The Next Phase
I used to be fun. I used to be driven. I used to be sexy. I used to be...young. What happened?
Dear Millennial moms in your late 30s or 40s -- former forces of nature,
Are you burned out, overwhelmed, and wondering where your energy (and your old self) went? You’re not alone.
The Next Phase is the podcast for overachieving moms navigating perimenopause who are dying to take back their energy, their bodies, and their magic. Here, we will not pummel you with hormone treatment plans or talk about perimenopause as if it's a diagnosis. Instead, we're going to celebrate it. We're going to use it as an excuse to really start taking care of ourselves. As a matter of fact, we're going to find ourselves in our perimenopause era.
Hosted by Stacey Hutson—certified health coach, wellness chef, former co-host of the Mother Plus Podcast, and mom of two—you’ll learn how to: Understand what’s really happening in perimenopause and how to work with your changing body, use nutrition, supplements, and sleep as medicine to restore your energy, get in tune with your cycle and learn practical ways to sync your life with your hormones, and create rituals (with a little woo) that help you slow down, listen inward, and reconnect with yourself.
Each episode blends personal stories, expert insights, and actual doable steps you can take right away.
✨ Subscribe now to The Next Phase and join a community of millennial moms redefining wellness in their 40s. Let’s make perimenopause your most magnetic chapter yet.
Episodes
31 episodes
#31: Millennial Women Are Drowning in Self-Optimization: Here's What I'm Doing About It
Have you ever felt like your entire life became one giant self-improvement project?In this solo episode, Stacey explores what happens when high-achieving women become trapped in a constant cycle of optimization — always trying to become ...
#30: Why Your Hair Changes in Perimenopause (and What You Can Actually Do About It)
If your hair suddenly feels different in this phase of life… you’re not imagining it.In this episode, I’m talking with Allison Conrad and Jay Small, founders of AREY, about what actually happens to women’s hair in perimenopause — and why...
#29: High-Achieving Moms—Are You Losing Yourself? (with Jess Ekstrom)
What if success isn’t supposed to cost you yourself?So many of us did everything “right.”We chased the goals. Built the life. Hit the big hairy audacious goals.And then somewhere along the way…we started to feel lik...
#28: Caregiver Fatigue: Taking Care of Aging Parents While Raising Kids
Many millennial moms are going through something that past generations never had to do:Raise young children while also caring for aging parents.It’s overwhelming, emotional, and (somehow) completely unexpected.In thi...
#28: What If You’re Doing Nervous System Work Backwards?
Are you doing nervous system work… and it’s still not working?In this episode, I’m sharing a realization that completely changed the way I approach anxiety, overwhelm, and “regulation” as an ADHD mom.For years, I did everyt...
#26: The Decluttering Mindset That Actually Works for Messy People with Dana K. White
Messy. Overwhelmed. Always behind.At some point, you start to wonder…Is this just who I am?In this episode, I’m talking to Dana K. White — creator of the No Mess Decluttering Process and author of Decluttering at ...
#25: Why You Feel Scattered No Matter How Hard You Try
Do you feel like you’re constantly playing catch-up in your own life?Like no matter how many times you promise yourself you’ll “get it together”…you’re still forgetting things, missing things, and starting every day already behind?
#24: Tarot 101: A Simple Way to Reconnect With Your Intuition in Midlife
If you’ve ever been curious about tarot… but also a little skeptical… this episode is for you.Today, I’m joined by tarot reader and teacher Rosetta Magdalene for a grounded, beginner-friendly conversation on what tarot actually is...
#23: Astrology 101: How Your Birth Chart Can Help You Understand Yourself in Midlife
Somewhere in our late thirties and forties, a lot of women start to feel like something isn’t working anymore.The way we’ve been living.The expectations we’ve been carrying.The constant pressure to improve ourselves.But wh...
#22: The Millennial Perimenopause Masterclass: Hormones, Stress, Metabolism, and the Nervous System
If your body suddenly feels harder to live in — you’re not imagining it.In your late 30s and early 40s, hormones start shifting. Sleep changes. Stress hits harder. The workouts and diets that used to work suddenly… don’t.But hormo...
#21: Why Millennial Workouts Are Backfiring in Perimenopause (With Dr. JJ Thomas, DPT)
Millennial moms were raised on one fitness message:More cardio.Eat less.Push harder.Sleep when you’re dead.And now?We’re herniating discs.Developing “meno belly.”Feeling exhausted.And wondering why t...
#20: Intermittent Fasting vs. Cycle Syncing in Perimenopause (Why I Stopped Fasting)
I’m sharing my full experience with intermittent fasting for women in perimenopause — why I started it after struggling with postpartum weight gain, how I followed Fast Like a Girl closely, and why it felt empowering… until it didn’t.<...
#19: Minimalism in Midlife: Less Stuff, More White Space
Lately, everything has felt like… too much.Too many activities. Too many Amazon boxes. Too many decisions. Too many tabs open in our brains.In this episode, I sit down with Stephanie Seferian, hos...
#17: Saying Goodbye to Our 90s Mom: On Catherine O’Hara and the Motherhood We Inherited
In the wake of Catherine O’Hara’s death, a lot of millennial women felt unexpectedly emotional.Not just because we lost a legendary actress — but because we lost Kevin’s mom.In this episode, I reflect on Kate Mc...
#16: Perimenopause? What—Like It’s Hard? Herbal Wisdom with Jane Barlow
Perimenopause can feel like a confusing full-body mystery… but today’s conversation is a deep exhale.I’m sitting down with Jane Barlow, an herbalist and founder of Barlow Herbal, who literally grew up in plant medicine—her ...
#15: The Energetic Power of Finishing Mundane Tasks
51 days.That’s how long the too-small sweater sat in my trunk before I finally made the return.In this episode, I’m talking about the mundane tasks we avoid — the returns, the laundry, the mail, the subscriptions we never...
#14: The New Year Self-Help Spiral (and How I Found More Space Instead)
January has a way of turning us into projects.Fix your habits.Fix your body.Fix your mindset.Fix your life.In this episode, Stacey reflects on the familiar New Year self-help spiral—and why, after decades of goal-setti...
#13: Explain EFT to Me: How to Calm Your Nervous System When You’re Spiraling
Have you ever been set off by something that looks small to everyone else — but suddenly your chest is tight, your throat feels blocked, and you can’t fully exhale?Your body feels like it’s under attack… even though nothing “that bad” ju...
#12: Why Your Belly Is Changing in Perimenopause — And What Actually Helps
After watching K-Pop Demon Hunters, my daughters asked me if they “should want abs”… and that moment changed the entire direction of this episode.Today we’re talking about meno belly — why your belly is changing in perime...
#11: Millennial Menopause & Why We’re So Nostalgic for the 90s with Lauren Tetenbaum
You know that low-key identity crisis that hits somewhere around 38–42? The mood swings, the random rage, the 3 AM wakeups, the nostalgia for your 90s life and the feeling that you’re somehow running out of time?It might not jus...
#10: How to Make Cycle Syncing Automatic (So You Can Actually Stick With It)
Between kids, work, and mom-life chaos, no one has the bandwidth to reinvent a grocery list every week based on their hormones.Today I’m teaching you how to make cycle syncing automatic with four reusable grocery lists—one for each phase...
#9: How to Love Your Home Again (A Professional Organizer Teaches Us How)
You know that low-grade shame storm that hits every time you look at the piles, the laundry baskets, the boxes you never unpacked?In this episode, I sit down with certified professional organizer and “clutter whisperer” Star Hansen
#8: Dear Diary: I’m 40 and Still Terrible at Adulting
What if you hit 40 and realized you still hadn’t really grown up?In this week’s episode, Stacey gets brutally honest about the behind-the-scenes chaos of adulthood — from forgotten bills and overflowing inboxes to that constant ...
#7: When Your House Feels “Off”: The Energetics of Decluttering (Plus Learn How To Smudge)
Have you felt it lately?That pull to rearrange, clean, and reimagine your space — not for your kids this time, but for you?In this episode of The Next Phase Podcast, Stacey explores the nesting energy that co...
#6: What Diane Keaton Taught Us About Turning 40
This episode is my love letter to turning 40 — and to the woman who helped me do it with less fear and more fire.As I step into this next phase, I’ve been thinking a lot about how our culture taught us to see women in their 40s and 50s: ...