Monique van Tulder

How To Run Away and Other (mid) Life Handy Hints – Feel more like yourself again – without turning your life upside down. Our First Year Birthday Celebration.

If your brain is already halfway to the holidays, this week’s A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast episode is an armchair ticket to a Greek Island.

I’m talking with artist Desiree Prinsloo, who divides her time between Sydney and the island of Hydra – and who describes mid-life as middle youth. I could not love this sentiment more.

If I’d stayed in that executive role instead of doing all of this – work we would’ve had to outsource at real cost – this is roughly what the financial picture would look like.

A busy season for all – end-of-year work finish line, gift buying, festive meals, perhaps holidays to pack for… phew.

This week I was interviewed on the Easy Peasy Books podcast by Gillian Whitney who helps everyday writers become published authors. Yes, we talked about turning real life into a book. But mostly, we talked about returning to yourself.

What are you doing to make life happen, for you? For many women in our community, this chapter — after kids, after compromise, after the shoulds and the schedules — is the first time they’ve even considered putting themselves back in the picture.

It’s not about dismantling your life. It’s about backing yourself for a minute. What if your so-called second act isn’t about waiting for perfect conditions, but about remembering who you are – and showing up for it?

This week we talk kerbside shrines and small daily reverence, seasonal eating, onsen bathing, and why Japanese approaches to rest, ritual, and nature feel like a balm in mid-life.

This week’s episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast dives into what actually makes a Retreat experience worth it.

This week is about Saying “Yes” in Mid-Life, Taking a solo trip takes many guises, as we highlighted in last weeks episode – here we have a Camino Pilgrimage with Anna Manlulo