S1E8 - This Is Just the Beginning

What if everything you've been told about middle age is wrong? In the Season 1 finale of The Healing Life, Amanda explores what it means to step into yourself — through her own story, through research on identity and self-transcendence, and through the radical idea that the hard stuff you've lived through was never a detour. It was always the path. For anyone who has ever wondered if they've missed their window: you haven't. It's exactly the right time.SourcesAlmeida D.M., Rush J., Mogle J., Piazza J.R., Cerino E., & Charles S.T. (2023). Longitudinal change in daily stress across 20 years of adulthood: Results from the national study of daily experiences. Developmental Psychology 59(3):515-523. doi: 10.1037/dev0001469. Reischer, H. N., Couch, N. G., Wright, M. N., Duarte, A. J., & McAdams, D. P. (2026). Narrative self-transcendence: Decreased regret and increased acceptance over late midlife. Journal of Personality, 94(1), 137–150. ⁠https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.13022Reischer, H. N., Roth, L. J., Villarreal, J. A., & McAdams, D. P. (2021). Self-transcendence and life stories of humanistic growth among late-midlife adults. Journal of Personality, 89(2), 305–324.