How to find your midlife purpose and leave the BS behind

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Jennifer Zenz-Olson, founder of Laughing Lotus Wellness and a Transformational Purpose coach, motivational speaker, podcaster and best-selling author. We talk all about the highs and lows of mid life, and how empowering it can be. I love everything Jen has to say, and I know you are going to get so much from this episode. As always, I’d love to know what resonates with you and what you think, so please feel free to connect with me on my social media! KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST ● What do we mean by mid-life ● The positives of mid-life ● Why you need to harness your energy and use it to help you ● How to tell that you are out of alignment with your purpose THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE There is a different confidence and power that comes with mid life, and when you embrace it, it’s really beautiful. LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE Jennifer Zenz-Olson Instagram Laughing Lotus Wellness Facebook Laughing Lotus Wellness YouTube Laughing Lotus Wellness Website Wendy Hill’s Fab Female Nutrition Club Transcript Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? So this week I have a interview, which is my second to last is my penultimate interview for the time being. Like I said, I am taking a break from interviewing, I'm gonna do solos and I'm gonna keep 'em short and sweet. I'm gonna do some real practical tips and advice. So this is one of the last interviews you're going to hear. I've got one more in two weeks time. This is the lovely Jen Zen Olsen. She is so, so lovely. I met her through networking a while back and you know, you just hit it off and I really love what she says. I love how she is and I know you're going to get a lot from this episode, so there's probably no point in me saying anything else. I'll just hand over to Jen. I am really excited today to welcome to the podcast the very lovely Jen Zens Olson. Jen, how are you doing? Jennifer: Oh my gosh, so good. So excited to be here with you. I'm so excited for this interview and this chat today we're gonna have today. I know it's gonna be amazing. Teresa: Honestly, I am like, you know when you meet someone online, I'm talking to my lovely listeners and you're like, oh no, we should be friends. Like, and isn't it funny as an adult to be like, yes, so I really be friends with you. Can we be friends? Jennifer: Totally like friend crushing on someone. You're like, isn't too soon to ask for a second date. But I really like you. Teresa: But obviously it's funny when you're older, like making friends with people, but but also how I don't like you when I meet someone. Oh, yeah. No, you, you, you're the person. Like, so I am so grateful that, luckily Jen felt the same way and we've been hanging out and, and that she's on the podcast. So I'm really excited about this. Jen, we always start exactly the same way by you explaining to my lovely audience who you are and how you got to do the thing that you do today. Jennifer: Okay, so I work with really successful middle aged women who are at a place in their life where they are maybe dealing with all sorts of things that are shifting and changing in the worlds, like perhaps empty nesting or needing a career change, relationship things a maybe aging parents, and they feel like they've got all these layers kind of covering them, and they're facing this place in their life where they know that they need to make a shift. I call it a lane change. They know that they need clarity. They've maybe lost touch with their purpose, but know they wanna do something big and they're not sure anymore how to go about that because it's like they had an idea at one place in their life and it shifted and transformed and evolved because we do. And they've landed this place where they are feeling stuck. And so what I do is I work with women to help them get really clear about where they've been, where they're going, how they're going to do that, just outlining their strengths, their talents, their gifts, and also their unique energetic signature, which is something special that I do because I'm all about the energy and we sort of figure out their, their lane change. And sometimes that means a really big shift. Sometimes it means a small shift, and we just needed to reconnect with parts of ourselves and then off they go. We just get them totally fully empowered feeling their strengths, their legacy, honestly, the impact that they can create, and then we get them going back out in the world and leaving a trailblazing, beautiful fiery place is so that they're, like I said, creating that wonderful legacy. Teresa: I love it. I love it so much. So, a stupid question, start off with, what do you call midlife? Like what ages? Jennifer: Yeah, that's interesting. I, I just created a Facebook community for, for, it's called Midlife Repurposed. And I, and I invited some of my friends, my friends are in their thirties, and they were like, excuse me, like, it's super funny, like, like slightly offended and like, listen, here's the deal. Everyone defines it slightly different. I know many of us probably think between like 40 and 60. I would say, I think between 35 and 65, I probably have a little bit bigger mindset only because I'm not saying 35 is midlife, but you're preparing for it. And some women actually start going through physical changes in their bodies. Sooner than others. So I would rather someone have some awareness about what's coming and, and sort of have this idea of preparation and awareness versus waiting till I'm smack in the middle of something. And now I might be in a, in a struggle, a place of, of conflict, and now I'm searching for, for some resolution. It's like, let's, let's get ahead of the game, right? Let's have some awareness and, and make those kind of changes in advance. Give ourselves permission to know what's coming and step into that power even sooner, because I love that kind of legacy. Teresa: You're so right. It's funny. I need to connect you with the lovely Wendy Hill from Hill Start Nutrition, who has a group called Fab Female, and she talks about perimenopause and menopause. She's a nutritionist and, and so she talks about that. But what's cool is like I am 43 now. I always say that very tentatively like, I can't remember... Yeah. And then we do the math and I'm like, oh yeah, no, that is right. And, but like, You know, I hadn't really thought about things like the menopause because you like, I like to pretend I'm very young, still , but being in Wendy's world, actually, like you said, it's kind of taken the, the mystery out of, you know, well that happens when you're older or that happens, you know? And actually, like you said, there are so many people specifically just talking about this, and I apologize if you're a man and not having this part of the conversation, but there are so many people who start perimenopause far earlier than people would imagine. And, and therefore they don't know, like, and they don't know that's what it is. And I feel very privileged now to have been in Wendy's world so that I'm more equipped with those things. So like you said, even though, you know, if I, they might be big, excuse me Jen, I'm very young and vocal. I do think there is that kind of, that kind of having an awareness of kind of what's coming, but you know, not in a negative way. The other thing that's really interesting that kind of sprung to mind as you spoke about this. In terms of the challenges of this age, right? And the fact of children growing up, and even so I've still got children at home, but they're teenagers like they don't have the same needs as they used to or they sort themselves out, you know, which is, has some real benefits. FYI, people when you, you don't have to deal with them all the time. Conversation is a difference. Like, you know, but also like, yeah, and those challenges that them growing up were, oh God, let's don't hear it. But relationship changes. And one thing that's really fascinating, I found fascinating at the moment is we know, I know a lot of people whose relationships are breaking down or coming to an end.. I literally spoke to someone the other day. I, I replied something on Instagram to her and she DMed back and said, my husband and I have just, he's just left me like, and it came from what she said, like a bolter at the blue. It did from my point of view. Now, I didn't know him in particularly I know her, but, and then, She said to me, you know, I dunno why I've just said this to you, but you are my example of someone going through this. Cause obviously I did, I was divorced, what it's now, 8, 9, 10 years ago and obviously I've remarried. And, but actually that, and when you were talking about like them being stuck and one of the things I thought about was, and one of things I spoke to her about is I didn't know who I was anymore and I think when it comes to the children and the careers, and even if your relationship goes, you know, doesn't...