128 | The Power of Tiny Changes for Midlife Health with Michelle Bazinet

Have you ever chuckled at the simplicity of a habit that could change your life? Join me, Courtney, and the exceptional Michelle, a health and wellness coach illuminating the path through midlife. Together, we unwrap the secrets of 'laughable habits'—those small yet mighty steps that dissolve the overwhelm plaguing many women in their 40s and 50s. Michelle's quarter-century of wisdom shines a light on setting achievable goals, cultivating gratitude, and embracing mindfulness in everyday life, turning daunting transformations into delightful journeys of self-care and empowerment.

As your guide through the transformative terrain of midlife, I reveal an exercise so straightforward, it will have you wondering why you didn't start sooner. It's all about aligning your actions with your ambitions while swaddled in a blanket of self-compassion. You'll learn how to leverage your natural inclinations—be it whipping up a storm in the kitchen or tackling gentle challenges—to build habits that stick. We celebrate personal growth as an adventure of empowerment, urging you to savor each small, patient step towards the summit of self-discovery.

Wrapping up this episode, we delve into the immense power of perspective—how the meaning we assign to life's events crafts our stories of success and failure. I introduce my reimagined podcast, "Midlife Magic," and invite you to join a community of women who are crafting their own enchanting narratives. We're on a quest to redefine midlife, not as a period of decline but as an epoch ripe for creation, where every small victory is a sparkling thread in the tapestry of an extraordinary life.

Learn more from Michelle:
Website: Michelle Bazinet
Schedule a Call: Select a Date & Time - Calendly
IG: Michelle Bazinet: Nutrition, Fitness & Mindset Coach (@michellebazinet_) • Instagram photos and videos
Workshop: "True transformation transcends the physical; it's the evolution of heart, mind, and soul." (ck.page)

Transcript

Courtney: 0:05

Welcome to Moving Through Midlife. I am your host, courtney, a personal trainer and movement specialist who wants to help you move through midlife with more grace. Each week, we will discuss ways we can show up better for ourselves and our children without the burnout. We will focus on overall health through habit stacking to help increase energy, provide movement snacks to help you move more throughout the day, while also moving your body more, and learn from professionals on moving through midlife with ease so that you can feel confident with aging. Gracefully, grab your earbuds and join me on a leisurely walk while we discuss moving through midlife.

Courtney: 0:50

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Michelle, who is a nutrition, fitness and mindset coach, helping women find magic in their midlife years. She asks the question if you could wave a magic wand, what would you want your body and your life to look and feel like in your 40s and 50s? Then she helps them to make those things happen. She has been in the health and wellness space for over 25 years. She is a proud wife and a mom of three children that she is modeling magic in her own life for. I hope you enjoy our conversation. This is a great way to start off the new year. Hi, michelle, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm great. I am excited to have you here today because we are in the new year and you work with women on not only movement and nutrition, but their mindset. I think this is a really important thing for us women as we're moving into the new year is to really focus in on our mindset. Can you tell us how you got into this work or a little bit about yourself?

Michelle: 2:08

Yes, sounds good. Thank you for having me. I am really passionate about all things health and wellness. I've been in the health and wellness world and space for over 20 years. I'm a woman who wears many hats. I'm a group fitness instructor. I am training to be a personal trainer, nutritionist not nutritionist, nutrition coach I don't want to take away from nutritionists. I have been a registered massage therapist and going back to that career in the new year. 20 years ago I did some training to become a coach and have always been passionate about coaching. World Mindset is everything. As much as I love the fitness world, I really think everything starts between your two ears. It's such a big piece to everything.

Michelle: 2:52

In January of this year I decided that it's 20 years later. I'm ready to start coaching because I really feel like I have some value to add to women, to help them in this space, because I see in the diet world, health and wellness space is very confusing. It is so overwhelming, very confusing. I feel like I just have some tools to just help women lift the pressure and the stress of that world and of the things to do. That's why I got into this area of coaching. One of the things that I love is teaching a concept called laughable habits. I'm going to go right into my laughable habits because I think it's really important. This is the time of year where people start thinking about their goals. I wish they thought about it all year. I think about goals all year, but I get a little more reflective at this time of year. I'm sure a lot of people do. It's just a great time to take inventory and to see how things have been and start thinking about what you want in the coming year. If anybody is going to do it at any time, at least they do it this time. I think it's really, really important.

Michelle: 4:03

What happened to me was January of 2021, coming out of 2020, which we all know was a lot. I remember sitting in my living room At that time. I was building a network marketing business. I had a very successful network marketing business that was struggling and challenging. I have three kids and a husband and trying to manage all of that. We had more lockdowns here in my province than anywhere. It was a lot. I remember sitting on my sofa just feeling the heaviness of just life as a mom. I felt like I was struggling in my business. I wasn't able to go to the gym and work out. We were working out at home, managing the kids. I remember thinking something needs to change for me. I needed to feel better. No, I need to take responsibility for feeling better. I remember just staring off at the wall and I thought, okay, I need to do less, which may sound crazy to some people, but it's like I need to have my list of things that I want to accomplish in the day be smaller and just be easier for me to do, because I was sick and tired of going to bed at night putting my head on my pillow and being disappointed. My chest is tight just thinking of it and just carrying that into the next day.

Michelle: 5:20

What I decided to do was create this concept called laughable habits. It's about building habits that are so ridiculously simple. They make you laugh. I want people to say is that really going to help? Is that really going to make a difference?

Michelle: 5:35

The things that I was doing for myself was when it came to my business. Instead of telling myself, I'll connect and reach out to five people, maybe it's just one, because one feels better than none If it came to any kind of gratitude or journaling, instead of feeling like I had to sit there for a certain amount of time or had all these things I needed to do. What if I just wrote out three things I was grateful for? Because three things that you're grateful for is better than doing none of it. When it came to any kind of meditation, if you know, instead of telling myself, I had to like sit there with music on and breathe for a few minutes what I just stopped into the couple breaths wherever I was, because that feels better than not doing anything. And this, and I saw these kind of patterns with mostly women that I'm having conversations with and saw how laughable habits or that concept could really help them and take pressure off them.

Michelle: 6:32

You know, I had an instance yesterday. I had a really good day yesterday. I checked all the things. I was so proud of myself. I went to bed feeling so good about myself last night because I did all the things. And what happens when you're going to bed that way? You'll likely want to get up and like repeat it and do all the things again and go to bed feeling good again. So laughable habits just became a really important concept in my life and I think it's something that people can laugh about and can kind of have some fun with.

Michelle: 7:04

And I know, I think what happens in our world is that we feel like we need to do so much. We feel like because we are in a society where we want results like instant. We want things quick, we want to lose the weight quick, we want to build the business quick, we want to lift heavier weights quick. We want to do all of those things. But quick hasn't worked. If we all really get really honest with ourselves, quick has not worked. So what if we can just dial all the way back, because people tend to do quick or nothing? They tend to be like all in or do nothing and it's like okay. How can we get people into action, into movement, into trusting that stacking and building on the palm of little things and stacking and building the habits are the things that are going to change your life like permanently, because you're more likely to stick to them forever. Right, right, yeah, I just went off, I just went into that.

Courtney: 8:00

No, that's great, because I love it. I love it Well, and I think that all or nothing is huge and, like you said you have. Everyone wants to go all in, especially in the new year. I'm going to change my diet, I'm going to make sure I'm going to work out five times a week. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, and they have not thought about what they have to. If you're going to add all of these things in, something's got to give.

Courtney: 8:33

Yes, so, taking a different approach and I feel like so many of us are working to kind of simplify our lives you came about it, I think, a little early, like that 2021. Yes, when you said January, you started feeling like you needed to do that. Yeah, because I feel like I've started and I'm hearing it out there you know you're starting to hear a lot about it. Is this do less, do less, do less that we're all starting to feel now? Yes, so I guess my question to you would be one where would you recommend women start? Right, because there's so many things like we could start anywhere and I guess maybe it would be different for each person. Yes, and then also, what are the expectations that people should have when they start with whatever they're starting?

Michelle: 9:38

Yeah, that's a great question, great questions. I think one important expectation when you talked about, you know, people having all these hopes for themselves for the new year Jan 1 doesn't come and we flick a switch and we have all the habits and the disciplines set, and I think that's a misconception. That happens. They think they're suddenly going to change the next day, from December 31st to Jan 1. And that doesn't happen. So I would say I would start with the expectation is you want to grow into the person who does all of the things that you believe you need to do to have the goals Correct, and you want to grow into her. I think that's really important. And where do people start?

Michelle: 10:25

I'll share an exercise that I do with my clients which I find really powerful, because I'm conscious that I don't want to tell people what to do. It has to come from them. It has to come. They're more likely to stick to it if it comes from them. So what I like to do is I like to have my clients get post-it notes and if they have a certain goal, I have them write down all of the things that they believe they need to do to achieve that goal and they just they have their time they have a few minutes, they write the post-its and they kind of put the post-its on in front of them and then I have them look at the post-its and because I'm very feely, like I can feel things in my body, so I want to have them connect to that too and I want them to look at the post-it notes and be very honest with themselves about what are they actually willing to do. Are they willing to do this one thing on this post-it note? If it's a no, put that post-it note to the side. They're not ready for it yet. They'll keep the post-it note because they'll do this exercise every once in a while and come back to them. So I want them to get down to a few post-it notes where they can look at it with confidence and feel like, yeah, I can do these things Because they're choosing, they're making the decisions, they know what their life feels like, they know the capacity that they have. It's my job to help challenge them a little and have them just be really honest with what their choices are and not have them be too easy on themselves.

Michelle: 11:50

Sometimes people don't have that belief in themselves, but I find that post-it note exercise incredibly powerful. And then they then take those post-it notes and now they have to plan it and put it in their day and put it in their calendar and make the time for it and want to honor their word with doing the things that they said they would. Knowing, knowing, knowing, knowing they will not be perfect and that there are going to be days when they don't get all those things done, and that's OK. Like we have to break down this whole perfection expectation from people, because we are humans and zero.

Michelle: 12:28

None of us, the people they aspire to be that they see on social media or their girlfriend that they want to be like, those people are not perfect either. They don't do all the habits and they are not disciplined all the time, and I think that's a real important piece that they need to know. Walking into it is that you're going to have days where you may not be able to check one thing off, and I think that the quicker we are able to learn that that's OK, you don't beat yourself up about it, it is what it is, it's neutral, it's not good, it's not bad, it's just, it is what it is. And then we take on the next day, right? So I hope that answers those questions.

Courtney: 13:09

Yeah, well, as you were saying that I was thinking about when you mentioned the person, like maybe it's a friend of yours, yeah, you feel is doing certain things, and it's always one of those situations where you really have to assess the whole person, because they might be perfect, like with their habits and everything, but something is giving.

Michelle: 13:35

Yes.

Courtney: 13:36

Something is. There's got to be a give and take with everything. So even if their nutrition is on point, their movements on point there, like they've got all this stuff that they are just perfect at, they might be neglecting something else that you can't see.

Michelle: 13:50

Yes, yes, and I could say I'm even an example of that in ways. I love fitness and moving my body and that is the one thing that is easy for me to fit in my day. But if I'm not the person who always gets the work things done off my list but the workouts by priority, like I get it in, so that's just me. So someone may look at me and think you're always going to the gym and how do you fit that in? Well, because I know I experienced the benefits. I'm just blessed to love fitness, I love moving my body, so I have to hone my skills in other ways and disciplines in other areas of my life. Which someone may have, those business skills and disciplines laid down, but they may struggle with the gym. Right, if we put us all in a blender, we would be the perfect person.

Courtney: 14:39

Right, yes, well, and I think it's important for us to lean into those things we are good at. Yes, yes 100 percent. Maybe you aren't someone who likes to go to the gym and you're really struggling with that, but you love to cook. So maybe let's look at how we can start to work on what we're eating and focusing on making healthier choices within the cooking and that type of thing. So lean into where you shine personally and then start to add in the other things.

Michelle: 15:22

Absolutely. It's this feeling that you, when people begin to grow their habits and grow their disciplines, like it's a feeling in you. The same way, you may lift a five pound weight and you suddenly feel like I think I can lift heavier because this five pound weight has gotten pretty easy. That's when you know you can maybe grab that next post-it note right, or you can reevaluate the other post-its, or that you can add the next thing into your life. Because I know when we think of creating new habits it can feel overwhelming, it could feel hard because our lives are busy and full. But a habit is kind of like a muscle as well. So if we start with the five pound weight and then feel like we can get stronger, same with the habits, you can begin to add more right. You can begin to stack those habits and create more solid habits in your life.

Courtney: 16:16

Well, and how do you feel with a person who comes to you and they can only commit to one thing that they can change, and they feel like, but this isn't enough. What would you say to them?

Michelle: 16:30

If they feel like they can only go, it's enough for now. That's where your capacity is at. I think that what people forget is that it's a lifelong journey. It never ends. We don't stop Sorry, the dog's barking, that's okay. We do not stop growing Like.

Michelle: 16:50

I have a favorite word. I heard it years ago. It's called, the word is Kaizen and it means constant and never ending improvement. That is always stuck with me when I heard it, and that is I wish we all embodied that and we live that.

Michelle: 17:03

Where it's just it's not that we're not good enough is that we are capable. There's so much inside of us that we're capable of. So if you can only do one thing, get good at that one thing. Focus on that one thing, because what is the alternative? Doing nothing? Because if you tell yourself you have to do three but you only have capacity for one, you're not going to do three Like you'll probably do none Right.

Michelle: 17:30

So I think you're setting yourself up for success If you become to come to accept that this is the thing you are starting with and that if you continue with that thing a year from now you won't just be doing that one thing. It's hard to have that faith and belief in that. It's just like weight loss. It's hard to believe that in a year your body can transform, that you can lose the 10 or 15 pounds, because when they're not seeing that scale move in the first three or four weeks, if it's not moving, it's like people, it's such a head game. People feel like, well, what's the point? Well, why should I do this? Well, what's the alternative?

Michelle: 18:05

Again, doing nothing, stopping and then staying the same or gaining weight? Like you have to have that long term vision and I think one important thing I would love for anybody who listens to this to do before the year ends is like spend some time journaling out who you want to be this time next year. Like what does she look like? Who is she hanging out with? What does her body look and feel like? Does she feel strong? Does she feel like it does help her close fit her? What kind of conversations is she having? What kind of habits does she have? Like it's really important to be able to see her and know that we are not her on Gen 1. We're going to grow into her.

Courtney: 18:49

Yeah, Well, and that's really important for people to understand, because they want like you had mentioned at the beginning is they want quick fixes. They want to see the results really quickly. But a year from now, the person who's consistent with that one habit, or consistent with those three habits, are going to be closer to what they envision than that person who didn't see it the first three months and gave up Absolutely.

Michelle: 19:19

Absolutely. And I think too, if we're speaking to women, and if any of the women out there are moms I think we sometimes forget that the expectations and the hope and belief that we have in our children, like I kind of wish that women would kind of turn that around and have that for themselves as well, because we wouldn't expect our children to get results that quick. We would tell them to keep going, to keep pursuing, to keep trying to get up and go again. And what I would love for all parents to do is to model for their children what they want. And I've seen this in my own house.

Michelle: 19:57

I have a 14-year-old who, when my husband asks her to do something, she is now saying to him well, you leave your apple peels, they're your apple core on the table, like they're recognizing that he's not modeling what he wants them to do. And the same when it comes to movement. I have this conversation with my husband. He's not overly active and there's times when he has expectations of my 10-year-old son, who's a rep hockey player, to do more outside of hockey and I'm like can you model more? Can you model it? He'll probably want to do it with you if you do it and can you model it? So I think that's really important. I think we I just wish these actions and these habits and these lifestyles they're caught, not taught. We can talk about it, we can talk about it, but if we model it, I believe they're more likely to pick it up.

Courtney: 20:51

Yeah for sure? Yeah, question for you. I know you had mentioned that weight loss is more than just movement and nutrition and we've touched on it a little bit. But can you speak into that a little bit more, because I feel like, as we are again into this new year, there's a lot of people that feel like I've got to change my diet and I got to start working out, but there is a different component that might be where you really need to start.

Michelle: 21:29

Yes, we need to do those two things, but I think the third one which I'm going to talk about should be at the top, is we need to change our mindset and work on our mindset and our thoughts. There is so much that goes into this. I was fortunate this past summer as I was trying to figure out where I wanted to land with my coaching. We have a local gym and the owner runs his transformation challenge and I reached out and said can you add a mindset component to this transformation challenge, Because he deals with the nutrition and the workouts? And I said I'd love to come and do some mindset work with people. And it has been.

Michelle: 22:08

I fell into what I absolutely love to do, because this is such an important piece to again. We don't just want to transform the physical form, Like when I talk about growing into her. She changes inside, she changes in her mindset, she changes in her habits. And when it comes to mindset, when it comes to weight loss, there are so many layers and pieces to it and the one reason why I wanted to kind of enter this field is because I want women to think about because weight loss can be challenging that if the scale didn't move, will they be miserable for the rest of their life. Because I think a lot of people are so attached to their body and to that scale and they give it so much control and so much meaning that I can reach change that and start to like, learn how to love our bodies, how to nourish our bodies, how to nurture our bodies, Because I feel like we're holding on to all of this doubt and frustration and we're mad at ourselves because we fail, diet after diet after diet and this doesn't work.

Michelle: 23:23

It's like all this tension and stress over it. I believe if we work on the mindset, we can release the weight of weight loss and release the pressures of weight loss. So it's the simple things of trusting the process, knowing this is a long game, this is long term. I heard someone on a podcast that I really respect get asked the question what is the best diet to do? And his response is the diet that you stick to.

Michelle: 23:52

Like whatever you did to lose the weight, you need to continue to do it. This isn't 30, 60, 90 days, this is forever. Right, and I am. That's a mindset shift. Number one is to know this is forever. This is a lifestyle change and if you can't continue to do the things that you did to lose the weight, it's not going to stay off.

Michelle: 24:13

So we work a lot with the thoughts around the scale, around the number on the scale, and really just start to how I start to help women look at other non scale victories, things like getting stronger in the gym, maybe walking a little faster, maybe walking up the stairs and not feeling as breathless, having more energy with their kids, the clothes fitting better, like all of those wins. Because if, like, how beautiful would it be if a scale didn't need to be there? How would we measure our progress? And let's pretend the scale doesn't exist and measure our progress in other ways and it's about one piece of it is really just committing and focusing on what you can control. I can control my thoughts, I can control what I eat, I can control how much I move my body. I have zero control over what happens with those things I just said.

Michelle: 25:13

Right, I don't know if the weight's going to come off. We would know our bodies are a little chemical experience, little science experience. There's so much going on, but I can control those things and I want to be able to celebrate those things that I can control and feel good about those actions. So there's so many different layers and pieces when it comes to mindset around weight loss, but I wish it was the primary thing that people would focus on. I have a Facebook group for women and I have about 110 women in the group and I did a survey of like, what do you want to work on in 2024? And I had things like grow my confidence, lose weight, improve my nutrition, improve my mindset all these things Do you know? Zero people chose mindset, zero, zero. So I have work to do to help them realize that that's such a big piece.

Courtney: 26:05

That's the biggest muscle that we need to work on right there between our ears Well, and I think people think that when I get there, my mindset will be different. When I lose the weight, I'm going to feel different, whether it be about myself or about this situation, or I'll be more confident when I lose the weight. But no, that's not what happens?

Michelle: 26:30

Well, because at the end of the day, we think we're chasing the weight loss. We're not chasing a goal, we're chasing a feeling. We chase how we think we're going to feel when we achieve that goal. And the really cool thing about that is we can start to change how we feel. Now, right, and our thoughts determine it's like. It's like what is this saying? Your thoughts determine your feelings. Your feelings determine your actions. Your actions determine your results, right? So if we can begin to reframe and change our thoughts which takes practice and it takes work we can change how we feel, which can make us feel like we've like. That's the, that's what we're chasing, that feeling. And then, when we're feeling different, our actions will be different, and when our actions are different, we'll be able to create different results. Yeah, Excellent.

Courtney: 27:22

Do you have any strategies to help people to start to change that mindset, because we can all think like, okay, yeah, I want to change my where do I begin? What can I, what do I need to do? Yeah, especially for those who just really don't believe they can change or are just really discouraged and self-defeating at this point, are there things that they can start to work through?

Michelle: 27:54

This. Oh my gosh, so so much. There's so many pieces, just like the laughable habit, like it has to start small as well. Okay, and it's it's about catching, catching yourself saying certain things to yourself.

Michelle: 28:10

I think, like one thing is, when I come back to being neutral, that everything in our life is neutral. Every thought is neutral. We give it a meaning, we decide so is. Is the diet that didn't work? Is it that I failed? What is the meaning? Why am I getting it the meaning that I failed? Maybe it's a diet that is just not sustainable or smart, right? Maybe it's the person who created it that failed and I kind of unfortunately fell for it, but I, it's a neutral.

Michelle: 28:38

It's like it is what it was and it's it's easy for me to say to let go of 20, 30 years of thinking a certain way and being a certain way. This is why it takes time to kind of unravel all of that without kind of like getting like. I don't like to go deep and make it almost there like therapy for people, but it's about refraining. How can they?

Michelle: 29:03

I think, again, it comes down to starting with the, just the small actions, and I think those small things that we can do can help to re retrain and reframe our mind, like it's not about just doing positive affirmations or thinking positive or like doing all of those things. Those things can help, right. It's good energy, words are powerful, it's all good energy. But just reframing I can do this, the simple thing I can have protein at my breakfast and that's going to create a win and that's going to start the process for me to retrain my brain right and building that belief and confidence in myself. Because that's what it is. It's about belief and confidence and how we feel about ourselves.

Courtney: 29:46

Right, and that little thing can make all the difference.

Michelle: 29:53

It's a win, right? I had another piece right. There is that start celebrating what we do well instead of looking back. It's so easy to look back every day and look at all the things you didn't do, or I didn't do that, or I miss that workout, or listen. Something went well in your day. Give me one thing, like I did on Fridays with my social media and in my Facebook group celebrate your wins from the week. Let's like and start, because you can we look back at all the things that didn't happen. That's just natural for us, right? It's about reframing that brain. Let's celebrate what went well and again, when it feels good. When it feels good or actions will be different. So, connecting back to that, but I don't have any one strategy I start with. For people, it tends to come from conversations, because everybody is different. So some people have deeper rooted struggles with their body and I tend to really want to start with some kind of action that they can begin with, because that helps build belief and confidence and faith in themselves.

Courtney: 30:59

Well, and again, like you had mentioned earlier, like celebrating with your children, you would. If your child's learning something new, you would celebrate that you know like thinking of our kids when they were babies and they take that first step. We celebrate that first step, yet we won't do that for ourselves and, like you had mentioned just, celebrate the win, really celebrate it. You had protein this morning, yay, yes.

Michelle: 31:27

Pat yourself on the back, do a little dance, do something right, because, yes, it's such a big deal to celebrate. And if we can always just use the example, if we use our children's example, I think that would really help us move and push forward. And sometimes like when you're talking about other tips to give sometimes we need reminders. I have goals and intentions.

Michelle: 31:50

I get caught up in my day and I forget it. Sometimes it's a post-it note somewhere, sometimes it's an alarm on your phone, right, maybe it's an alarm at nine o'clock at night to say, pause for 30 seconds and celebrate your wins from the day, like, if we need reminders, we are humans. We don't I can go a couple of days and forget about intentions I set for the week, like it's just, it's just natural, right Again, not, we're not perfect. And so set yourself up with things like reminders or having a coach who will message you and say, okay, what are your wins from the day? Or have an accountability partner or girlfriend that you do this stuff with so you can check in, whether it's daily or weekly, and acknowledge everything that went well.

Courtney: 32:32

That's great, yeah. So can you tell us where we can find you?

Michelle: 32:39

Yeah, so I'm pretty active on social media. I'm on Instagram. My Instagram handle is at Michelle Bazanet, underscore. I'm on Tiktok. It's at Michelle Bazanet. I have a website, michelle Bazanetcom, rebranding my podcast. So I do have a podcast that's currently called Laughable Habits Okay, and on Jan one it's going to be called Midlife Magic. I just really feel like I forgot. I'm midlife. I just realized like this year I'm like I couldn't be 47 in January. My girlfriends are like Michelle, why are you calling it that? I'm like we are midlife. We are midlife. Let's start, like making this midlife magical. Like stop settling for what we think midlife is. The weight will come on and I'm going to get slower, I'm going to get weaker, I'm going to do. No, let's just create that magic. Like, if you can wave a magic wand, what would you want your 40s and 50s to look like? And let's make it look that way. Let's do the things. Let's start with the little things.

Courtney: 33:41

Yeah, yeah, well, and this could lean into another conversation, so I'm not going to go there. Okay, now things have changed for us in midlife, because I'm there too and I like 50s, right, yes, and I'm just like so, knowing that everything you hear about midlife, there are aspects of it, for sure, body changing, mindset change, all of it, but that, it again is just one of those little. It's a bump in the road, a speed bump type thing, that you have to move through and I think we're blessed to be midlife in this day and age.

Michelle: 34:29

Oh yeah, like I don't know, maybe because I followed one thing on TikTok, so I see it everywhere on Instagram. There's so much great information out there for women right now on how to help their hormones, how to deal with them, how to do all of that, and I think we are so lucky to be going through this, recognizing the like, the hormonal effect on mental health and all of those things, and I think there's so much for us to learn. If we're willing to learn, we can. We can create some change and not not regress. I don't think we need to regress, right? No, just grow and get stronger and, like, do a lot of great things still Right.

Courtney: 35:08

And and know that this is normal. It's natural. I was at my doctor's appointment the other day and I was asking him about, you know, hormone replacement therapy and concerns that I had and this and that, and he's like look, this is a natural process. Yes, this is natural. Your body knows what to do. We just have to treat it right. Yes, it's all going to work out.

Michelle: 35:33

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Courtney: 35:36

All right. So can you give our listeners something that they can take with them this week, if they can just either focus on one thing or a question that you want to ask them, just something that they can maybe ponder or work?

Michelle: 35:56

towards. So I am going to ask them if is there this, this, this little whisper typically it's a whisper, right that something is it keeps coming up of like I should move my body more or I should change my eating, or I want to do this or I want to do that. Whatever it is, it doesn't even it could be about your job, your business, anything, your relationships. If there's. I want you to listen to the whisper and then decide that one little thing that you can do this week, like even today, like what is one thing you can at least decide it today, do it tomorrow, but what is one thing that you can do to move the needle, because that's all we want to do is move the needle. We're not swinging the pendulum. Let's move the needle, and what, and move that needle daily. But listen to the whisper, because it's there. You already know what it is you want to do. You just need to start listening to it before it becomes a scream and slaps you in the face. I've learned that over the years. Yeah.

Courtney: 37:00

Perfect. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day for this conversation. Excellent.

Michelle: 37:07

Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Courtney: 37:12

I hope you enjoyed this episode and found something to take away to help you practice healthier habits, move more or handle the midlife in aging with grace. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review to help us reach more moms just like you. Head to movingthroughmidlifecom to join the free community or learn how you can move more and feel better in your daily life.