Midlife Audacity: Embracing Change, Authenticity, and Co‑Creation with Celeste DiDona | Aligned & Abundant Ep. 28

Celeste DiDona’s life has been a journey of transformation, intuition, and purpose. After experiencing a dip in her teaching career, Celeste discovered a path she never expected—joining a network marketing company—which not only reignited her passion for life but also led her to become the healthiest version of herself while continuing her 30 year role as an educator.

Now, as she approaches retirement, Celeste is stepping fully into a new chapter. She is the podcast host of Midlife Audacity and is embracing her calling as a life coach, guided by her intuition—which she now recognizes as her deep connection to God. With courage and curiosity, Celeste faces midlife head-on, leaning into what truly lights her up. In this episode, she shares how listening to that inner guidance has allowed her to pivot fearlessly, create meaningful impact, and step into a life aligned with her highest purpose.

If you’re seeking inspiration to trust your intuition, follow your calling, and step into the next aligned chapter of your life, Celeste’s story will remind you that it’s never too late to ignite a new spark, embrace curiosity, and live fully in your truth.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How a career setback can become a doorway to unexpected growth and transformation.
• The role of intuition as a connection to God and divine guidance.
• How prioritizing health and well-being can shift your energy and life direction.
• Embracing new beginnings and calling in purpose, no matter your stage in life.
• Facing midlife with curiosity and leaning into what lights you up.
• The journey of creating and calling in her podcast, Midlife Audacity, to inspire others.

Connect with Celeste DiDona:

Instagram: the_conscious_coach_

Listen to Midlife Audacity here.

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Connect with Christine Marcario:

• All things Aligned & Abundant (offers, links, coaching)
• Instagram: @christine.marcario.coach
• Newsletter & Free Resources: Sign up here!

Transcript

[00:00:00]

Intro: Welcome to Aligned and Abundant, the podcast where authenticity meets practicality, compassion, alignment, and abundance. I'm your host, Christine Marcario, and I help you slow down, become mindful, improve your mental and emotional health and live life on your highest timeline. Together we'll talk strategy.

Life lessons and share inspiring stories of people who have overcome obstacles, grown through their pain and risen above adversity. If you are looking for divine [00:01:00] inspiration, rooted in love and light paired with practical tools and encouragement. You are in the right place at the right time from one heart to another.

You are an amazing and divine soul with a purpose. Take my hand and let's walk this path together.

Christine: Welcome to another episode of Aligned and Abundant. On today's episode, I have a very special guest. Her name is Celeste d. Celeste is a New Yorker wife to her high school sweetheart and mom of three, two of whom are now in college. After spending 30 years as a public school teacher, she's taken her lifelong passion for connection and transformation into a new chapter as a writer, speaker, and now podcaster.

Her own journey into personal development and soul work began a decade ago, and it's led her to embrace her human design as a [00:02:00] four six generator, someone who leads through authenticity and lived experience. Celeste is the host of Midlife Audacity, a podcast launching November 1st. That dives deep into what it means to reclaim your energy, rewrite your story, and rise with confidence in midlife.

She also leads Soul School, a monthly membership for women on the path of expansion and offers one-on-one personalized coaching that helps women restore their energy, elevate their mood, and create momentum toward the life they truly desire. I was so excited to, I am so excited to welcome Celeste to the podcast because I feel like we have so many things in common that we can hit upon, and I'm just so excited to dive in.

So welcome Celeste to the podcast.

Celeste: So nice to be here. I'm so excited. And from an east coaster to another east coaster, it feels like [00:03:00] home already. So yeah, let's dive in.

Christine: Yeah. Before we hit record, we were chuckling together that we both recognize the accent that we each have as being an east coaster. So that is always fun.

From a New Jersey gal to a New Yorker, we get it. Yes. So I'd like to ask you to share a little bit about who you are and what you've been doing for the first chapter of your life.

Celeste: I would love to. So yeah. Well thanks for sharing all of that information. Like as you were reading it, I'm going, yeah, wow.

That's like a lot of stuff. So I have been a classroom teacher for the last 30 years. I'm a public school teacher here in New York, and I am a mom of three. I always say kids, but you know, they're not really kids anymore. So a mom of three young adults, which allows me to enter a whole new phase of life.

It's very [00:04:00] different, parenting children than it is raising young adults. And there's like such a differential there. And yes, I married my high school sweetheart, which has been a very interesting journey to say the least. I think when you meet the person you are meant to meet at such a young age, there is a set of learning curves and you are almost like growing up together.

And so there's a lot of life that happens, within each of us that. Can be difficult to navigate. So that's been like a whole nother part of my journey. So teacher for 30 years raising three kids now, young adults, marriage and entering midlife. So I'm 52. That's presented a whole [00:05:00] another series of challenges but also amazing gifts.

And so, you know, I'm excited to really enter this stage the next season of my life with, you know, boldness with soulfulness. Really like live into life unapologetically, I find Christine, so many women, aren't showing up. As their true selves. We put on so many masks. We have so much heavy armor. And there comes a point, and it's different for everybody, but there comes a point where that armor becomes so darn heavy and it keeps us back from so much juiciness that life has to offer.

And God has put us on this planet with purpose. And if we don't step up to that calling, we are [00:06:00] not living into that design. And I feel like so many women are struggling with how to do that. You know, how do I do that? Because it seems really scary and unknown and unfamiliar. So like how do we break all these limiting beliefs that keep holding us back and really just step into like the juiciness of life and.

Surrender to the plan that God has for us. Right? It's hard to do that. And so that's been my journey. My mission is really to help women understand that there is so much available to them once you start becoming aware and letting God take the wheel.

Christine: I think that because so many of us get caught up in the everyday routine that we almost forget who we are or where our passions are, [00:07:00] or maybe they've changed and we haven't even realized that we've been changing under the surface.

So then when we sit down with ourselves and we get quiet and we start peeling back the layers, it's almost like you're rediscovering a whole new version. Of yourself. And so I think you spoke about that so eloquently that it really is an opportunity. Midlife in itself is an opportunity to really rediscover who you are, uncover or go back to passions that once were there, but maybe have laid dormant for a few years because we were doing the things, we were having the career, we were raising the kids who are now adults and, and leaving us this expansiveness to grow into a newer version of ourself.

I love that one. We have a few things in common. You have definitely out performed me as far as you have 30 years under your belt as a public school teacher. First of all, kudos to you. That is amazing. [00:08:00] We also have three kids. Mine are a little bit younger. I have a 17, a 12, and a five, so I'm kind of all over the place but I'm so excited because I remember.

Teaching. Actually, I had a girlfriend of mine and I remember she was crying because she was turning 40, and I could not understand why she was crying. And it just turned out that she was just so afraid of the number of what that meant to her because she had worked up this idea in her mind. And now that I've embraced my forties, I have heard that it's just one of the best times of your life that so many women are finding a newer version of themself are re experiencing things that once lit them up, that they kind of push to the side to take care of the family, to raise the children, to launch the career.

And I just feel like it gets better and better from here, to be honest. So I'm excited to learn more about. All of my passions [00:09:00] and you know, go back to that. So I commend you on one, like being brave, right? There is a level of courage that comes with saying, Hey, I'm not gonna do this forever. What's my chapter two?

What's my chapter five? You know? So that's amazing. I'm curious for one: what do you teach or where has your passion lied in your career as far as an educator?

Celeste: Well, it's funny that you just mentioned, I think that it's so true that we have so many different desires and because life takes us on these journeys, right?

And sometimes they're unexpected journeys. We. We have almost taught ourselves to push aside the things that really light us up for the sake of society, pressure for the sake of conforming, for the sake of, oh, but I went to school for this. How could I possibly like turn my [00:10:00] back on all this education that I invested in or that my parents had invested in for me?

Because that's like betraying them, or you know, somehow going against the norms, the societal norms that we have created for ourselves, right? But when we stop and think about, wait a minute, does that really make me happy? Does that really bring me joy? Is that really something that excites me on a day-to-day basis?

I feel so fortunate. That my career has always brought me joy. It's the reason I've been in it for 30 years, you know? So yes, like I find that to be a huge milestone and a great achievement is that I've found something that I truly did love and I was able to stay in a career that did fulfill me for so long.

But I will share [00:11:00] this about 10 years ago, maybe it was like 11 years ago now, I felt like there was a lull in excitement. I was literally on that rat race that I know a lot of your listeners can relate to. I was working full-time. I was mommying full-time, you know, because Mommying is full-time. And so I was doing both of those things.

And I was also, like I mentioned. My husband and I have been on this very long journey, so where maybe most people would be on like, you know, oh, five years into their marriage, seven years into their marriage. My husband and I were on like year 15 at that point because we had dated in high school and college and before marriage for so long that we were at that point in our marriage where it was also not really bringing us the same amount of joy.

[00:12:00] So I was feeling this, like this crossroads, you know, where, wow, I love my job, but it's not really fulfilling me. I love my husband, but there's something going on here that's also not fulfilling me, or we're not fulfilling each other in the way that we once had. And I felt like I was on that hamster wheel, and it's a really hard place to be.

And so I. Was introduced to a network marketing company and, I had no in interest in business, or at least I didn't think that I had any interest in business. I saw myself always as a teacher, and this was very outside of the box for me. But it started with a physical transformation that I had that I felt really good, really energized physically back to the best shape of my life.

And because of that, like I couldn't stop really [00:13:00] talking about the experience. And I started health coaching. I started coaching people on their journey toward better health and that opened up an entire world for me. Being in network marketing was. Such a great opportunity that I probably would've never said yes to had I been in a place where I was totally being fulfilled, but because I was in this crossroads where everything felt stale, that was when I always say, that's when opportunities come knocking.

And if you are not open and ready and really looking, you know, like really being open to what life can provide for you, I would've closed that door completely off. Because of my skeptical self, I would've been like, no way. I'm not doing that. That's so outta my comfort zone that is scary as f Like, I'm not, I'm not gonna open myself up there.

[00:14:00] And what happened was, is because I was open and because I allowed. That to come in and kind of approached it like, I don't know, maybe. Maybe I'll love it. Who knows? Let's see. Maybe it will fill my cup. That's exactly what it did. For 10 years, Christine, that lit me on fire. That ignited that little tiny flame that had gone dormant for a long time.

It reignited it and it got me excited again and I was working with people and helping them transform their lives physically, and it felt so good to serve in that capacity. And just like teaching, being of service filled my cup. So when I leaned into serving others in a different sort of way, I was really feeling like my most energized, best self.

And when that opportunity no longer filled my cup and I felt [00:15:00] like. This chapter is kind of closing. That was exactly when perimenopause hit, and I started to lose a lot of motivation. I was feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, and it had nothing to do with my diet at that point because I was doing all the things that were good for me.

I'm extremely healthy and very cognizant of that, but I was feeling depleted, and I recognized the feeling very quickly this time because I had experienced it. 10 years prior. So now I was like, okay, Celeste, what? What's going on? And yes, there's a combination of hormones that play a huge part in women's emotional state.

So I'm not going to deny the impact that hormones have on our energetic life. However, I knew that there was something [00:16:00] else too. I knew that if I'm not doing something that lights me up. And that's really like my generator for six self when I started to learn a little bit about human design.

And I'm such a novice when it comes to human design, but once I had learned that I was like, oh my God, this makes total sense in reflection, this makes total sense. I am someone that is driven when I'm lit up and when I am serving other people. And if I'm not doing something that's passionate then. I'm going to lose the thrill, I'm gonna lose the energy for it, and it's gonna drain me energetically, constant drain.

So I recognized that pretty quickly and I sat, and this is not common for me, but I sat, I actually took a year of really sitting and allowing myself not to burn the candle at both ends. You know, I was teaching, I was running a network [00:17:00] marketing business. I was raising kids. I was in this marriage all through that period of time.

I was also in marriage counseling and therapy. So there was like a lot going on there, and I was exhausted. And so my normal self would've been. Continue to go, go, go, push through it, positively bypass what was really going on, and just put on a smiling face. And you know what we do ourselves a lot of damage when we do that because the best thing that we can do for ourselves is bring awareness to what's happening.

Notice it, not judge it, but notice it and then interrupt that pattern. But allow yourself, this is so important. Allow yourself to feel it. I didn't do that for a lot of my [00:18:00] life. So in all the personal development that I've been exposed to, I have learned to really sit in the muck and how I coach women to do the same.

Sit in the muck, feel the feelings, and allow yourself to understand and surrender because we're so often ready to solve, solve, solve, and move on to the next thing. And we don't give ourselves enough time. To emotionally, physically recalibrate, right? And really kind of reset our central nervous system and provide safety for doing that.

Because for me, that was super uncomfortable and my body resisted it. I did not want to do that. My mind resisted it, my body resisted it, and I finally leaned into God and allowed myself to be, [00:19:00] just be, and it was like crazy what happened in that last year. So much clarity, and so much gratitude.

And so much of what happened was this reestablishing a relationship with God, which I had pushed to the side for a really long time. It ignored a lot of the tugs that. I was getting from my soul to reconnect, and I was just pushing it all to the side because I was in go, go, go mode.

And so that time was such a gift, and that's one of the messages that I want women to know about midlife. It's not a crisis, which is what I went into it thinking. It is an awakening. And when we allow ourselves to surrender and sit in the pause and really get quiet and lean into the feelings, and then listen.

So much [00:20:00] beauty can come out of that. And that's where I got so much clarity around starting this business, coaching other women, starting a podcast. And it all feels juicy and fun and exciting again. And it's like a whole new world is being created. And this time, which is what I really get excited about this time, it's all in co-creation.

I am like literally co-creating it with the divine and God. And it's like, it's just fun. It's just fun. And that's not everybody's story, that's not gonna be everybody's journey, but that's what my journey has led to for me. So I kind of answered that question in like a very long-winded way, but it's.

Christine: I was literally going to say though, that you are co-creating. That's where you're at right now. And so it sounds like you went through a very similar experience to me where you kind of got to a point where things just didn't light you up in the same way that they had [00:21:00] once done before. But it also sounds to me like you had a very acute awareness.

You saw the signs, it might have taken you a little bit of time to listen, and I feel like that's where we. As people in general get stuck, we hear the signs, we hear the whispers, but we're like, no, I'm too busy. I'm too busy to get quiet. I'm too busy to pivot. I'm too busy to explore how I'm truly feeling about this.

Let me just go, go, go. And I don't know about you, but there was a point in my career where I was just like living for the weekends. Do you know what I mean? And like that's no way to live. You wanna wake up and have something to look forward to in your day. So it gets to become a point where you have to do something different in order to make the shift, or else you're just going to continue spinning on the hamster wheel and going in circles.

Nothing

Celeste: changes. If nothing changes.

Christine: Yeah,

Celeste: right.

Christine: 100%. So are you going to [00:22:00] continue out of curiosity's sake? Are you going to continue? Teaching. Do you have an end goal in mind as far as when you're going to officially retire? I mean, 30 years is a lot to put in. I don't know how it is in New York, but you can, I think, technically retire after 25 years of service if you start it within the right timeframe here in New Jersey.

Not that anyone can afford to retire after 25 years. Let's be real. So I'm kind of curious as to what is your game plan and tell me like what is lighting you up even further right now? I love that you're working with women. I love that you're offering one-on-one coaching and really when we have that lived experience, it offers so much benefit to our clients because you have.

Firsthand knowledge. It's not like you're going through the telephone of like, Hey, I think this works. It's like, this worked for me, it could work for you, but we're going to dive deeper into what your needs are and custom tailor, just like you would a student with an IEP, right? You're going [00:23:00] to learn the individual's needs and you're going to tailor your lesson or your instruction, your coaching to that individual.

So that's really cool. I love that.

Celeste: Yeah, 100%. I think that's why I love coaching is because as I mentioned like the sense of service has always really been my core. And coaching is just another way to honor that because we all have lived experience, we all have something that we can offer to others.

And sometimes it's that lived experience that is the common ground. To helping somebody else get through whatever it is that they need to get through. And there are so many tools, tactical things that coaches can offer and teach, but like you mentioned, the coaches that I think are the best and the ones that I've worked with, that I've had such good experiences [00:24:00] with are the ones that are truly listening and like custom tailoring,

their coaching to exactly where you are in the process and meeting you where you are, and then taking you that next step further. I've always found the most expansive times in my life have been when I've worked with coaches. I felt like I have always grown sort of in these large quantum leaps when I've worked alongside of a coach or I've been in a mastermind type membership, because the beauty of that is that you get that constant practice.

You know, growth is a practice. Meditation is a practice, yoga is a practice and there's no end destination. So the more that you are surrounded by other people that are open to having those conversations, and the more that you are a part of opportunities [00:25:00] that allow the growth that continue to share with you how important, how valuable the growth is, the better I believe you are in moving forward.

You know, and you don't have to like, feel stuck 'cause you know you're with other people that can help you to transition and have lasting transformation. That's like the most exciting thing right now that's going on is like working with women in really helping them to. See their worthiness, right?

See their gifts and help to restore that depleted energy, that emotional depleted energy by helping them to understand the power of boundaries and how to protect their energy. And once you learn how to lovingly protect your energy, then you become such a projector [00:26:00] out in the world because you are showing up as your true, authentic, unapologetic self.

And when you do that, it's like magnetic, right? It's like a hologram out into the world like. I'm here and people just start to come because they can't help it. They don't even know why they are so attracted to you. But it's like that energy when you, like I said at the very beginning, when you take that armor off and you start showing up as God has designed you to be and you do it proudly and confidently, it is magnetic.

And I want all women, especially, you know, men too, but I want everyone to really like, understand that they have that power inside of them and I think people think that it's like this process and yes, it is a practice for sure. You are doing it. Repetitively over time, you're building these habits and you're, you are [00:27:00] reprogramming your neuropathways in your brain to think differently.

Yes, absolutely. It is a process and a practice, but it is not hard, right? It's one choice at a time. It's one choice at a time to choose differently, to breathe in that awareness state where you're saying, oh, you know, I noticed that this is what's happening right now in my body, and I'm gonna choose this instead of what I normally do.

And that can happen like that, that can happen on the dime, and it doesn't have to be a long time either. Like you could drop into a one minute meditation and it can change your entire day.

Christine: Yeah. And like you said, it's a practice. And I know for me, meditation used to be super hard for me, like the concept to get quiet.

And then I realized that you can't stop your thoughts, but you're just putting your focus somewhere else. And now I can drop into a meditation, like within the first five [00:28:00] seconds. It's just a practice and it's reinforcement. And like anything else, the more that you do it, the easier it becomes.

And that's one beautiful thing about having a coach is I just started with coaching this year in terms of like, I hired my first coach this year, and now I have a lot of different coaches in my life for different areas of different things. I think that like the constant reinforcement, someone holding space for you and reminding you of everything, it encourages those growth.

Pathways to change. It encourages you to evolve and reform your belief system and then that in turn creates your new neural pathways. And so honestly, you can do so much When you said you could do so much growth in a short amount of time. Honestly, like I'm a big fan of like quantum physics and quantum leaping and all of that, like yeah, you can really shift your energy and make huge growth when you train your brain, when you train your thoughts because it can be trained like it's scientifically [00:29:00] proven to do so.

And I just think that it's really an expansive opportunity when you allow yourself to open up to working with someone or just going on your own growth path. There's so much information out there, you know what I mean? You can pick up a book, you can look at YouTube, you can find inspiration if you find the right people.

On social media and all of that. So I think that it's super, super important to just remember, and I think you hit on this, that like your life is not over because you're in your midlife, because you're in perimenopause. It's just another stage of life. And we should embrace all stages of life because each stage of life brings with it growing pains, but also growing beauty.

Mm-hmm. And abundance. And like you said, the magnetism. I wanna hit on that. I think sometimes when you are being, no, not sometimes, when you are in your most authentic self, that's when your energy attracts [00:30:00] people. Because so many of us put on the masks and the facades. There were days where I would drive to work stressed out, unhappy, but then as soon as my feet hit the pavement, you have to put on a happy face for your students, for your colleagues. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And so it's like when you are being your most authentic self, I feel like, is when you're the most magnetic, because souls recognize authenticity.

Celeste: Oh, yes, yes. And so when

Christine: you are being yourself, whether it's silly, goofy, serious, fun, whatever other people, like-minded people will be drawn right to your energy. And that's probably, oh my God. Yeah. Like we're having this conversation.

Celeste: I know, right? Because you could feel the energetic connection.

That is such a beautiful thing that you said. That is true, authentic connection because we're all souls and we are someone, 'cause we're the sum of the one. Kathy Heller always says that, and it hits always, every time she says it, it hits so deep because [00:31:00] we really are all connected energetically.

We are all connected and sold. Know no different, right? They know nothing other than pure love, pure joy, pure service. And that is authenticity. So when we are showing up without the mask, without the armor, without the past programs that have run the show over and over again. When we show up truly in our power, your soul is gonna see my soul because

It's unveiled. And that's when real connection is happening. That's real connection. I find like so many, it's funny 'cause so many marriages I think suffer from that real connection. I think it's one of the biggest fears in midlife also, is that women and men in their marriage are like, oh [00:32:00] wait, we've like raised kids for, I don't know, 20 years and now what?

Like our lives have revolved around our children. What's next? Like, wait, I have to be with this person that I really don't even know anymore. Because these last 20 years, I have spent most of my attention with my children and not with each other. I think that that's one of the biggest, concerns heading into this midlife season.

And what I will say about that is just what we just talked about. When we step in to our own power, when we work on ourselves in these ways, when we start reprogramming our brains and stop letting the subconscious run the show, and we step into making conscious choices and decisions, that is when that true connection piece starts to happen.

And I [00:33:00] will say this too, because this might be an unpopular thing to say, but that also might mean that your souls are no longer. Connected no longer aligned, and that's okay too. But wouldn't you rather discover that than to be sitting in this, I don't know, like superficial place, kind of like pretending that everything's okay when really you know that you're not lit up with your marriage or your spouse anymore, and now your kids are gone and you're like, this life sucks.

Like, yeah, that is a real crisis right there. That to me is the ultimate crisis going on.

Christine: And it's also a betrayal to yourself because I, I Oh yeah. Actually know so many people that on, you know, social media or out in public, they have the perfect marriage, but if they get vulnerable with you and let their hair down and let their door [00:34:00] down, they're like, yeah, I'm miserable.

You know? Yes. And it's like, what a disservice you have. An opportunity here to really grow and expand. And I agree. I believe that in a marriage, especially one that's been going on for a very long time, I do think that we go in ebbs and flows and sometimes we're close and sometimes we're pulled apart.

And yes, I think that when we are growing up, we're trained to think that we only have one soulmate. Mm-hmm. I personally don't believe that. I think that we have soul contracts, soul agreements with people in our soul family that come in and out of our life. And maybe marriage one was to teach you certain lessons or to balance out karma from a past life.

I know you appreciate the Woo too. Sometimes we go through obstacles and challenges to make us both grow stronger individually and together as a couple. So I think that a lot of people are quick to throw in the towel on a marriage. [00:35:00] Which I wholeheartedly believe that you should put in some effort to try to make it last, right?

To work through things, marriage, counseling, therapy, whatever you have to do, but also be authentic. You're not gonna work out the differences or the issues wholeheartedly and truthfully, if you aren't authentic to each other. And yourself

Celeste: and yourself. I think that's

Christine: super important

Celeste: and yourself. And one of the things that my husband and I did is when we were in that stretch where we weren't really connecting and there was a lot of talk of divorce because we were not seeing eye to eye on many different issues.

And what we did was we started with marriage counseling. But. What we found, and I'm actually a real big believer in this because it goes along with almost everything we've said in [00:36:00] this, you know, hour together, is we went on separate journeys. And so I worked on myself through my own personal development journey and my own therapy and he worked on himself.

And it wasn't until we separately started to really become our true selves because remember, we met so young, so we had like grown together and we had not grown individually. And that is such an instrumental piece in people's journeys is really growing and understanding yourself, like really stepping into your true self and really knowing who you are.

Because a lot of times we don't know who we are without our parents or without our children or without our spouse. Like this was about, [00:37:00] for us, this was about learning who we were separate from each other and kind of unpacking some childhood trauma that we both carried into the marriage. Right. And once we did that, and I did the inner child work and he did some of the inner child work, and I learned to grow and understand myself, and he learned to grow and understand himself that.

Christine was, when we came together, that was when the connection between us started to be reestablished. We talk about it now as it being such a beautiful coming together because we had to first be apart and we weren't physically apart, but we had to be apart in our own growth so that we could come together and our souls really connect.

Because now it was truly my uncovered soul. No more shows, no more armor, no more masks, no [00:38:00] more hiding or performing. It was honest. It was bold, it was unapologetic, and it was setting those loving boundaries that I talked about earlier that mattered to me. That we had taken for granted because we just accepted like that.

This is the way it is. But we were like 18. You know what I mean? So as a 50-year-old and an 18-year-old, you have different things that you accept and tolerate in your life. So what I tolerated back as a teenager was no longer things that I would tolerate now as this bold, audacious woman and the things that he tolerated back when he was 18 are no longer things that he would tolerate as this grown evolved man.

So. Once we set the boundaries from that place, we were able to then reconnect in a [00:39:00] really beautiful way. And that's been our journey and that's been really exciting. And he's gonna join me on the podcast for a couple of episodes because he also feels, you know, inspired to share some of that. I think it's really helpful for midlife women to hear the male's perspective, and even for men to hear it from a man's perspective.

Like, you know, this is possible. This is what might happen. This might not happen for you, but this is an important journey to go on regardless.

Christine: And I think that when a couple makes the conscious decision to work on themselves, I, for one, if you are going to go to marriage counseling, and I'm saying this from experience, I do agree with you.

It's so important for you to also go to individual counseling because like you just said, case in point. There's usually growth for both of you. And sometimes that growth has to happen on an individual basis, a personalized basis, so that you can come back to the table more whole, more fulfilled in understanding who you [00:40:00] are and the way you work.

And the same with like childhood trauma, whether it's the Big T or the little T, everyone has baggage and getting into a relationship so young. I could speak to this. My first marriage, I met my husband when we were 17 years old, and I was his first real girlfriend. So yes, we were together for 16 years and married for 10 of those years.

And yeah, we grew together and then along the way we realized that we were very different people than who we thought we were when we were 17. Mm-hmm. We tried marriage counseling, we tried some. Independent therapy, more me than him. And I think that was part of the problem is that he wasn't willing to really put in the effort to sit with himself at that time of his life.

And once we got [00:41:00] separated and were getting a divorce, that is when he finally went to some individual therapy. And from the outside I saw a lot of growth on his end and I'm thankful that he took this step to do that because some people, and I get it, you know, some people look at therapy and they're like, well, I'm too good for that.

Or that's below me. Or that's for like people who have real problems, like mm-hmm. I love sitting down with a therapist. Oh my god, it's so busy. Oh, me too. Oh good God, it's so good. It almost feels like, like your best friend, but with like. Psychological expertise in education, like Yeah, it's so good.

And it's not like, oh, I'm so looking forward to my therapy session. It, it rattles your nervous system, but you walk away, like you walk away seen and heard. And I think that's what everybody wants and needs is to feel seen and heard.

Celeste: Yeah.

Christine: And to hear back that this is normal, [00:42:00] how you feel is normal. You are not crazy because when you're going through hardships, you can feel very confused and very isolated.

And that's why it's so good to have a support system, whether it's a therapist, whether it's a life coach. The bottom line is life can be hard. Life has hard moments, but through resilience and the desire to do better, be better, everyone can grow and change and be a better version of who they were yesterday.

So. There's just so much to unravel with that. And I love your story, and I've been witnessing so many more couples doing this, taking this space, going to live their dream and really reconnecting back to who they are. And I know, a couple that they actually do live separate now. They're still married, they're dating, they're married, but they're rekindling their relationship.

And I think there's so many more paths than just giving up. [00:43:00] Now, in terms of like severe situations where you've already contemplated this for like eight years, like Yeah. You know what I mean? Like there's definitely cases where it's like, all right, done. Deal, move on. Yeah, of course. Of course.

Celeste: There are things that. You know, would take a lot to change that are probably not the best scenarios for you to remain because they're no longer healthy. Correct. Right. So there are of course outliers in every situation, but I want people to understand that midlife doesn't have to be a crisis. If you keep calling it a crisis, you're going to make it a crisis.

But if you change your languaging around what midlife can really be for you, then it could be the after party that only gets better and better and better.

Christine: Oh, I love that. That hits, that reminds me of your podcast title is awesome, by the way. Midlife [00:44:00] audacity. It sounds like a party.

It sounds like somewhere I wanna be.

Celeste: That's exactly why I named it that. I was like, I want it to sound fun. And my cover art for it, which was really funny, was, me like just holding my hair up and just being really authentic. I literally just took that picture, like just in, I don't know, my kitchen.

My, it was just like in the moment and someone said to me, it looks like, you know, like some picture we would see on like a poster in the eighties, like on Tiger Beat or something, and I was laughing because I'm like, then it did its purpose, like it totally hit because that's the audience that I am speaking to.

Christine: That's so funny that you're saying that because when you were describing that, I don't know, I had a flash of the eighties, like, that's so weird that you said that.

Celeste: So I have like a bangle on my wrist and my hair. I'm just pulling it up and I'm wearing like this sleeveless shirt and it's just like [00:45:00] messy hair, like just there.

And it's funny because I had a different picture originally as the cover art and when I got some feedback on it, people were like, oh, that's such a great picture. That looks great, but you look really young in this picture. And I was like, oh, that's so funny. Like I can't look like, I mean, I do look young usually for my age anyway, but I can't look like I'm 30.

Doing like a midlife audacity podcast. And I wasn't facing the camera, so it was like the side view, and it was just funny. And it was more of like a peaceful pose and this was literally on audacious pose and it was like, there you go. It all just like kind of came together. So that's, that's super exciting.

And that, like you said, that's gonna launch on Saturday, so how fun is that?

Christine: Yes, yes. It's super exciting and I can't wait to listen. I already listened to the trailer and it sounds like a lot of fun. So I'm super excited, especially being in your [00:46:00] energy. I'm like, woo, tell me more. Share with me more. And yeah.

Yeah. I'm excited too for your husband to come on and share that aspect of your life because I do, I think it's going to help so many people. And you know, our motto, you know what our coach teaches us, like even if we. Help one person. Yep. We did our job. We served our purpose. So as a teacher and as a podcaster and someone who does life coaching and has a community like you know that our job is servitude.

And so we can sleep at night with peace in our hearts because we know that we're answering our calling in one way, shape or another. And I love that teaching lends itself so beautifully. It transitions so nicely into life coaching because we know what it takes to impact individuals in a group setting, in an individual setting, and it's just such a beautiful experience.

And I understand also what you're saying with. Just because you're closing [00:47:00] one chapter doesn't mean you're not going to take the tools, the education, the experience with you.

Celeste: Mm.

Christine: You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. It's like you're going to the school of life, the school of experience, you know what I'm saying?

Like, so it's just such a beautiful natural progression I love how it ties into midlife. I was interviewing someone recently and she was expressing how important it is to plan for your midlife also, because, we plan to get married, we plan to have children and raise a family, and then we start planning our retirement and all of that.

But like, we forget about the middle part. And the middle part is the most fun. It's the most exciting, you know, and we really need to lean into that and embrace it. And I see so many people get worried and put so much pressure on themself, like, I should be at this stage by this age. And you know what?

I think joy [00:48:00] should be the compass. Yeah. It should be what your, it should your internal guidance system. And so I wanna hit on, before we close this conversation, I do wanna ask you about how did you come back to God? You had said that you had kind of wandered a little bit. Let me speak for myself first, I have always been connected to God, but I go in and out of stages as far as how much I'm communicating.

I feel like I can always talk to God and I always do talk to God, but there's a difference when you're more, I guess, aware of it. So I'm curious to hear a little bit about your story and your path and your relationship.

Celeste: Oh yeah, that's, that's interesting. So I grew up in a very strict Catholic household and you know, we went to church every Sunday.

We followed all the sacraments. We went to church [00:49:00] on daily, holy Days of obligation. We went on church. We went to church when we were on vacation. Like it was part of my childhood. But there was always some resistance in me having, having to go like this. This obligatory aspect of it was always unsettling for me.

And being someone who was always sort of a disruptor by nature, like I always was. My parents would say like, I would push the envelope. Like, I would always challenge the status quo. I always was like, but why? But why? Like, I don't understand. , It had to make sense to me for me to go with it, you know?

And so I always had this love hate relationship with the commitment of [00:50:00] going to a church and like, I never got a whole lot. From that experience. And a lot of times we had priests that came in and they were from, you know, foreign countries. And I couldn't even understand the homily no less what they were really trying to say to the parish.

Like, I just, I wasn't connected to the messaging. And so when it became time for me to, you know, make my own decisions, I had let that go. Like that was not a part of my life. And then when I got married and had kids, we had C, c, D, and we sent them and they got their first communion. And then at that point we were like, you know what?

Like we're just doing it to do it. We're just doing it to make my parents happy. We're just doing it because we feel obligated. But I wasn't doing it for any other reason. Like there was no connection to why I was doing it. So I just made the decision to like let [00:51:00] that go. And I always said to my kids. You can be, you can have any relationship with God.

God doesn't only live in a church. You can always have a relationship with God. And if you want to pray, we can always pray. I pray you can pray. It's always available to you. And I just raised them like that. And then I started as I was getting older, to feel like there was this missing link.

There was like something missing in my life and I wasn't quite sure what it was. If you asked my 40-year-old self, I would've never told you like that. It was, oh, I have no relationship with God. I have no spirituality. I would've never said that because that wasn't what I thought I was missing. I thought I was missing all these tangible things, all these materialistic things.

You know, we don't have this, we don't have that. We have hard time paying the bills. Like life is hard. This all the things A lot of it was [00:52:00] money focused. And so I never would have said that the missing component was my spirituality and my connection with God and. As I got older and as the years went by, I was hearing more, I was wrapped up in different personal development courses.

I was coaching with a woman who was Jewish and brought a lot of that into her coaching. And then I was coaching with, an Italian Catholic and she was bringing a lot of that into her coaching. And now I'm in Kathy Heather's Heller's Mastermind and she's Jewish and she brings a lot of like Kabbalah and all that stuff into her coaching and I just kept being pulled toward these spiritual leaders and coaches and like I said, when I had that year of really quiet and leaning in and I was a big meditator [00:53:00] and I realized it like kind of dawned on me that I was like.

This is about God. Like this meditation thing that I'm doing here is like my connection with God. And it just started to evolve from there. Like soon as I got that, like it downloaded in a meditation one day of like, it's me, it's me that you're missing. I, it, I, I just got chilled saying that I got out loud ied when you said it.

Christine: I got chills when you said it.

Celeste: Wow. It's like really like actually like ringing through my entire body right now. It's like vibrating. It's crazy, but like, it was that, it was like he said to me, he's like, you're missing me. You're trying to build, I could cry. You're trying to build so much and you're working so hard, but what you need is, is me in your life.

And I was like, oh my God. That's it. Oh my God. Like that, that was it. Like figuratively, [00:54:00] literally like that was it. And ever since that pivotal moment, it's been he and I ever since.

It's been, every meditation is this conversation where I'm still, and I'm listening, but there's also the talking like I'm also having a talk with him and like, and he's in my morning meeting every morning when I meditate.

It's like he and I are just together and like he now is who renews my life. Like every time it's always like I just go back to him. And it's funny because it's like a lot's coming up for me in this conversation, which is so interesting 'cause I don't talk about this that much. Um, and it's been kind of recent, but.

I feel like when I get quiet and I listen to my soul and my [00:55:00] intuition, that's always been him all along. And I always felt like I had good intuition. But there were many times, and I'm sure many listeners can resonate with the fact that we have these intuitions, we have intuitive thoughts, and we push them aside so many times because we're scared.

We're scared. And it was when I realized that like that's him talking through me. You know? And it was like that. That's such a powerful, powerful, Realization and it gives me so much energy. Talk about like energy. Like that is what energizes me in my core. And that's when people say like, you know, you can't just pray when things are tough.

You know? And that's what this, that's, [00:56:00] now I understand what that means. Like, 'cause now that I have this relationship with him, it's like, oh my God, like, we're so cool. Like, we are so like we can vibe together that I never feel like I am using him on the tough times because I use him every day for everything.

So it's, it's just a whole different perspective and people who know me. Because like I said, this is a new thing and I haven't talked about it all that much. My podcast will be me kind of like unveiling a lot of that. Would be shocked I think, to hear me even speaking in this way. Yeah. But it feels really good and so like I'm going with it.

Christine: Yeah. And I commend you on sharing that because I too feel that sometimes I can just relate to everything that you're saying. First of all, I also call my [00:57:00] meeting with God my morning meeting. So that's Yeah, cool that you said that. And it's like when I meditate, I imagine myself like plugging in to God's energy and then the connection is just there and it really hit for me when you said that you can trust it more because you know that it is God.

And God would never steer you wrong.

Celeste: Yeah.

Christine: So that like, really like, ooh, that like sunk into my system. And I'm like, I needed to hear that myself. So if anything, the biggest blessing to come out of this conversation is, Hey, you just impacted one person. You just impacted me already from the get go. So thank you seriously for that.

And I have always been a believer, 'cause I went on my own quest to try to figure out where I belonged in a religion and I didn't feel like I fit anywhere. So then I just dived into the belief of I am my own church because [00:58:00] I'm always connected to God, whether I call him God, source, the universe.

And then again, Kathy's when she shares we are not someone, we are some of the one that is like one of the biggest Kathys that I think all of us can feel. And someone described it as. Think of God as the son. And we are all just raised and we are all existing at the same time, but having our own experience.

But we are all connected. And so when you are operating connected to that frequency, I mean, you can't go wrong.

Celeste: Mm. You

Christine: just can't go wrong.

Celeste: That's so beautiful. Yeah. Life

Christine: is not perfect and life is not easy because we have free will. But when we choose to be connected and to be authentic, there's so much expansiveness, [00:59:00] abundance, alignment, available for all of us.

I'm so excited. I just can't wait to learn more about you and to hear more. Through your podcast and I'm super excited and we don't live that far apart either, so potentially we'll run into each other. I know. That's just so much fun. I'm so excited to hear more about your journey and your story, and I think that's the beauty in having your voice shared, whether it's on a podcast, in a book, in a blog, like the fact that we learn from each other's experiences and you feel more whole and more at ease when you hear other people's experiences, especially when you have similarities and you can relate to each other.

So this conversation has been a blessing. If you were to leave the listeners with one last piece of advice or inspiration, what is calling on your heart to share?

Celeste: Oh God. First of all, just thank you so much [01:00:00] for having me on. I truly loved our conversation. I feel, I feel so lit up, like I'm gonna have a hard time going to sleep tonight because like we said, when you meet people that you do really connect with, like soul to soul, it is an exciting, exciting energy.

So like, I'm like buzzing from like head to toe. Like I'm gonna literally be going out and talking to my husband about like, the whole conversation, be like, you can't wait to listen to this. It was so good. So thank you. Thank you for inviting me on. Thank you for sharing your heart with me, and asking such great questions.

You pulled out things that I didn't even know. I would talk about today. Yeah. So like, that's always super exciting. What I would leave your listeners with, would be this, it's not [01:01:00] about ever being broken because we all have parts of us that are broken, but it's about understanding that we have more power than we think.

And when we start to come home to ourself, when we start to really trust and listen and surrender and get quiet. And be and just be things. And synchronicities will just start to happen all around us because how can they not? When we are in our true power, when we are aligned, right, and we are tuned in, turned on, it's like everything starts to just unfold [01:02:00] before our very eyes.

And that to me is the most exciting thing ever because it's unknown. And that is like a surprise every day. It's like a daily surprise every freaking day. And wouldn't it be fun to just live in that space, that energy of like having daily surprises, like it's Christmas morning every single day. That is like the juice of life.

So I guess that's what I would end with.

Christine: That's so good because it's like you are magnetized and you can wake up and say, how good can today be? Yeah. Show me the beauty that exists and when you get into that daily habit of that practice, you're gonna be so surprised, just like you said. And

Celeste: yeah,

Christine: I encourage people to give it a try, because again, when you show up in your authentic version, the universe answers, the universe matches your frequency, and it [01:03:00] will show you and it will surprise you.

The universe is limitless. Mm-hmm. You know, the limitations that we've put on God, on the universe, on abundance are manmade. They're of our own minds. And so we have to, just, like you said, trust and so much will unfold for us, and it's an amazing journey and we have to enjoy it. It

Celeste: is like

Christine: that.

Celeste: And think of this, how can it get any better than that?

Like, so ride the wave of momentum, like when things are good that are happening around you, ride that wave. How can it get any better than this? Because it's limitless. Just keep going, keep going.

Christine: So

Celeste: good.

Christine: Yeah. I love it.

On the last note, tell my listeners where they can find you and I will also drop all of your information into my show notes. But just tell us verbally, where can we find you?

Celeste: So the best place to find me would be on Instagram. At the underscore conscious [01:04:00] underscore coach underscore. And right now I am offering one-on-one coaching.

It's called Midlife Makeover, where we are working in one month to restore your energy, mood and momentum with tangible, easy tools that you can implement daily. And there's also a little bit of the woo, a little bit of the spirituality woven into every single coaching session. So that is exciting right now.

And be sure to pick up my podcast, which launches on November one.

Christine: I'm so excited. I, for one, cannot wait again. I'm just gonna keep repeating it. I can't wait to listen in. I'm so excited for you and I just feel like it's going to be amazing and I feel like it's going to skyrocket. So if you are listening to my podcast, be sure to tune in to Celeste's podcast because I think it's just going to be amazing and I [01:05:00] can't wait to hear it myself personally.

So thank you so much for being a guest on today's episode. I am so thankful. And same, I'm so lit up right now. It is 8:20 PM here on the East Coast time, but I don't know if we're gonna sleep anytime soon.

Celeste: I know, right? And I can't wait to have you on my podcast too. We can share even more of our beautiful stories.

Christine: Yeah, absolutely. So excited.