For resilient, restless, and rebellious women
For resilient, restless, and rebellious women
Amid Life is about reinvention. The moment you know something has to change, but you're not sure what or how. Start here.
This newsletter will provide a respite in your midlife pivot, or it will spark a new way of looking at the world, or maybe it will be a kick in the butt. Whatever it is meant to be for you, I hope it arrives when you need it most.
How do I know what to do with my life next?
This is the question I posed to a life wizard. Amid peri-menopause and career burnout from decades in corporate marketing, I knew I had to change something. I hadn’t learned yet that ‘the something’ would be me.
I began this newsletter to share lessons from my midlife reinvention. Lessons that are helping me to shed the weight of expectations and the kind of old standards heaped on us by the world in which we were raised—yes, the patriarchy, but also the find-your-purpose, 10-steps-to-happiness, live-your-best magazine headlines and filtered social media feeds of #fabulousover40 (or 50 or 60) women.
I used to buy into all of it. When I decided to quit my job, I spent two years spinning in a sea of shoulds, musts, and need-tos. I searched for that elusive “might have been,” whatever it was that I was supposed to be. I tried many things except slowing down and learning to trust myself.
You can’t be ambivalent about what you want.
Some of the best advice I’ve ever received came from former bosses, the greatest inspiration from coworkers and friends. I’ve gathered tools from business management, personal development, and the creative process. And I’ll share insights from poets and writers who have helped me.
This newsletter is where I share what I’ve learned and invite other reinventing women to contribute their hard-won amid life lessons, like…
How to stop steamrolling your life
How to reflect on the past without regret
How to plan (and when it’s better not to make a plan
How to find purpose (and when it’s better to stay lost)
How to find (and trust) your voice
I don’t care how old you are, how old you feel, or how old you look. I won’t take sides in the anti-aging v. pro-aging, should I go gray, botox debates until men are targeted with the same messages. Whether peri-menopausal, childless by choice, post-menopausal grandmother, Gen X, Millenial, or Baby Boomer...
We’re all amid something.
Career burnout, caregiving overwhelm, grief, depression, relationship reckoning, raging hormonal imbalances, howling at-the-moon anxiety. Call if a midlife crisis if you want. Or maybe …
You’ve done what you set out to do. Reached a savings goal, cracked the glass ceiling, launched your kids, or sent your partner packing. It’s my time! You shout. Yes, it is. Women are always reinventing themselves, whether by choice or circumstance.
Let this be a place where you can reconnect with yourself. Look inward, look ahead, reach out, connect, or just be still for a goddam second. Amid Life is a centering place to read, think, share, laugh, cry, gather your strength, bolster your confidence, take a deep breath, and begin (or continue) to write your next chapter.
Beginning October 2024, all subscribers receive a rotating series of weekly posts, including:
Personal essays and journal prompts
Guest columns (poetry, collages, opinions, humor, and tips). *Watch this space for information on how to contribute.
Excerpts from my memoir in progress, which chronicles how I moved to Vermont, hired a life wizard, and left a 30-year career without a plan.
A monthly round-up of recommended reading, affirmations, and links. I think I’ll call it Bookmarks.
Paid subscribers receive additional benefits.
Free participation in seasonal writing workshops designed to fuel your next chapter. *Groups will be held online in January, April, July, and October 2025.
Occasional downloadable extras (a worksheet, for example).
Access to group chats and the ability to comment on all posts.