because I remember seeing Lisa Marie Presley at an event just a couple of days before she passed and it was to celebrate the movie right, a most recent movie that had been released. But she looked horrible. She just looked.
Speaker 2:She yeah, I think she really took a turn for the worse after her son passed away, because it was shortly after that, she yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she kept him in a room. Did you read the book yet? No, no, well, the daughter was sharing. I, again, I don't read, I'm not a reader um, but the daughter was sharing, and and the daughter had taken her mom in. So then when her brother passed, it was actually at her house, but she had the um. There was a long period of time, weeks maybe, which maybe turned into a month or two before they were going to have the service, and so they kept him in a room in their house, in her house.
Speaker 2:That's insane. It kind of is. I'm sorry it is.
Speaker 1:But her book club is renowned and anyhow, so I was really excited about this app and it covers a lot of different things. So, yes, menopause app and it covers a lot of different things. So, yes, menopause. And we have also referenced Oprah many times on our show and some lists that she's put together. Her and Maria Shriver are, just, you know, big, big advocates and spokespersons for menopause. But I'm actually finding now more and more and I don't I'm not on social a lot, but when I'm on it, I've seen everybody from, of course, valerie Bertinelli and but all of the big celebs, right, are all talking about it now, cameron Diaz I saw her recently, you know and then there's the whole no makeup era that's going on, which I love, with women that are aging and maturing. So, but I think the menopause would be really good for me, and I think where I'm struggling with the menopause thing is, although I have symptoms, still, like you were saying, you enter in when was your last cycle? Well, 2017.
Speaker 2:Okay, right, so I feel like I'm more of a senior. I have ablations, so sometimes I it's like I don't know. Right yeah, and you know, there's women who who have had hysterectomies that are now going through menopause. So yeah, I think stuff like that makes it really hard to decipher but, like you said, there's still symptoms.
Speaker 1:There are symptoms, you know, and and the moment I thought they were going away, I don't know if I manifested them back, but you know they all of a sudden, the last 60 days or so, seem to be coming back a little bit more. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, it could just be a hormonal thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I don't do the the hormones, so I tried to go natural. So, but she also if you sign up and I realized this with the $15 discounted membership through Facebook but that you don't get as many of the free things Like there was a journal that she was going to send if I was to pay more, but it's okay, I don't need her journal, I'd rather pay $15, but she also promotes the life you want and it does qualify for that. So I'm interested in in receiving that information and just seeing more about it and it sounds like a really great app. Like you said, I'm just not finding.
Speaker 1:I feel like lately having my all of my grandchildren around lately with daycare problems and school drop-offs and pickups and just trying to help their moms and dads out, that it kind of gives me a purpose. It sounds sad and I'm like, oh, you know, I'm just running amok here and you know, go to the grade school and then I got to come back and grab the middle school child and then go to the high school kid and then meanwhile I have my four-year-old that's eating grandchild that's on a wait list for preschool, you know, and apparently isn't going to go, as it's already October, the clock is ticking and it doesn't look like she's going to get in this year. But lugging them all around it does seem to give me purpose. But I'm not finding the joy in things and I'm kind of melancholy. I just maybe it's because I don't have any trips planned, or it's just been so hot All I've done is just draw the blinds and stay in the air conditioning.
Speaker 1:So, and it's been a few years since I've actually had to hunker down all summer and it's been a long, brutal summer and I know, just not for us, for everybody, but but for whatever reason I do feel the joy is gone. Of course everybody wants to get it back, so I'm hopeful that some of this will help. But there's a broad spectrum is one of the reasons why I like it yeah, it sounds it, yeah, yeah so and I just love.
Speaker 1:I don't know anybody that doesn't like oprah, honestly but, I just love the things that she's doing and of course, she has staffs upon staffs to come up with, you know, different content and do different research and stuff, but she's actually trying to do what we're doing now and create a community with this social app. So, anyhow, and also you can get into I believe that your $15 membership will get you into the Oprah daily, so you get an email every day with lots of tips and tricks and products and lists that we've used before. You know, just keeping you know. Parallel with her and like I said, she's, I feel like she's on the cutting edge of trends and upcoming things and I'd be interested she's got a reading room, the LGBTQ plus.
Speaker 1:I don't know why that's hard for me to say she's reflecting on how the world's changed for the community. You know, in her lifetime, in my lifetime, in your lifetime, your lifetime, right, absolutely yeah, yeah. I remember you'd made a comment about your daughter was in a new relationship and he was with his parents out of state and then you had mentioned that you weren't sure how his parents would feel about her parents, right, being gay, and but it never even occurred to me. I'm like what, huh? Like I just can't imagine that somebody would have a problem with it, but maybe it's because it's just you. You know, but I, and it's out there more than I know, but I was not even on my radar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think that I mean thank God for people, friends like you, that it doesn't even phase you, it's. You know, that doesn't make a person who they are. You know, I knew you before you well?
Speaker 1:no, because you were. Well, you were bouncing back and forth right and I yeah. So you were married to a man when I first met you and then now. But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so but yeah, it's definitely something I mean, if you're living that lifestyle and you know it can affect every aspect of your life, it can affect your job, it can affect you know, your like, your friends, you know, and their relationship with, or your kids, you know, and their relationship with your kids, I'm sorry, and their relationship with their friends and how their parents feel about their kids are young, or even now, like I said, you know, yeah, she's dating someone who comes from a very conservative family and and I don't know where their relationship will go.
Speaker 2:but that's a concern that I have, like how, like you know, how is his family going to feel about it? Not that it matters, but you know it could put pressure on them and affect their relationship in some aspect. But, um, it's quite possible that it couldn't. You just never know, but it it's always something that crosses my mind, you know. So, right, it could be, challenging but no, I love that Oprah is bringing some awareness around that yeah, and you, my daughter is in an interracial relationship right now.
Speaker 1:So that is just an eye opener to me as well. And again I just think, like what? But that I kind of knew, like oh, I just tried to prep her, like there might be people out there that have something negative to say. People, for some reason, feel the need to say stupid things. Love is love people. Love is love, love is love. All right, and that just about wraps it up for today. Thank you for joining us on let's Talk. Midlife Crisis Embrace the change.
Speaker 2:Join the conversation on our website at letstalkmidlifecrisiscom, or our Facebook or Instagram and YouTube channels. We'd love to hear from you guys.
