70: Starting Over at 40 (And Why That's Not a Crisis)
About this episode
Diane Ortega discusses her experiences of starting over at 40 and 50, challenging the notion of midlife crisis and exploring personal growth.
In this episode, I talk about starting over, not once, but twice. The first time I was forty, and I walked away from what I knew to become a midwife. The second time, I was in my fifties, standing in a birth center I built with my own hands, signing paperwork that meant it was over after sixteen years and three birth centers. I talk about why starting over gets filed under midlife crisis when it's actually something else entirely, and the three questions that keep surfacing for me every time I don't know what comes next. In this episode, we talk about: What starting over at 40 actually feels like from the inside, not the outside Why it gets called a midlife crisis when it's actually something you've outgrown What it's like to start over twice, ten-plus years apart, and still not have it figured out Living through bankruptcy, a closed business, and a day job, all in the same year The three questions I ask myself when I don't know who I'm becoming yet Why disorientation is a signal, not a crisis Key Takeaways / Reflection Prompts: What am I pretending not to know? What would I do if I stopped trying to get back to who I was? What do I actually want? Next Step: Three Questions for…
People in this episode
Host: Diane Ortega
Topics covered
- starting over
- midlife crisis
- personal transformation
- resilience
- self-discovery
Keywords
- starting over at 40
- midlife crisis
- personal growth
- self-discovery
- resilience
- bankruptcy
- birth center
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Willow Birth Center
More episodes of Midwife Life: Midwifing you through health, motherhood, and the sacred mess of life’s transformations with Diane Ortega
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- 68: You Don't Need Permission
- 67: You Are the Medicine: Holly Million on What Blossoms After the Fire
- 66: When the Life You Built No Longer Fits
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