70: Starting Over at 40 (And Why That's Not a Crisis)

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 the Season You're In If you've been Googling "starting over at 40" at midnight, you already know something is shifting. This free ten-minute audio walks through the three questions from this episode slowly enough that you can actually sit with them. No pitch at the end, no next thing to buy. Get it here:  Three Questions   Connect with Diane Website: ⁠themidwifelife.co⁠ Instagram: @‌the.midwife.life.co