We refuse to stay behind a locked door, curled in a corner waiting for midlife to pass. 

Midlife isn’t a stage we need to endure or wait out. It’s a point in time when we can boldly embrace who we are. And we are kicking the door wide open. 

We’re not alone in breaking down the midlife door and boldly barging through. This week, we are talking with Tamsen Fadal journalist, role model, and champion for women. Tamsen Fadal anchors the primetime news for WPIX-TV in New York City. She also hosts a weekly podcast Coming Up Next, where she explores stories of women creating the next phase of their lives and is the author of the book The New Single. And if that isn’t enough, Tamsen is currently producing a documentary on menopause. A true Gen Xer, having it all and doing it all. 

In this episode, Tamsen talks about bouncing back from a very public divorce which led to crushing debt, and her own menopause struggles including brain fog which disrupted her ability to read on air, and why she is passionate about menopause education. 

She firmly believes Gen X women owe it to themselves to believe today is their someday.

Conversation Highlights: 

“You’ve been thinking about doing that big, bold thing for a long time and it always get pushed back to someday.  Guess what? Your someday is now.” 

“My end goal is to educate and help women thrive in midlife."

• “If it's something  I've said yes to just because I feel guilt... I've just learned to be really honest about it. Like, at this point in my life, I'm not able to do that."
  
  
• “I am learning to be comfortable with uncomfortable conversations"
  
  
• “I start every day with a plan, but I look at it the night before, and I'm like, what can I take off this list?”
     
• “I was the first one in my family to get divorced. I'd gotten married much later in life, so I thought, I want to make sure that I do this perfectly. The perfect time to get married, the perfect person. And so when all that was clearly not the case, that was hard for me and so I was embarrassed by it.”
  
  
• ”I think the brain fog was what really scared me,  I really had a hard time feeling confident in my job because I would look at words that were familiar to me and I couldn't process what those were. I was really scared."
  
  
• “The first thing that I think about is confidence. That's where I see a big hole, myself included. Lifting people up to fix that space would be incredible. "
  
  
• “I'm hopeful women feel like they are where they belong and people are lucky to have them, not that they're lucky to be there.  
• It would look like more money, equal pay. I think it could look like balance in their lives. I think it could look like confidence at the end of the day and feeling good about what they've done and where they're going.”
  
  

“I'm trying to take those little moments and make those building blocks to how to help people become bolder in whatever it is they want to do. That doesn't mean that it's easy to walk in and quit your job and start your new company. But I think that little things help build up to that.”

Connect with Tamsen Fadal
Tamsen Fadal: Thrive in midlife

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