Please join us to ‘Design Your Midlife' (Fall 2025)
Summer is now well and truly upon us, and I’ve been finding such joy in sharing our yard with the little bird family that have moved into our plum tree (Bushtits/Psaltriparusminimus). Their nest is a unique and beautiful design, and I was delighted to see them fluffing it with many beakfuls of white and pink blossoms from our fruit trees earlier in the spring - awww. Savouring joy.
(https://birdnote.org/explore/field-notes/2014/04/bushtits-build-their-nest)
Last summer I shared a bit about how I was impacted by the changes and challenges I experienced in my 50’s. I wrote,
‘I have been gradually emerging from a decade for which I was not prepared. I felt blindsided by how unexpectedly stormy it was – disruptive, turbulent, overwhelming, and unsettling. My relationship to almost every part of my life was impacted in some way ~ my family, marriage, work, money, and health and well-being. I was left trying to figure out how to manage the changes and challenges, what was most important and meaningful to me now, and what I wanted my life to look like going forward.’
As I eventually found some steadiness in myself thanks to a lot of support and learning, I could see what an important and valuable period of growth and healing this had been. It was a difficult transition, but I am grateful for where it led me.
In my life design and social work practice many of my midlife clients were grappling with similar challenges and changes but often felt alone with them. So about a year ago I developed a course that I hoped would offer some support to women navigating midlife based on my own and other’s experiences, and drawing on my background in social work, design thinking, research, and education.
Since last September, I have been meeting with two groups of midlife women on zoom. Each month we have explored a different theme, shared ideas, experiences, and insights, reflected on our own journey, and found ‘new ways to midlife’. As one participant said, the course helped her life feel ‘less washing machine, more snow globe’.
With positive reviews and the support and encouragement of the previous course participants, I’m excited to be offering this course again in the fall and I’d love you to join me!
I’m calling the course ‘The Growing Season’ (with a nod to a beloved Thunder Bay restaurant!). I’ll be sending along more details later in the summer, but I’d love to hear from you now if you think you might be interested or would like to have a chat about it. Please also forward this to anyone you know who might be interested, or send me their contact info. and I’ll reach out to them.
Below is the beginning of a course summary (with more to come!). Let me know what you think!
The Growing Season
‘How can I best navigate the changes, challenges, and joys of midlife?’
This question will guide our inquiry through the course. Some of the themes we will explore are:
1. Gathering: How can we as a group best support one another? What can we each offer? What do we need?
2. Your journey: Seeing your midlife as a journey can help you make meaning of this time of transition. We will use the story of the hero’s journey to explore where you currently are in your own journey.
3. Values and boundaries: What is most valuable, meaningful, and important to you at this time, and how can you best protect and amplify what you value? What can you let go?
4. What ideas and goals would you like to explore as you embark on this next chapter? What questions do you have? What steps might you take to begin moving you in that direction?
5. Prototyping and iterating: What experiences, connections, and experiments might help you answer the questions you have about your midlife journey? What would you like to try? Who would you like to connect with?
6. Discernment and decision making: What decision-making strategies and ways of knowing would be most helpful as you navigate midlife?
7. Support systems: How can you strengthen your systems and structures of support?
8. Winter holiday idea gift exchange: We will each share something that has been supportive and helpful to us as we navigate midlife (for example, something you are learning, exploring, or trying, an idea or question, a book or podcast you love, or any helpful tips or tricks).
We’ll also talk about cultivating hope, experiencing loss and grief, the neuropsychology of midlife, deepening our connection and belonging to ourselves, nurturing creativity, parenting in midlife, staying healthy, and so on.
In each class we’ll start with a check-in followed by a workshop on the theme of the month. You’ll respond in writing to a few questions related to the theme, and then be invited to share your thoughts, ideas, and reflections with the group. You’ll leave with some homework suggestions and relevant resources and references. I’ll also check in mid-month via email and/or zoom to see how your homework is going, answer any questions, and offer direction for pre-work you might like to do for the next class.
We will meet each month from September – May for a 2-hour class on zoom There will be options to participate in a weekday or weekend class. The class size will be capped at 6 people. In December, we’ll have our 2nd annual ‘ideas gift exchange’! We’ll also explore the idea of having an in person gathering/conference in May on Vancouver Island!
Please join us if you:
~ would like to figure out how best to navigate the changes, challenges, and joys of your midlife journey,
~ would like to connect with other women who are also figuring this out,
~ can spend a bit of time working on your midlife design between classes,
~ are able to show up for each class with support, empathy, thoughtfulness, and confidentiality.
The cost of the course is on a sliding scale from $300 - $350. You are welcome to pay in two instalments in September and January ($150 - $175/term).
Looking forward to seeing you this fall!
