Turning 50 & Rewriting My Story: Healing, Divorce, Mindfulness & Finding Myself Again

Turning 50 reflections on healing, divorce, mindfulness, and rebuilding life after losing yourself. In this special birthday episode of Pulling Threads, I’m sharing a deeply personal reflection as I step into my 50s. Over the last decade, my life completely transformed. Divorce, therapy, EMDR, mindfulness, and profound personal healing reshaped the way I understand relationships, identity, and what it means to truly live authentically. Ten years ago, I barely recognized the woman I had become. I had stepped away from my career, was navigating a difficult marriage, and felt disconnected from myself. My 40s became the decade where the fog slowly lifted and I began pulling the threads of my story apart to understand what was really driving my life. In this episode, I answer questions many women ask about divorce, healing trauma, mindfulness, relationships, and rediscovering your authentic self. I talk openly about staying in a marriage for 15 years, how childhood wounds can shape our adult relationships, and how mindfulness-based stress reduction helped me change my relationship with emotions, conflict, and love. If you’re navigating divorce, personal reinvention, or wondering whether it’s too late to rewrite your life story, this conversation is for you. Because healing doesn’t mean your past disappears. It means your past stops running your life. Turning 50_ Rewriting My Story … ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Introduction – A different kind of episode 02:00 Losing myself in my 30s & early 40s 05:00 The moment I realized I wasn’t living authentically 09:00 Photography, presence, and discovering mindfulness 11:00 The retreat that changed everything 14:00 Why I stayed in my marriage for 15 years 20:00 Childhood wounds and attachment patterns 27:00 The unexpected heartbreak of divorce friendships 29:00 How mindfulness-based stress reduction changed my life 33:00 What I learned about love after divorce 38:00 Why I’m not afraid of turning 50 43:00 The biggest lesson from my 40s 🌿 About Pulling Threads Pulling Threads is a podcast about healing, authenticity, relationships, trauma recovery, and personal transformation. Each episode explores the emotional and psychological patterns that shape our lives so we can untangle what’s holding us back and create something new. Hosted by therapist and mindfulness practitioner Leslie Mathews, founder of The LooM Life. 🔗 Resources & Links 🌿 The LooM Life https://www.theloomlife.com 🌿 LooM Life Therapy https://loomlifetherapy.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/the.loom.life ❤️ If this episode resonated • Subscribe for weekly conversations on healing and relationships • Share this episode with someone who needs it • Comment below: What did your 40s teach you?