What if you didn’t have to do it all this holiday season?
What if you could actually enjoy this time of year—without the resentment, exhaustion, or crushing mental load?

In this timely and honest episode of The School of Midlife, Laurie shares a powerful coaching conversation with a client who realized she was doing the holidays on autopilot—baking cookies no one eats, mailing cards no one remembers, and hosting a party that felt more like pressure than pleasure.

Together, they walk through how to tell the difference between a holiday obligation and a true opportunity—and how to make peace with letting go of traditions that no longer serve you.

If you’re tired of performing your way through the holidays (while secretly counting down to when it’s over), this episode is your permission slip to do things differently this year.

💡 In This Episode:

• How to create joyful, intentional holidays without losing your mind
• The pressure of family traditions—and how to stop outsourcing your peace
• A simple coaching exercise to separate holiday “to-dos” from “should-dos”
• The energy shift that happens when you drop the guilt and reclaim your time
• How one client redesigned her entire December—and actually started looking forward to it
• Why your happiness this season matters just as much as everyone else’s

🎯 Don’t Miss:

Laurie’s final free masterclasses of 2025 start this week!
→ How to Not Live the Same Year Every Year
→ Learn more about The Best Life Lab and how you can start 2026 with clarity, courage, and a plan that fits the woman you are now.
🎟️ Link to register is right here!

🔥 Favorite Quotes:

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You don’t need to blow up your life. But you do need to stop waiting to live it.

In this deeply reflective solo episode, Laurie is back in the studio (fresh off a trip to Paris and a new haircut) with a wake-up call for midlife women everywhere: if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself living the same year over and over again—and call it a life.

From the blur of daily routines to the invisible waitlist we put our dreams on, this episode unpacks why high-achieving women often postpone their own fulfillment—and what it actually takes to start living with more intention, starting now.

💡 In This Episode:

• Why the end of the year feels so jarring—and what to do about it
• The difference between living and just preparing to live
• Why most women don’t need reinvention—they need intention
• How to stop deferring your dreams “until after…”
• A heartfelt invitation to attend either the Best Life Planning Day and the last live masterclass of the year...or both!

🔥 Favorite Quotes:

🎯 Upcoming Events:

• 🗓️ Best Life Planning Day (Boise): A one-day retreat to create clarity, intention, and a real plan for 2026. No suitcase. No PTO. Just space to focus on you.
• 💻 Final Live Masterclass: How to Not Live the Same Year Every Year — 5 days of coaching to change your next 365.

Don’t wait another year to start living the life you actually want.

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What if you let go of the rulebook and gave yourself permission to create a life that feels like a dream you actually want to be living? This week on the School of Midlife podcast, we’re talking to Wendy Harrop—a retreat host, event planner, and farm-dwelling dream-weaver—who did just that.

After years of living the good-girl life, checking the boxes, and doing what was expected of her, Wendy woke up to a deeper longing: one where she gets to be the main character. She didn’t burn it all down in a blaze of midlife crisis. Instead, she took one brave step after another—choosing joy, curiosity, and adventure over obligation.

In this powerful conversation, Wendy shares the story of how she moved from California to a 200-year-old farm in Massachusetts, why hosting retreats for women is her calling, and what it means to live with delight, even when things don’t go according to plan. Whether you’re feeling stuck, restless, or just quietly wondering “is this all there is?”—this episode will remind you that midlife isn’t a dead-end... it’s a damn invitation.

👂 In this episode, we talk about:

• Letting go of shoulds and embracing your actual desires
• What it looks like to be the curator of your own life
• The power of women gathering in intentional, beautiful spaces
• Living with delight—even when life throws curveballs

📌 Mentioned in this episode:

• Wendy’s upcoming retreats
• Her dreamy Airbnb on the farm in Massachusetts

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Pack your bags and your big midlife dreams—we’re going to Paris, baby

In this very personal (and slightly jet-lagged) episode, Laurie shares her reflections from a solo trip to Paris and announces an exciting new adventure for 2026: The School of Midlife Study Abroad Retreats. Imagine sipping wine in sidewalk cafés, sketching in the Luxembourg Gardens, and talking legacy, purpose, and joy with like-minded women.

You’ll get the inside scoop on what these upcoming international retreats will look like, why they're tailor-made for midlife women craving more out of life, and how Paris itself reminded Laurie what it means to come home to yourself.

This isn't a vacation—it's an immersive, soul-shifting experience. And it’s designed for you.

🗝️ In This Episode:

• Laurie's personal experience traveling solo to Paris (and why it wasn't scary after all)
• The backstory behind the Study Abroad idea and why midlife is the perfect time for it
• A sneak peek into what the Paris retreat could include—from morning walks to art classes to Best Life coaching
• How you can get on the VIP list to be the first to hear retreat details

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What if midlife wasn’t a crisis… but a dress rehearsal for how you actually want to live?

Episode Summary:

In this episode of The School of Midlife Podcast, Laurie sits down with Francine Azel, a woman who is embracing midlife not as a breakdown, but as a dress rehearsal for her next chapter. Fran gets real about the intentional work it takes to keep a long-term marriage alive—and why it's worth it. She talks candidly about the growing importance of friendships, the value of play and curiosity, and the permission she’s given herself to experiment with how she wants to live.

From honoring alone time in a house full of people, to making her relationship with her husband a living, breathing priority, Fran reminds us that midlife is the moment to stop going through the motions and start intentionally shaping what comes next.

This isn’t about burning it all down. It’s about tending to the flames that keep your soul lit.

What We Talk About:

• Why Fran sees midlife as a dress rehearsal—not a crisis
• The myth of “coasting” in long-term relationships
• How she and her husband are reinvesting in their marriage
• The growing significance of friendships in this stage of life
• Why you don’t need to “figure it all out”—just commit to the practice

Connect with Fran:

Fran is a powerhouse midlife woman living this journey in real time. You can find her on Instragram as pocketsized_fran.

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What flying solo—literally—to France taught me about courage, clarity, and creating the life you actually want in midlife.

Episode Summary:

In this deeply personal and unscripted episode of The School of Midlife Podcast, Laurie records from the Delta Sky Club just before boarding a solo flight to France—her first international trip alone. It’s raw, honest, and packed with midlife truth bombs.

Laurie explores what it really means to live your adult dreams instead of just talking about them. From speaking only a little French to managing the jitters of international travel solo, she shares the messy beauty of stretching outside your comfort zone in pursuit of the life you actually want—not the one you were taught to want.

She also unpacks:

• Why “good enough” isn’t enough anymore
• How midlife can (and should) be your dress rehearsal for the next chapter
• The importance of doing the things you coach others to do
• How writing down her best life goals—like “I vacation annually in Europe”—created a ripple effect that led to this exact trip
• The role of vision boards, retreat invitations, and that red bicycle in the south of France

This isn’t a trip to check a box. It’s a powerful reminder that claiming your life starts with one brave decision at a time.

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What if the best part of your life was still ahead of you?

In this inspiring conversation, Laurie sits down with Kathi Holzer—a 67-year-old retiree who stumbled into painting after retirement and is now an award-winning artist. Kathi shares how she went from never having painted to creating pieces that now hang in homes across the country. This episode is a powerful reminder that your creativity doesn’t expire with age—and your next act could be your most fulfilling one yet.

Kathi gets real about:

• Feeling creatively “late to the game”… and doing it anyway
• How retirement can be the start of something, not the end
• Why she followed a nudge of curiosity—and how it changed everything
• What midlife women need to hear about starting new things later in life

Whether you’re standing on the edge of a new idea or feeling like your time has passed, this episode will remind you: it’s never too late to surprise yourself.

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You don’t get what you don’t claim—so what are you ready to stop whispering about and start declaring?

🎙 Episode Summary:

Midlife isn’t the time to keep performing, people-pleasing, or pretending. It’s the moment to finally get honest about what you actually want—not what you've been told to want, conditioned to want, or praised for wanting.

In this fiery solo episode, Laurie drops the mic on why high-achieving women feel stuck, even when their lives “look good on paper,” and reveals the powerful shift that happens when you stop waiting for clarity and start claiming your desires.

We’re talking about the difference between passive wishing and bold ownership. Why claiming what you want feels selfish (spoiler: it’s not). And why you don’t need to blow up your life to start living differently—you just need to stop outsourcing your happiness and start making small intentional moves that align with the woman you are now.

If you’ve been craving more clarity, more direction, and more you in your life, this one’s going to light a fire under you.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why claiming is different from wishing or hoping
• The fear of “burning it all down” (and why you don’t need to)
• The problem with living a life someone else defined as “successful”
• How to start flexing your “claim it” muscle with tangible tools like the Morning 5-10-5
• Why waiting for permission is keeping you stuck

💬 Memorable Quote:

📌 Links and Mentions:

• Ep. 143. You're Not Here to Be the Martyr: Reclaiming Your Life in Midlife
• Best Life Planner
• Best Life Planning Day – Boise

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