Meet Your Host
Hey, friend. I'm Jen.
I didn't wake up one morning and decide to reinvent my life. Yes, some shit had hit the fan. But nothing was necessarily wrong with my life - I had just outgrown how I was living it. Something started shifting.I decided the second half needed to look different. The armor got fucking heavy.
The beliefs I inherited, the armor I built, the roles I played, the ways I thought I was supposed to behave — some of it just stopped fitting. That's ok, it let the awakening begin.
You don't have to blow up your life to wake up inside of it. Maybe the first half of our lives was about becoming who we thought we were supposed to be. And maybe the second half is about figuring out who the hell we actually are.
That's really where Halfway to Dead came from — the realization that midlife isn't the beginning of the end. It may be the first time we're awake enough to actually choose how we want to live the rest of it.
"The armor got fucking heavy."
A few things you should probably know about me…
Midwest Girl
I was raised on flat ground and prefer to leave uphill walking to people with something to prove. I love when seasons change, fall is amazing. While everyone else heads for the basement during a tornado, there's a decent chance I'm watching from the porch.
Extroverted Introvert
I love people. I love laughing. I love a great conversation. Small talk? Absolutely not. And eventually I need everyone to go home so I can sit quietly by myself. I am a 2/4 Manifestor in Human Design. IYKYK.
Animal Person. Obviously.
If my dog doesn't like you, I probably don't either. The FedEx guy can confirm. I am also a certified cat lady. If the wild animals in my yard stay very long, they get a name. And if animal hair on my clothes bothers you, this friendship may have a limited future.
Spiritual.
I am spiritual, not religious., Raised Christian, I have spent time unraveling the fear based, limiting beliefs instilled in me from an early age. I have kept what still resonates with me. I love to explore all things spiritual with an open heart and mind. Nothing is too woo-woo for me. I trust my intuition to keep me on path.
If You Can Help, You Should.
I'm a giver by nature, and I have a particular passion for helping traumatized children avoid getting lost in the system through my work as a CASA volunteer. Spiritual growth means very little to me if it doesn't eventually change the way we show up for other people.
The Real-Life Version
Married to my high school sweetheart. Mom to three amazing grown-ass kids. Dog + Cat(s). Volunteer to anything that resonates.. Spiritual rabbit-hole enthusiast. Basically, a midlife (GenX) woman who has reached the point in life where small talk and pretending everything is "fine" are equally exhausting.
Why Halfway to Dead?
Because there is no midlife crisis, only an awakening.
We aren't the same woman as we were at 25. We've loved, we've lost, we've learned the hard way. We get it. We realize that time is precious and our energy is the most important thing we own, and we will protect it at all costs. It's time to unravel our limiting beliefs and stop carrying burdens that were never meant for us. That armor is fucking heavy. We want the second half to look and feel different.
Somewhere in the middle of all that unraveling, we realize:
I still have time. But I don't have time to waste.
And this Brené Brown quote stuck with me.
"...This is when the universe comes down, puts her hands on your shoulder and pulls you close and whispers in your ear, I’m not fucking around, you’re HALFWAY TO DEAD. You’re armor is keeping you from the gifts I’ve given you, that is not without penalty. Time is up. So this is what you see happen in midlife. It’s not a crisis, it’s a slow, brutal unraveling. This is where everything we thought protected us keeps us from being the partners, the parents, the professionals, the people that we want to be."
You can go through an awakening alone, but why? When women gather, magic happens.
We talk spirituality, taking care of these aging bodies, healing, relationships, weird shit, hard shit, and how to become better fucking people without pretending we have any of it completely figured out.
If that sounds like your kind of conversation, welcome.