Why does the word “midlife” make so many of us want to crawl under the nearest weighted blanket? It’s often framed as a crisis, a downhill slide of hot flashes, self-doubt, and questionable decisions. But what if it’s actually the most liberating chapter of all?
In this refreshing and deeply insightful episode, I’m joined by clinical psychologist, award-winning author, and Zen practitioner Dr. Shayna Kaufmann, founder of Embrace the Middle. She’s on a mission to rewrite the narrative around midlife, not as something to survive, but as a time to wake up, reconnect, and get clear on what really matters.
We talk about how to let go of outdated scripts, make peace with aging (and even celebrate it), and turn what’s often called a “midlife crisis” into a moment of realignment, purpose, and yes, joy.
This isn’t about fighting time. It’s about finally giving yourself permission to live it fully.
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Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Turning Points: Dr. Shayna Kaufmann On Growth, Grace, And Life’s Middle Chapters
Midlife, Rewritten And Embracing What’s Next; Middle Isn’t The Mess—It’s A Moment
Midlife. How does that make you feel when you hear that term? It’s kind of creepy, sad, scared. It gets a bad rap because it’s often framed just as that a time of crisis, when in reality it can be one of the most empowering, transformative, and freeing stages of life. That’s if we choose to embrace it that way. That’s exactly thanks to my friend, our guest, Shayna Kaufmann, who’s the Founder of Embrace the Middle, and the author of the award-winning book, Embrace the Middle, chose to look at it.
She’s on a mission to change the conversation around midlife, shifting the narrative from decline to want to growth, strength and self-discovery. We talk about a lot. We talk about why midlife isn’t a crisis at all. It’s actually an invitation to redefine who you are, toss away all those things that don’t fit anymore, and embrace all those that you have yet to meet.
How to let go of the outdated expectations and create a new vision of success beyond the age of 40? The gifts of aging. Yeah, that’s really a thing. They really do exist. How to embrace change in our bodies and minds with confidence. It’s going to happen. You might as well love yourself. What’s the role of community and connection and how they’re essential to thriving in this midlife section? Finally, what’s one immediate action you can take if you’re feeling stuck and uncertain about what’s coming next? I know that one of the key pieces is just taking a beat and understanding you really are completely enough. Read on and see what else you learn. Thanks for joining.
Shayna Kaufmann, Founder of Embrace the Middle, an award-winning author of a book by the same title, Embrace the Middle. I’m so looking forward to our time together. Thank you for joining the show.
Thank you, Kate. I’m so excited to be talking to you.
Introducing Clinical Psychologist And Author Dr. Shayna Kaufmann
This is a juicy one, my friends who are reading, and here’s why. It’s talking about a time in life, a stage in life, of being in life that we all will experience at one point. Shayna addresses it with such grace. Before we go into that, though, I want to hear what was your journey now and what were some of the milestones that got you here?
My journey actually was two fairly discreet parts of chapter 1 and chapter 2 career-wise, with very different influences in terms of what got me there. The first one, I worked as a forensic psychologist going into courts, evaluating offenders, testifying in court. It’s a very juicy sounding for your word, dark slice of life that was very influenced by the societal values of esteem, wealth and other things that went around a very sexy sounding career. It was very exciting, but also, very dark. I was immersed in a very sad slice of life and dark slice of life that had tremendous ripple effects.
Chapter two actually started with the awareness that this other chapter was just not working for me anymore. It was when I was approaching 50 that I realized that if I stayed in a career that I had outgrown, and that was not only not fulfilling me, but sucking the life force out of me that it would be a lifelong regret.
I think decade birthdays do that where I really pause and take inventory. There was also a lot of personal things happening in that same period of time. Around 50, menopause was in full play. Kids were getting ready to launch, parents were declining, body was changing. I was trying to figure out how to navigate these inevitable changes with more grace. The answer came to me in all forms, odd ways.
It was during a meditation retreat when I had a hot flash. The epiphany being that leaning into an experience that I would much rather not have, leaning into that and dropping all the negative stories around it, and the instinctual tendency to try to get comfort from the discomfort of a hot flash. It was so much easier and liberating than all the energy it took to fight against it. That moment was really the beginning of my personal intention. I wanted to navigate not just hot flashes, but all these ensuing changes that were out my door. Thus became the term embrace, which captured that intention. Soon after, a company called Embrace the Middle, which I’m in now.
It’s that notion of surrender and really suffering can be optional or is optional, usually.
We can’t choose all these things that are going to happen. To your point, we’re going to hit it. Our bodies will hit menopause if we haven’t already. Our parents will decline and eventually pass if they haven’t already. Hopefully, our kids will launch. Things are going to happen whether we like it or not. Though we don’t have control over those things happening, we do have control over how we choose to respond to those things happening. That’s where embracing a more gentle acceptance I found to be much more helpful.
How To Do A Mindset Shift
That is definitely a much better reframe of this period that gets such a bad rap. By doing this, as you’re saying, it’s really much more about empowerment. Are there some simple, I guess I should remove that word, simple because nothing about a mind shift is always simple, but what would be some of the mindset shifts that you would recommend that folks embrace at this stage?
I think to your point, midlife gets a bad rap. It does get a bad rap. It’s associated with the word crisis or hot flashes or sayings like aging sucks or aging isn’t for sissies. That was what my dad used to say. There’s narratives that we come into this stage of life that almost sets up the experience first before we’re even there.
We’re already at a disadvantage as we’re coming into it because of the cultural pressure or narrative around it. When we get there, our thoughts so impact our behavior and our experience, it becomes we have to undo all of that. I think a mindset shift is, one, not buying into that aging is all bad, that it’s necessarily a time of decline. It’s a time of profound change, but I think inherent in all the changes that are going to happen is also this beautiful opportunity to have this version 2.0 of who we are.
We’ve been on this treadmill of parenting, building careers and serving others. By the time we’re in midlife, those roles start to change and we have to catch up with who we’ve become. We’ve often been so busy, we have lost sight of who we have become even though it’s already happening, if that makes sense. It’s like this wonderful opportunity to catch up with ourselves and really have that version 2.0 being who we have evolved into over these busy decades and make that more in alignment.
You started off with a really interesting point. I know I certainly have experienced it, and I’m sure a lot of folks who are reading have too. You start going through the motions and then all of a sudden, all your old tricks don’t work anymore. They could be at work or how you navigate a difficult situation or how you frankly ignore a difficult situation. How you could drink like this, you could eat whatever you wanted, and now your body is turning on you. You’ve outgrown that phase. I think of it as like a little caterpillar and you’re in that little larva. It’s like, “I’m getting bigger and this suit doesn’t fit anymore. I need something bigger,” which is actually a really exciting thing.
When we’re redefining those identities, that’s so tricky, as you just said, when all these different parts of life are in transition. When you kayak or when you river raft, you get caught in, is it the dishwasher, the washing machine? Is it really rough rapid, and it just keeps you grounded. I think that really can happen so often. Aside from breathing, are there other practices that you yourself rely on to help ground?
What comes with breathing is a pause. Not just momentary pauses, but even bigger pauses of self-reflection, of taking inventory. Listening to our bodies. As you said, things don’t work anymore. Our bodies are great teachers on that. I’m on a board right now and I don’t feel all in. It was bothering me that I’m there and I don’t feel all in. I had to pause and explore why don’t I feel all in?
What I came up with is that it’s not in alignment with me right now. My body was leading the way. I realized once I paused to really explore that and talk it through another friend on the board who has a similar experience that I have to make a change and transition out of this board into a board that is in alignment with me.
My body was telling me that when we leave these interactions that feel off, that’s our body telling us that it’s not working for me anymore. I think to your question about steps that we can take is pausing and taking inventory and surrounding ourselves with authentic connections with people who support this journey of transition. I’ve talked to women who want to go gray, but their family’s not okay with them going gray. Her conflict is not what her hair looks like with the gray. It’s the pushback she gets some people around her. As we make these transitions, we need to align ourselves with people that support this exploratory transitional process.
When we leave interactions that feel off, it is our body telling us that it is not working for us anymore. Share on XI think that’s a really interesting and great point because so often, isn’t it true? We’ve probably all experienced it. If we’ve gone to a retreat, which oftentimes results in a shift or in anything else, just a moment of introspection and you come back and you’re maybe a little bit more pensive, you may not be allowed. People feel like you’ve changed. Not the you. That means I can’t be me or count on you to do these things to tell me that I’m great. You know what I mean?
Yes.
To be so down with that and realize, as you’ve said, this is your journey. My journey.
When we change, we disrupt a system. Disruption’s not always a bad thing, but when we change, we’re changing because that’s what’s true to us. Oftentimes, that means realignment of relations and realignment of a system. When our kids left, and my husband and I were very well aware, my role dramatically changed. His did not.
As the mom and in our household, at least, I was doing the brunt of that. His life changed in an emotional way. It might have changed in a material way. I started to step into my power and have my work be at the forefront. There was a system disruption there. There was a conversation over how are we going to realign rules in distribution. There’s a system disruption when we set boundaries. No one likes change, even when change is for the better. I think it’s on us to stay true to what serves us. If someone else has a problem with it, that’s their problem.
What Success Looks Like For An Aging Person
That’s something they need to work on. What do you see as success looking like beyond 40? I think of all those outdated expectations.
I think we shift. When these roles change, in the earlier decades, there’s so much attachment to I’m a mom, I’m this, this is what I do professionally. There are so many roles that become who we are. I think as we age, those roles become less important. What becomes more important is who we are, not what we do. Success becomes more of an inside out experience. To me, success is dropping perfection and claiming self-acceptance.
As people age, roles become less important. What becomes more valuable is who they are, not what they do. Share on XIt’s about not seeking approval as much, I wouldn’t say at all, but replacing approval seeking with trusting myself as the main person to seek instead of status being about authentic connections with others. To me, it becomes much more about meaning and fulfillment and insight out than all those awards, labels and accolades which disappear, whereas the inner stuff is ageless. That’s always with us.
What are some of the gifts of aging. With that, I want to take a little peek at building confidence, this body-mind connection and really, what are the biggest myths about aging that need to be debunked? I know we both have daughters and I mortify my daughters because I tell them everything
They mortify you in turn by telling you everything.
I’m happy when they tell me everything. I’m in the know. It’s one of those things where like, “Gross, mom. Don’t tell me about the eyelashes falling out. Gross mom, don’t tell me.” These are all things no one told me at least. Maybe everybody else got the memo. What did you see as some of the biggest myths?
One of the biggest myths is that aging is all bad. It had a bad rap. There’s so much cool, wonderful stuff that can only come with age. As you know, I did this research study that had 619 women worldwide participate in this study. I did a deep dive for the 104 of these women. A lot of what we honed in on were the gifts that accompany the challenges.
It’s not just a time of darkness, it’s a time of profound gifts that can only come with age, which I’ll go to an into a second. Also, that as these doors close as we get older, the doors of kids being at home, the doors of our parents being the ones that care take us, and we now care take them, as doors close, there’s space for new doors to open.
I think aging in midlife should be perceived as a beautiful time of opportunity. That it’s all declined is really shortchanging ourselves of the joy earned over time. Another myth is that it’s too late for something new. My life drastically changed at 50 when I pursued work that fed my head and heart as opposed to something that mostly just fed my head. It is not too late. It is a perfect time because all these natural transitions are carving the way for change. It’s a gift. All these big things happen that are saying, “The time is now.” That was the first part of your question.
The second part is what the gifts are. In my research, and this was universal to all women, that we have these gifts that coexist with the challenges. I call them the ands of aging. Some of the top ones are not just the wisdom, which we know we have more wisdom and we know we have more self-awareness, although sometimes we might forget we have this wisdom and self-awareness, but it is embodied. It does live within us.
We’re more resilient. We’re more comfortable in our skin. We don’t give as many bleeps and we don’t people please as much. We’re more confident and in our being. I think the problem is that these things happen so subtly and so much attention is put on the difficulties that we lose sight of these. Midlife is a big cluster of ands that coexist.
It’s really funny, I’m just sitting there thinking about how it’s so true. You catch yourself in situations that would’ve historically really ticked you off. You find yourself at first getting a little triggered and you stop and say, “I don’t know, whatever.” People go, “What?” I’m like, “It doesn’t matter. Do your thing.”
What I would say to a woman in that moment, pause and take in that moment and honor your growth of not sweating the small stuff and take it in because we certainly take in the challenges. Give that awareness of those gifts and our growth, which we’ve earned and worked hard for, and turn it up like you would a song on a radio that you love and, and give yourself credit for it.
Embracing The Physical Changes Of Aging
One of the biggest challenges, and this one is a tricky one and we’ve been dancing around it, how do we embrace the fabulous changes in our body, have confidence and just be okay with it? Of course, not just let everything go. It’s even cropping up now, even on LinkedIn feeds about this one and done skin thing. To your point, do you go gray? Do you not go gray? Just different gravity. Actually, buying the size that does fit as opposed to, “After doing this, it’ll fit.”
I share this publicly, but one of the reasons I named my company and book Embrace the Middle was actually my declaration of embracing my literal middle because I realized how much time, energy and life force I gave away worrying about that and how cruel it was to myself and self-rejecting. I made this declaration that I’m done with that and being so unkind to myself and the middle.
Just grow with age. Thankfully, I made it to the middle, so I’m going to take that with it. Speaking to the universality of the challenge of that, I think one way to do this is to gently accept. When I say I don’t mean acceptance, like, “Okay, I accept that I’ve got more wrinkles and I weigh ten pounds more.” It’s more of hand on heart, I accept this is happening and it’s challenging, but I accept it. There’s a tone in that that really acknowledges the pain that goes with it, but also opens the doorway to moving forward.
It’s doing this and then tossing those size whatever jeans that you don’t fit in and stepping into those bigger size jeans. It’s also appreciating that youthful beauty’s not the only form of beauty. I so often notice these older women and how beautiful they are, we are, and appreciating that beauty comes in all forms.
Appreciating what our bodies can still do as opposed to what they can’t do. Looking at the parts of our bodies we really do love. The color of our eyes that doesn’t change or the shape of this or whatever. There’s honoring what still is, there’s being present to what no longer is in a gentle way. There’s not buying into that narrative and obsession.
Honestly, in my research, when I explored what the real pain points were of aging, appearance was lower to the bottom. Even though we’re marketed to all these products that make us think that that’s going to be our sense of happiness and peace, but the things that were way higher than that in terms of really the pain points is number one, our physical decline. Not the decline of our skin, but the decline of our knees and our hips.
The mobility and flexibility.
Also, what we can do and needing to take medications and that thing. That was number one. Number two was death and loss, which often for the first time and increasingly during those decades. Number three was the sandwich crunch of the multi-generational demands that are happening at the same time where we’re still nurturing and supporting kids. Many of us are now in caretaking roles of our elders. That weighs on us so much more heavily than any regal. Yes, we want to look and feel our best, and of course we do. That’s really not what our main struggles are. That’s not what it’s about.
The picture that just struck me while you were just going through that list, but also the notion of being kind and embracing and a hand to heart with the body is this is your body’s cycle. It your body’s process. This says trust yourself. This is a complete expression of trusting yourself, trusting your body, honestly, respecting it and honoring it because if you fight it, your point, once you release, more often than not, you’ll start sleeping better. This is that weird extra, whatever that was, you’re just more joyful.
There’s such freedom and acceptance. It’s that uphill climb, up the downhill elevator to try to fight nature. When we quit fighting it and we lean in there, we can breathe. We can drop that, and then we get to have all this extra energy moving forward. It creates space. As you said, room for more joy.
The Role Of Community In Midlife Phase
I think that’s really true. All of that of course is probably somewhat associated, as you’ve said a couple of different times, with the community and those with whom you surround yourself. Relationships either at work, inside the house, outside the house, friends, we’ve all had situations where we’ve outgrown friends, but what role does community play in making midlife this thriving, exciting time versus this isolating experience?
It is a huge role, not only in the shared validation that we’re not alone in all these huge things going on, but the support we get other women. In my research, when I looked at the tools that help women navigate the difficulties, female friendships was number one. Men’s experience is different. I’m not saying they don’t go through a change. They do go through a change, but it’s on a physical level.
The hormonal changes are not as extreme. They’re not having a door that closes up saying that they no longer bear children. It’s different. Women are more likely taking a bigger caregiving role of the elders. There are some shifts that women can relate to oftentimes more directly than men, but we want to align in community not to commiserate. That was part of why I started my business.
That’s actually a really great point.
I realized that I knew other women were going through what I was going through, but when we got together and just bitched and complained about it, that was not helpful. What was helpful was hearing each other, sharing that validation, and then how can we move forward? What’s helping you move forward more gracefully?
Not buy this product or do this, but what is something that’s helping you navigate? Maybe it’s setting better boundaries. Maybe it’s carving out time for self-care. This was actually the impetus for my company. I found that getting women together was great, but it had to be leaving feeling nurtured heard and seen. Not just trying to be fixed but heard, seen and validated and then moving together in community like that.
As you said, there are friendships we outgrow and that’s a painful part of aging, but I think it’s a critical part of aging. We start to realize time is precious and we become more discerning with who we choose to spend that time with and really deeply nurture those relationships that are mutually fulfilling and lift us up and leave us feeling good and heard and seen and not questioning or weird.
I’ve gone through a few, as of late, especially too with just the world being crazy and such, but sometimes I feel that there are some that are more draining. Less reciprocal. They really have to gear up and it’s exhausting. With that, how can people nurture both not only friendships, but also romantic relationships that take a shift too? Do you have some suggestions about what we can do to keep some of those connections strong? I’m sure it starts with communication.
It starts with communication. It starts with your presence. There’s communication, but then there’s being present in your communication. Anything we want to nurture, we have to dedicate time to. If you’re saying the relationship is really important, but you’re not crafting out time to give this relationship and give it not drive by attention, but real, present attention, then you’re just giving it lip service. I think really giving our time, our full presence and seeing the other person
Anything you want to nurture, you have to dedicate time to. Share on XThere are the relationships that frustrate me and I’ve been victim of doing this to my husband often, or the relationships where the other person just wants to fix. “I bought this product and this does,” or, “I do this and this.” There’s a part of that that’s dismissive because it’s not hearing the other person who really just wants your present ear and it’s getting it back to you, to the speaker, not to me who’s sharing with you. I think those relationships that are more fulfilling are the ones where, be with me in this. If I offer suggestions, great, but until then, just see me and hear me and be with me. I’m going to do the same for you because that’s what feeds the soul and feeds the friendship.
We don’t need to have to talk everything out. I may just need you to be a sounding board so I can get what’s in here and, frankly, dig down deep and get what’s in here without judgment. It may not make sense. I don’t need it to make sense.
In fact, if I can hear you in your lack of sense making and be there and nod and love you, that’s even better.
Similarities Of Women At Micro And Macro Levels
To you and your research, it’s so fabulous, what’s been the most surprising and personally meaningful lesson you’ve learned from both writing Embrace the Middle, but also going through all those interviews and all the research?
Women from every continent was represented, so this is a very diverse sample of women worldwide. It was amazing how similar we are in terms of what we’re dealing with. Huge similarities on the macro level and big differences on a micro level in terms of how these challenges and gifts impact us, how we deal with them and where we, where we go with them.
We’re all handed the same plate. How we choose to take and eat it and deal with it, big variations on that, but more similarities and differences. That was huge. How many women, almost all women, resonate with the gifts that come with this season, but being less aware of them. We need to talk about these gifts because it’s universal, and so collectively, we need to share that for our daughters to look forward to and share that other stuff.
That was big. The variation in menopause, for some women, it turned your life upside down. For some women, they didn’t even know they were going through it. A huge variation in that. For me, how forthcoming women were and having these conversations. We want our stories told. You, I asked to interview twice because you’re so fascinating and I had to follow up on some things. Thank you for being one of my research in my book.
Me personally, I think going through this process was how my life took a 360 when I turned 50, and how much more fulfilling my life is, and how I had to drop that role of forensic psychologist and everything associated with it. When I did step into that liminal phase of not knowing what the heck was going to be next, but that it had to be heart aligned, coming through to your analogy that the chrysalis, that messy middle of your cocoon not knowing what’s next in the messy phase and then opening up to the butterflies, to my wings, how much more joyful life is. To think if I kept going down that path that was comfortably uncomfortable, I would still be doing that and missing out on a whole new chapter that’s feeding my soul. That is so exciting and joyful to me.
I think the one thing that makes me smile is that when is in themselves grounded, anchored, etc., I am good with me and you do your thing. I’m not threatened by you. I’m not jealous by you. I don’t feel less than by you. I feel genuinely excited for you because we’re able to be connected, appreciate the individual aspect of it. I guess it’s like a work of art. That’s a really cool expression of that. I hadn’t thought that. Maybe there’s something there I could learn from you on that. It’s less competitive and it’s more comprehensive. I don’t know, it’s fun. It’s much more wonder and awe-inspiring, I think.
You ask about mindset shift. I think curiosity and openness about what could unfold, replacing fear and dread is a ticket. You’re right, there’s enough to go around. I think that’s partly why friendships at this age are so much more fulfilling because that competition, that scarcity mentality, all of that really starts to whittle away more. As we become comfortable in our being, it doesn’t matter what they’re doing. The sign of success is internal, the validation’s internal, so yes.
Shayna’s Advice To Younger Self
What advice would you give your younger self knowing what you know now?
That you are enough exactly as you are. This has been something that is so deep for me and so personal. Right now, I just wrote a blog when I turned 60 about embracing enoughness because it’s a thank you. It is a universal theme that so many of us feel. We’re not smart enough, we’re not competent enough. We haven’t done enough yet. We haven’t given enough. We’re not thin enough, we’re not rich enough. You name it, there’s a flavor of that that I think is so fundamentally human. When we know that intrinsically we are enough, that is an exhale moment.
Women must claim their voices not to make themselves small but to stand tall. Share on XWomen’s Freedom To Use Their Voice
Shayna, where do you see the greatest opportunity for women moving forward?
I think the opportunity of the freedom that can come from this phase of life. The freedom to use our voice, the freedom to claim our power, the freedom to step into our most authentic self while we still hopefully have a lot of years ahead of us. Claiming it, using it, not making ourselves small and standing tall. We need to now more than ever. There is power in our collective voices. Not getting small and not buying into the fact that if we stand tall, it makes someone else look small. No. If we stand tall, they can stand tall alongside us and we can be tall together.
Shayna’s Book And Contact Details
It completely goes to that. There’s plenty of room and arm in arm is the way to go. For sure. Younger generations are watching. All genders and gender affirmations. Often we think, “It doesn’t matter. I’m just little me.” No. Wherever you are. That goes all the way down to younger people too. There’s always a younger one is watching you. Shayna, where can readers connect with you?
I love connection. My website, EmbraceTheMiddle.com. I’m on LinkedIn, Shayna Gothard Kaufmann. I’m on Instagram. I have an Embrace the Middle Facebook page. I have a newsletter that I put out twice a month. One is a blog and the other one really shares links and to podcasts and articles and other things that all have midlife relevance. I’d love to connect there. My book’s on Amazon, if you’re inclined to read Embrace the Middle.
Embrace the Middle: A Woman’s Guide to Mindfully Navigating the Challenges, Celebrating the Joys, and Finding Power in Midlife
The thing that impressed me most with the book, and I shared this with you, is it’s so real. I feel as though I’m speaking with you and all the other voices of whom you interviewed, and it’s such a great use of humor and relevance. Everyone will just remember. It’s so relatable. You just say, “Yes, I’ve done that. Yes, that’s so true. Thank God I’m not the only one.”
Thank you, Kate, and thank you for being a part of that book journey. You were not only interviewed twice, but you’re also one of my early beta readers because I respect your opinion so much. Thank you for being on the book journey with me.
Thank you. I think that’s one of those moments, everybody, when you get to help someone with that. It’s a fabulous experience. Believe me, it was all mine and it was, frankly, inspiration for me. Who knows what could happen as a result? I’m open to it. Shayna, thank you so much. So many pearls. That’s all I have to say. I’m going to come back and talk with the audience a little bit afterwards about some of the key takeaways I see, but so much to digest and ingest. Thank you.
Thank you, Kate. Thank you for not only inviting me, but being a woman who really wants to advance women. Your work is so important and helping us all get out there. Thank you for all the work that you do on behalf of us all.
All right, until next time.
Until next time.
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Three KB Takeaways
What can I say? Did I not tell you that was going to be a juicy conversation? Shayna and I were just talking about how we could go on and on and on, because a lot of those points, they’re multilayer. I think the key, my three key KB takeaways are one, this whole middle age crisis. Reframe it. It’s not a crisis. It’s a gift. There’s so many positive things that come about it. It’s unfamiliar, so of course it’s going to feel a bit uncomfortable. However, like so many things in life, suffering is optional. This is definitely one of them.
Second, when you fight the shifts that are taking place in your body and the shifts that are taking place in your heart and your mind with those around you, how there are sometimes people that you just outgrow, embrace that. Not doing so is literally going to cause more pain than the actual going through it in and of itself.
Finally, take a big exhale. You are so enough. You’ve always been enough, and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. Have fun with that. It’s like spring cleaning. Get rid of all that doesn’t suit you anymore and make room for all the good, fun stuff. There’s so much fun stuff. You have to open your eyes and you have to open your heart, and you have to breathe it all in. Thanks for joining, and I look forward to the next time we’re together.
Important Links
- Embrace the Middle
- Embrace the Middle
- Shayna Gothard Kaufmann on LinkedIn
- Shayna Kaufmann on Instagram
- Embrace the Middle on Facebook
About Dr. Shayna Kaufmann
Shayna Kaufmann is a clinical psychologist, award winning author, meditation teacher, , decades-long Zen practitioner, and Founder of Embrace the Middle—a company dedicated to serving women in midlife.
Dr. Kaufmann is also a published researcher, a community leader, popular speaker, and former faculty at Alliant International University and National University. She lives in San Diego with her husband Eric and dog Nola, and treasures visits from their daughters, Tara and Maya.