A Grown Up’s Gap Year – THE NEWSLETTER

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

This week, we talk solo travel – practical, yes, brave, and deeply restorative. What it takes to go, how to make it work around real life, and why it’s not selfish to put yourself in the centre of your days (for a bit).

This week, I introduce Prue Francis – raised on a cattle and horse stud in NSW; now co-owner of an agricultural consultancy in Wagga Wagga – about the day she named the wobble: puffy, overwhelmed, tired, lonely.

Values as a North Star, so you can steer – not spiral.
It’s back-to-basics, beautifully practical. We walk through a quick Values Lab: a word-dump, a pattern-spot, a ruthless cut. Then we turn each value into something you’ll actually use.

This week on the podcast, I’m joined by Melinda Louise Hutchings – author, editor of A Grown Up’s Gap Year, and founder of FIT HIIT Pilates.

The Surprisingly Big Impact of Micro Things: Invitation: One Tiny Tweak This Week Hello and Happy Sunday! This week on A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The

As I said in this week’s podcast – no hubris here – I don’t have the answers. I’m only saying what clever women before me have said forever: please, for the love of everything, let’s start placing true value on unpaid care and domestic labour.

A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, is live again. If you have read the book – you know the story.

Winter = cocoon, audit, simplify. Press pause now so you power up later.

Style in mid-life is permission to experiment, not disappear. What we wear influences confidence, connection, and wellbeing.

Discover how small, local “micro escapes” can boost your wellbeing, spark creativity, and inject joy into your everyday. From foodie tours in your own city to sunrise thermos moments, find simple yet powerful ways to shake up your routine and rediscover the thrill of life, right in your own backyard.

This week’s guide focuses on the restorative magic of a short getaway to the Whitsundays, where mountains meet sea and your only real decision is reef or rainforest.

This week’s issue features Hydra-based artist Desiree Prinsloo, who embodies reinvention on her own terms. After her husband’s passing, she bought and restored a farmhouse on the Greek island, now hosting artist retreats and embracing what she calls “middle youth.”

Sunday nudge: Review A Grown Up’s Gap Year, dream up your Mother’s Day, try a solo adventure, or reset your chic—do it for you this week!

Sunday inspo: Rediscover FUN with ocean dips, new invites, and A Grown Up’s Gap Year reviews. Ask me anything—let’s spark your week!