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How To Run Away (& Other Handy Hints for Your Next Bit)
Formerly A Grown Up's Gap Year.
How To Run Away (& Other Handy Hints for Your Next Bit) is a podcast about the next bit of life: health, long marriages, ageing parents, young adult children (kidults), friendship, community, travel, purpose, and how midlife women stay properly engaged with it all.
Hosted by bestselling Australian author, clinical nutritionist and wellbeing coach Monique van Tulder, the show explores the emotional logistics of adult life: mental load, caregiving, solo travel, brain health, longevity, healthspan, perimenopause and menopause, financial wellbeing, long-term relationships, healthy ageing, empty nest, reinvigoration, and what the next decades might actually look like.
Through expert interviews, storytelling, cultural observation, and useful conversations, Monique asks:
What kind of woman do we want to become, how would we like her to age, and how do we start designing her life now?
The 90-year-old version of you? She is watching.
Part conversation. Part perspective shift. Part useful nudge.
There will occasionally be hotels (Monique loves a hotel stay), golf (happy place for her and The Bloke), emotional admin, hearing aids, resentment, cold-water swims, and discussions about wearing the good dress on a Tuesday.
Nothing is off the table if it means our epitaph will never read, "F**k, I forgot to live my life."
New episodes weekly. For midlife women, sandwich generation carers, and anyone asking what comes next.
How To Run Away (& Other Handy Hints for Your Next Bit)
Mid-Life Maintenance Mojo: Just Wear the Bikini & Other Handy Hints
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In this episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, Monique unpacks mid-life maintenance mojo – from mammograms and strength training to swimsuits, perimenopause, and why you should just wear the bikini (if you want to).
You’ll hear:
- Why mid-life maintenance is not vanity – it’s logistics for the adventures you still want (Italian hills, ocean swims, last-minute trips)
- The real talk on swimmers, bodies and confidence: kaftans you don’t actually like, “sensible” shorts, and finding swimmers that let you get in the water, not hide beside it
- A quick, evidence-based nod to Dr Stacy Sims and why women in perimenopause and menopause are not “small men” when it comes to training, hormones and recovery
- The 60% rule: how aiming for “good enough” on decorations, grazing platters and emails can free up the energy you actually need for your own health and happiness
- A listener story about booking five nights at a wellness retreat – just for her – and why maintenance is part of your adventure strategy, not an optional extra
Plus, Monique shares three simple Weekly Actions to get your mid-life maintenance mojo going:
- Book one appointment for Future You (hair, health check, mammogram, GP, physio, strength coach).
- Audit your swimmers and one outfit – anything that makes you wince or tug, goes.
- Choose one area this festive season to apply the 60% rule, and use the saved time for a walk, a swim or a lie-down with a book.
Episode Resources & Links:
- Your SPACE Prescription
- Free Weekly Newsletter
- Dear Blokes Downloadable
- Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
- MID Podcast with Dr Stacy Sims
📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.