MENOMORPHOSIS

#105 Reinvention, Resilience, and Returning to Menomorphosis

• Episode 105

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After a 9-month break, I’m thrilled to announce that Menomorphosis is back with weekly episodes! To kick things off, I invited my friend Lucy to interview me—yes, on my own podcast! It felt a little strange, but it turned out to be so much fun, and I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed recording.

In this episode, I share what I’ve been up to during my time away, the clarity and inspiration the break brought me, and my exciting plans for the future of Menomorphosis.

Here’s what we talk about:

🌟 Why I decided to step back from Menomorphosis and how the pause helped me realign my focus.

🌟 The transformative power of breathwork for managing stress, anxiety, and emotional health.

🌟 How balancing your autonomic nervous system can lead to greater resilience, calm, and well-being.

🌟 Tips for staying calm, boosting resilience, and expanding your "window of tolerance."

🌟 The importance of challenging outdated narratives about midlife women and celebrating reinvention.

🌟 What’s next for Menomorphosis and what you can expect in future episodes.

I’m so excited to reconnect with you all and dive into these inspiring conversations again.

Book your FREE Inner Space session at pollywarren.com/theinnerspace and discover the calm clarity you’ve been craving. 

To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to: https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace

Email me at: info@pollywarren.com
https://www.pollywarren.com/
https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

Speaker 1:

Are you, like me, riding the rollercoaster of midlife and menopause and eager to live the life you've always wanted? Are you tired of low energy, a short temper and endless self-doubt? Well, it's time to stress less and shine more. It's time to ditch the worry, reclaim your mojo and unleash your inner brilliance. It's never too late to take charge of your health and happiness, and you're certainly not too old and, in my opinion, midlife and menopause provide the perfect opportunity to do just that. Join me each week for inspiring stories and expert insights on how to feel as good as you can, so that you can create a joyful, purpose-driven life you truly love. So, when you're ready, let the beautiful menomorphosis begin. Hello and welcome to Menomorvisus. I'm so excited to be sat here behind my microphone again and to be talking to you, and I just want to say if you have stuck with me through my pause. So it's been about seven months, eight months, although I have been putting out episodes of Thursday Thoughts, which are my conversations I have weekly with Lucy at Spinsterhood, reimagined on Instagram every week. I am so grateful if you've been stuck with me, if you've been listening to those, because I know lots of you have been, because I can see by the numbers. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1:

I am now on a mission to build this podcast back up again to where it was when I left it. So this podcast has had many iterations now. So it started out as the positive perimenopause podcast, which I was driven to do because I felt so compelled to find out solutions and answers for other midlife women about perimenopause, because those were the solutions and answers I wanted but didn't have. So I spoke to loads of different experts and found out, so much so that lots of other women could then listen to the episodes and find solutions that work for them. And this is just a continuation of that, because I then changed the name earlier this year to menomorphosis because I wanted it to encompass more than just perimenopause, and I suppose that's a real reflection of where I'm at in my life.

Speaker 1:

I've kind of moved on from that stage and I want to talk about other things, not on from that stage. And I want to talk about other things, not just perimenopause. I want to talk about things which really help us to live a really healthy which is very important happy and fulfilling life, and obviously that I believe that starts with our health, because if you don't have your health and if you're not feeling great which I know, unfortunately, for so many women in midlife, they don't, because then they've got all sorts of things going on with perimenopause, with menopause, with fatigue, with lots of different things. So that is something which I truly believe is at the foundation of everything. But once we've got that in place, then it's kind of like well, what now?

Speaker 1:

Midlife is a real time of reinvention. It's often the time when so many of us suddenly go oh, life is passing by and it's not quite what I wanted it to be. And I want to just share with you that it's never too late to have a course correct and just try a different direction, a new direction. I think so many of us worry that we can't do that because we've got too many responsibilities, because we're too old, we don't have the confidence. We wonder, you know why us? But I want to challenge that and I've seen so many examples of women doing amazing things at a later age than us, and I'm now 51. I am doing the things I truly love and I don't take that for granted. But I have created this life for myself and it has been hard work. It is still hard work, but it's possible and I want to share that with you.

Speaker 1:

So the episode today is a bit of a bit of a strange one. I wanted to do an episode to really tell you why I took a break from the podcast, what I've been up to and what the plans are for the podcast. But I felt that actually it would be much nicer if I had someone interview me and rather than me just sitting here talking to the microphone myself. So I asked Lucy, my friend Lucy, who does Thursday Thoughts with me if she would interview me for my own podcast and so that I could tell you all about what I have been up to. It was so much fun, if a little bit strange. But here it is. So, without further ado, please welcome me to my podcast, being interviewed by the gorgeous Lucy Megerson.

Speaker 2:

Holly Warren. So here we are me interviewing you on your podcast now you have been on a break from recording weekly episodes of Menomorphosis. By the way, can I just say that, as you as you know, I'm obsessed with the name Menomorphosis. By the way, can I just say that, as you know, I'm obsessed with the name Menomorphosis. I just think it's genius. Can you tell us what led you to taking this break? Yes, lucy, isn't it funny?

Speaker 1:

It feels a bit weird being interviewed by you on my podcast, but actually, as I mentioned, it's actually sometimes easier having a conversation with somebody else. I find it easier having a conversation with someone else, rather having just a conversation with myself. So yes let's hope this works. We'll see how it goes.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, in answer to your question, yeah, so I've had a little bit of a break and, yeah, I took that break because I just felt like I needed a bit of a change. I'd been doing the podcast for just over two years, which I absolutely have loved doing, but I was talking about menopause and perimenopause for two years and I just felt like I needed a bit of a break.

Speaker 1:

I was beginning to get a little bit bored of some of the conversations I was having, if I'm totally honest, although obviously these conversations are so important, but I just didn't want to come to the recordings, to the interviews, with the wrong energy, because I just know that the listeners would feel that, and I think perhaps that was becoming the case because my listener figures were beginning to dwindle a little bit, and I felt like that was a reflection on me, and so I just thought you know what I need to take this decision.

Speaker 1:

I need to have a little bit of a break. I need to really explore what exactly I want this podcast to become, and I know that the podcast has helped so many people because of the message I was receiving and I know some of those conversations were absolutely of deep value to a lot of people about midlife, about menopause. But I just found myself wanting to explore some different avenues, some new avenues and, as you know, I've been doing so many different trainings around breath work and nervous system regulation and now breath science, and I just felt like it was important to take a step back and ensure that when I returned because I always had the intention to return it was never like I didn't want to do podcasting anymore, because I love podcasting. I could just bring my best energy and genuine enthusiasm to each episode and I, you know, I just didn't want to have to just go through the motions of it. I want to create content that truly resonates with not just me but also, obviously, with the listeners.

Speaker 2:

Totally. And also can I just say that I totally hear you, because it's almost like you don't want to sort of pigeonhole yourself to just only be talking ever about perimenopause for the rest of your life, because the truth is that you are about a lot more than just perimenopause and not that that isn't important, and I know that you still, you know you still help people with that. But I completely get it. And you know, from my perspective, obviously, my podcast is completely different. It's about being single and childless. But I can completely understand this because, like you, you know, there are many more things that I want to talk about now as well, and there are many more conversations about lots of different subjects, not just being single, not having kids.

Speaker 2:

So I think you did the absolute right thing. Well, I have to say, when you, when you, when you stopped, I was just like no cause. We were, we're like podcast buddies. We started our podcast so close together, um, but no, I think it's awesome and what I think is brilliant is the fact that, like you say, if you're not feeling it, if you're not feeling like you are being all completely authentic to who you are, then that comes through and people will pick up on that. So you're so much better to have taken a break, and you and I have had so many conversations about this on the phone over the last. How long it's been year or whatever? However, how long has it been?

Speaker 1:

has it been? So I know it hasn't been a year, so I finished in March. Well, I kind of paused in March, so it's been less than a year.

Speaker 2:

It's been about, yeah, seven, eight months, yeah so so you know you, you obviously mentioned breathwork and obviously we need to talk about this because this has become a big part of you know, you are now a trained breathwork facilitator. You and I've done lots of breathwork sessions together. You are freaking amazing at it. You're a complete natural, as I've told you many, many, many times. But I would love to know how, because obviously you have done a full-on, proper, six-month intense training in in breathwork facilitation and I would love to know how that training has impacted your perspective on helping midlife women, because we are still talking about midlife women here. So, yeah, how has that breathwork impacted it?

Speaker 1:

yeah, and and I did that six months training with pause breathwork, which was amazing that breathwork training was about sort of deep level breathwork training in terms of conscious, connected breathing energy. There was a lot of stuff about energy, but on top of that I've also then felt the need to go and learn about functional breathing. How do we, how can we, breathe more efficiently in our day to day? So I went into the oxygen advantage training with Patrick McEwen, who has written a book, and then that kind of sparked my interest into, into, kind of like, how we breathe generally in every part of the day. So not just for transformation, not just functionally, but also how we breathe when we do exercise, how we breathe when we sleep, all of it. So I'm now doing a really deep dive into the breath science. Well, it's not just breath science, but it's also about nervous system regulation, it's about mind-body connection. So I've kind of just really gone down a massive rabbit hole in all of this and I absolutely love it. So I really do feel that all of this and I absolutely love it. So I really do feel that all of this has been transformative for me and it's really opened up new ways of understanding the challenges that so many of us face, particularly midlife women.

Speaker 1:

You know this can be an extra, as we know, an extremely stressful time of life for so many of us. You know, particularly midlife. There's so much going on for so many women physically, emotionally, in terms of where we're at in our lives. You know a lot of us are at the top of your career or starting new careers. You know some of you might have family kids leaving you, you might have longer kids. Whatever it is, it's a really really full on time. So understanding the impact of stress, of how our bodies are changing, is just so key to all of it. And actually our breath is at the centre of all of it. This is what I've been learning. I've learned how powerful our breath can be in managing our mental state. So that's our emotional state, our overall health.

Speaker 1:

Yet it is not talked about in this way really at all. We talk about, uh, we need to eat well. We talk about, right, yes, we need to move our bodies. We talk about, yes, we need to manage our stress. But what does that actually mean? Yes, some of us probably need to. You know, a lot of us probably need to do less, but actually sometimes that's not realistic because actually we're we're at a point in our lives where we've got a lot on. So it's about how do you manage that you can do all of those things, but if you're not breathing efficiently, actually it's going to impact everything. So it really does start, I do believe, with how we are breathing and knowing and understanding the state that you are in. So I've learned so much about our different states and what we do in the deeper breath works is exactly that awareness of the state that we are in at any one time, and majority of us are functioning in a very hyper arousal, hyper aroused state. So it's Can you describe?

Speaker 2:

what that is, Polly. What do you mean by that?

Speaker 1:

So okay, so very simply, we have our autonomic nervous system, so that controls our state. So we've got our sympathetic state, which is our fight or flight state fight, flight or freeze and we've got the other branch of the autonomic nervous system, which is our parasympathetic, which is much more relaxed. It's the state we want to be in to be able to sleep well, to digest our food, to basically be feeling nice and chilled out. What happens, though, is that when we are super, super stressed or super busy, we tend to go into that sympathetic state. Now, a sympathetic state is not a bad place to be if you are under a threat, because it helps your body prepare to fight, to flight or, in some cases, actually to freeze. A very good example of that are things like deers and headlights.

Speaker 1:

You see them freeze and that's kind of almost to show the predator okay, there's nothing to see here. You know I'm just gonna freeze. So you know that. You know that feeling. If you are driving in your car and suddenly you pull out and someone, suddenly it's like, and you manage, you notice at the last minute, you know you go into safety, your heart starts to beat, you really get sweaty palms and that's you. You've gone into that real sympathetic state and it's good because it makes you super alert, hyper alert, and it's. It's ultimately there to save your life, it's for survival.

Speaker 1:

However, the problem is are we are unable, our bodies are unable to tell the difference between a real threat and just a perceived threat. So most of us in our everyday lives have perceived threats things like emails which we don't really want to answer, things like a boss who's demanding something from you, a presentation you might need to do, kids who are leaving their shit all over the house. You know whatever it might be. And so we are in this sympathetic state more than we should be, and we are not giving our bodies an opportunity to return back to the parasympathetic. And what we really need to ensure is that we have flexibility in our nervous system, between sympathetic and parasympathetic. It's fine to go into that sympathetic mode, but what we will need to ensure is that we can then toggle between that and the parasympathetic. So that's kind of what we need to train is that kind of toggling between that flexibility between the nervous system states.

Speaker 2:

Can I ask how often? In a 24-hour day I mean, as far as I'm aware, that's the only kind of day that we're dealing with in the 3D world but in a normal day how much time should we be spending in our sympathetic as opposed to our parasympathetic? We be spending in our sympathetic as opposed to our parasympathetic, is that? Is it possible to say that, or is I mean? Obviously it depends on, yeah, obviously I know that it depends on lots of factors, but for a kind of quote-unquote normal day where you're getting up, you're going to work, you're coming home, you're cooking supper, you're maybe watching a bit of tv, you know, in in in a lot of people's normal day, how much time is too much time to be spending in our sympathetic nervous system?

Speaker 1:

I mean that's really difficult to answer because if when we wake up we have a massive rising cortisol which is really essential because that helps you have that get up and go to be able to get out of bed and actually get functioning in the day, so you immediately are in a sympathetic state to be able to get yourself up. But as you go through the day that should begin to reduce. Generally, as you're going through your everyday, your everyday, you kind of want to be in a in a parasympathetic state. You are going to have boosts of sympathetic activity depending on on what you're doing. So if you're exercising, obviously you're going to go and put yourself into a sympathetic state because it's high arousal. If you're going and doing a uh, you're going to present in a meeting or something like that you're probably going to go into a sympathetic state because you want that alertness focus. It does help you stay alert.

Speaker 1:

What I talked a lot about with people is your window of tolerance. So basically your window of tolerance is kind of like if you imagine it's like a train tracks parallel lines and that is sort of your, where you want to stay generally through most of the day. Now if you go, if you get very stressed. You imagine like your line is, it's kind of like a graph is going to shoot out of your window of tolerance up, up towards a more aroused state, a more stressed state. That's OK. But what we've got to ensure is that once that stress say you've kind of late for the bus, you've run for the bus, you've kind of got the bus you're going to be, you know, in a sympathetic state.

Speaker 1:

But what we want is that once you've got onto the bus and you can relax that, that then you can then return back into your window of tolerance so that you're there, back there, so then you might get into work and your boss might have a go at you that you haven't done something, you need to do some sort of report or whatever. You might shoot out of it again, but we want it to come back. So that's the most important thing you can go out of that window of tolerance but you want to come back at the. On the other scale we can also become if people who are very, very depressed, for example, or lethargic, have no get up and go, actually they can go into. Well, it's kind of like a negative, parasympathetic state and actually that is not great either, you know. We want to bring them back into that window of tolerance yeah, it's so fascinating.

Speaker 2:

One thing I'd like to ask you actually and I think this is really key is how. I mean obviously this. All you know, this is obviously all about learning how to use the breath to bring ourselves back into our parasympathetic or, you know, or sympathetic if we're too much in our parasympathetic. But one thing that I think a lot of people relate to, and you mentioned earlier so when you know, because obviously the way that we live in this day and age, we are going into our parasympathetic sorry, we are going into our sympathetic way more than we should for things that aren't actually threats, like it's not a tiger about to eat us, it's an email that is making us feel a bit sick because we're nervous to open it? With those kinds of things, what can we do with the breath in order that we don't go shooting into our sympathetic when we see like, oh my god, I've got 20 emails and I'm having a complete panic attack?

Speaker 1:

okay, well, there's a couple of things. There's a couple of things. There's a couple of things in that moment, in that moment when you've got that email and you, you it's about stopping and having the awareness of how your, what your state is. So, literally, stop, be aware, and then just notice, my goodness, what's happening in my body, and then you can actually just take a breath, just go. Okay, my heart's beating, I'm feeling a bit panicky, and you can just take a breath in through your nose and a very, very slow exhale, and I would. You can breathe out through your mouth, but if you can just keep to breathing through your nose, then it's going to really just calm you down. In through your nose, just a really nice slow exhale in that moment, that's just going to calm you down. That is going. And then you take your action. Okay, so it really is as simple as taking a breath. It really really is simple. So there's something called the three a's, which are awareness. So notice what's going on, acknowledge, acknowledge it. So the next A accept, that's the feeling, don't kind of push it away, that's how you're feeling, but then just take some sort of action. What action can I take so you can take a nice slow breath. So that's what you could do in the moment.

Speaker 1:

But actually what I would say is to prepare for those moments.

Speaker 1:

What we need is a good practice, which is why I do my Inner Space Breathwork membership three times a week, because actually, the more that we can practice for those moments, you'll notice and it's amazing the more that we can practice understanding what our body's doing, practice putting our bodies into that sympathetic state, but in a safe way where we're feeling relaxed and safe.

Speaker 1:

When those moments come in everyday life, actually you'll go oh my goodness, can't believe how I'm actually remaining so calm. And, as we've talked about before Lucy, it buys you that time between the trigger and the response. You know you get to choose how you respond in that moment. So it builds that awareness in, it, allows you to acknowledge how you're feeling and then it allows you to choose your response to it. And that might still be a deep breath, it might still be like a slow breath out, but you'll go. Ok, can I've actually got control. It gives you that control over the sensations that you feel in your body. We don't want to ignore the sensations because they're there. You don't push them down, you just want to acknowledge them, but then actually you've got response.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, it's longer term practice as well as things you can do in the moment in an ideal world, would we all be starting our day with a bit of breath work.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I would say I would say, and not just breath work. So this is the thing although I call it breath work, it's it is very much a training your nervous system to down-regulate. So we always down-regulate first. So it's doing some sort of interoception work, which is can just be like a body scan to relax. It could be sensing your heartbeat, it could be tensing at your muscles, releasing your muscles, it could be just breath awareness. So we always start with about, you know just, even if it's just four minutes, some sort of getting into your body and noticing and relaxing and feeling safe. Then some sort of breath work. And again you can use your breath to calm you down, you can use it to bring you up and and make you a little bit more aroused and stimulated. So so you can kind of play around with that. And what I like to do is push people slightly out of that window of tolerance and then bring them back down again. Push them out and bring them back down again, and what that is doing it's training them so that they can widen that window of tolerance.

Speaker 1:

Shit happens and stresses happen. Actually, the wider that their windrush tolerance is, the more ready they are to be able to handle stresses, the more resilient they are. It's building that resilience to stress and that is how we manage stress. And I think you know a lot of stress management is about okay, you need to go and do something nice and calm and self-carry for you, but it's like, actually we can build these practices which really do help in those moments. But it is, it's a practice. It is a practice.

Speaker 1:

And then what we do in the breathwork sessions is that after we've done the breathwork, we then end by down regulating again and it's all about you know, all doing a breath. Sorry, before we down regulate, we probably will do some breath holds and again what that's doing is you're putting your body into a state of stress, so some sort of sympathetic activity, but you are remaining relaxed and calm and peaceful throughout it. So again, you're creating neural pathways in your brain to tell your body like, okay, you can stay really calm in stressful situations. That's what that's doing. And so again, taking that and transferring that back out into your everyday life. It's an amazing skill to have that you can stay calm in stressful situations because air hunger is probably is the most primal fear we all have. So if we can stay calm when we've got air hunger what do you mean?

Speaker 1:

air hunger, so air hunger when you're doing a breath hold.

Speaker 2:

So if you're holding your breath right if?

Speaker 1:

you're holding your breath, you will get a feeling of air hunger when you're doing a breath hold. So if you're holding your breath, you will get a feeling of air hunger. So you will get after a while. So you'll hold your breath, and then what makes you stop holding your breath is that you have a feeling of air hunger, don't you? I've never heard that term it. So that's what we're building, ultimately, is air hunger, tolerance, and that is building your capacity to be able to deal with the most stressful situation your body will probably ever undergo so fascinating and do you know?

Speaker 2:

I just had to point out, just to the listeners, what's really funny is that when you and I were doing regular, when you were doing breathwork with me regularly, when you were doing your training, and do you remember, I used to do really long holds and for some reason, I used to love doing the holds and I would end up holding for really quite a long time but I, for some weird reason, I I really enjoyed it. Um, polly, coming back to your situation with the podcast and and what your plan is going forward, I just want to ask, going back to the break that you took, yeah, I've heard you, you and I have had this conversation more than once and you've said that you have sort of lost, slightly lost your way during this time, like you took the break from the podcast and you you've, as I say, yeah, you said more than once that you felt like you slightly lost your way in these last how many months. What would you say? What insights have you gained from this experience?

Speaker 1:

well, yeah, and it, and it's funny it's now I can reflect back and I definitely did lose my way because before this kind of summer I suppose I was I was on a right old mission. I knew exactly what it was. It was to educate, to help people learn about perimenopause, all the different ways and solutions that they could help themselves. I was, it was so clear to me, and suddenly I was like, ok, well, if I'm not doing the podcast anymore, and you know, I can still coach people and help people. But I just felt like I was a little bit confused and I just didn't have this clarity of what I what, of the direction I was going in. And then suddenly it's like how does all the breath work and stuff I'm doing? How does all that fit in? So I suppose what I've learned from this is sometimes you don't know, sometimes it's okay to lose your way. I was getting very, very frustrated, as you know. It's like why can't I figure it out? Why isn't it clear to me? But actually I realized it's okay, it's okay to pause to reassess where we're headed. You know, it's all part of the journey, it's all part of the growth, and it would have been much easier for me just to carry on in a way on that mission, because I was on a mission but in my heart it just didn't feel quite right and for some reason and it can be really annoying because it would have been easy not to I always just have to follow what my heart is saying and and that is exactly what I did, so I'm glad that I have. It's been quite frustrating, I just had. I've learned that I am someone who just has to be true to myself and I have to just do stuff which feels right for me. I have to follow my heart, not my head, and just trust that this is the right path for me and it will all become clear and and actually it has all become clear, and and actually it has all become clear. It's kind of funny because I thought I was going to veer away from working, particularly with midlife women, but actually I've come right back round to thinking my gosh.

Speaker 1:

All the stuff I've I've learned in this time is more relevant than ever to women with midlife, maybe you know and to menopause and to perimenopause, and I don't just have to talk about perimenopause and menopause. There is so much more I can talk about, but I feel like I've had to kind of go through this whole journey I hate that word sometimes because it sounds so like. It sounds very expractory, doesn't it? But I've had to go through this whole process to realize that, and I think that is then going to feed into what I do next, and the enthusiasm and everything that I can now bring. I think if I had perhaps just kept going on, I would have been like oh, I don't know.

Speaker 1:

Having said that, though, lucy, what I also have learned is, when you take a break from something, it can be really hard to restart, and we have talked about this on Thursday. Thoughts, consistency and showing up for yourself is really important, because that action often does bring clarity, and I really have noticed, particularly in the last couple of months, I've been wanting to get back to doing the podcast again, and yet something has been stopping me, and it's been really frustrating me, and it's exactly what we always talk about. So I've learned that about myself as well. It's like, actually, you need to give yourself a kick up the bum, and when you're not taking the action, it's it's harder to get back into it, so I was feeling really, really stuck, but I I've had a good few conversations of you where you've given me that kick up the bum, which has been really helpful, but also with myself. It's just like really reminded me how important it is to just take those small steps forward, take the next step, and this, doing this with you, this is a really big step forward.

Speaker 1:

Um, also, I just put it in my I made a plan a couple of weeks ago. It's like, right, I'm going to just get five people, five people booked in to record episodes before Christmas, and then I'll, I'll put the podcast out again in the new year and and that, and that's what I've done. So it's just getting that momentum going again, because, because I love doing this and so it was, it makes no sense that I you know, I was, you know, holding myself back. So, yeah, I've learned loads, and this is the thing about all of this work we never stop learning and I'm certainly nowhere near where I want to be. You know it's always so much more to learn and to grow, grow, and you know we're all learning together really totally.

Speaker 2:

I mean, you have sort of covered this, but what, what, what exactly has made you feel like now is the time to to go back to metamorphosis. What, what, what, what exactly made you decide that now was the time? Can you, can you pinpoint it? And again, I know you've sort of touched on this, but was there anything in particular that you were just like right?

Speaker 1:

well, I think I was just getting annoyed with myself. I was getting frustrated with myself and I and I think I just had that realization of stop, just stop getting your own way. I was getting in my own way. It literally was that it was like what, what is stopping me from doing this? And I don't know, maybe it's because, also, I moved house in August and I was using that as a bit of an excuse. I had an awful lot to do and organize. I'm in my new house. We've been here a couple of months now. I can't use that as an excuse anymore.

Speaker 1:

It really was like I just realized it was me stopping myself and it was. I was getting annoyed and I needed to do something, to just take action and move forward. So I think that was it. It was nothing more than that. And and you, you know I talk about personal development all the time with you on our, on our Thursday thoughts. I'm doing so much amazing training and work in, in breath work and stuff. I'm just so keen to share so much of it. Um, and I just love, love, love podcasting. I love meeting new people, I love talking to people, I love interviewing people and I've really missed that connection with other people so I yes, I think that was.

Speaker 1:

That was all of it really and and what so?

Speaker 2:

so who? What kind of woman is your ideal woman that you would interview for this reinvention of you in the podcast?

Speaker 1:

so women who are living their best lives, who are midlife women, who perhaps themselves have gone through their own metamorphosis and turned their lives around, and so that they can share their insights, their inspiration for others. Because, as we know, the narrative often is you know, midlife women, you're past it, you're past your best. The images that were were bombarded with of wrinkle-free people and it's just all load of rubbish. So actually, what I really, really want to do is celebrate midlife women, celebrate the amazing things that they're doing, but also share and share stories of of how they have overcome difficulties, and maybe some women are still experiencing difficulties.

Speaker 1:

I'm not going to say everyone's going to have completely nailed it, but I just want the people who I talk to to inspire the listeners to realise that actually we are only at a point in our lives and there is so much more to go. You know, I turned 51 yesterday and I could easily go oh, my goodness, I am getting so old, my skin isn't like it used to be blah, blah, blah and I am absolutely not choosing to believe that. I am choosing to absolutely just be so grateful for every single one of those 51 years, all the wisdom that they've given me, and I think that is the message we need to spread to other women. And, you know, I do really also want to give the listeners very practical tips and insights of things that they can do as well to feel healthy, to feel well, to get out of their own way and just do the things, live a life which totally lights them up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh my gosh, I absolutely love it. I mean I'm really excited to start listening to it again. I mean I think it sounds fabulous and it resonates with me so much, especially what you say about ageing and this ridiculous narrative that when you're past the age of 40, or whatever it is that you're kind of past it because it's such a problem, as you and I both know, and we talked about this many times on Thursday Thoughts. You know, in many ways, you and I both feel like we're just getting started. Now one more question before we we start wrapping up. But how do you think that your break and your sort of the new experiences that you've had over the last eight, nine months, how do you think they will enhance the value that you bring to your audience?

Speaker 1:

I suppose it's really just enriched my perspective, I suppose, on all of the things that I've been doing. It's given me a much deeper understanding of particularly stress, anxiety, getting in your own way, how all of that affects us. And that is something I really am looking forward to to talking about a lot more, because I think, particularly as midlife women, a lot of us suffer with stress and anxiety. You know, particularly menopause, that can really bring up a lot of anxiety, and that is something I've really learned a lot about and I just don't think we kind of get into it, into the sort of nuts and bolts of it enough. So that's something I want to talk about a lot more. And, yeah, just kind of use what I have learned about myself that you know I would.

Speaker 1:

It's so funny, isn't it? I was on such a good trajectory with it all and then had a little wobble myself as I was doing all of this work. But actually I hope that sort of humanness will be able you know my listeners will be able to resonate with that and, yeah, kind of realize, actually realised. Actually it's never a straight line, is it? We're always, it's always kind of we're always going up and down.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Well, I can't wait. Is there anything else that before before I stop interviewing you for your own podcast? Is there anything else that I haven't asked that you wanted to add?

Speaker 1:

No, it's just been a fun experience, lucy, being interviewed on my own podcast, and I think I mean what's kind of interesting, I suppose, and just in terms of the people who are listening and what to expect. As I said, I love talking to people and I love interviewing, and I think that most of my episodes will be interviews because that's where I find easiest, I enjoy the most. I have in the past done solo episodes and I know on your podcast you're brilliant at your solo episodes. For some reason, I find them really difficult. Well, they just don't come as easily for me. So I think I'll probably do less, unless but I'm not saying I'll never do them, I'm just thinking, unless something really feels like right for me to talk about and go deep into, I'm going to probably stick with the interviews.

Speaker 2:

But you know, or I can, just come and interview you again on your own podcast, if you want to do it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you can just come and interview me exactly. I just found the interview, the solo episodes, just take a lot of work for me. They just doesn't just doesn't come out where it's like. Now, this is just great, we're just having a chat, and when I interview people it's it just feels much easier. But the solo episodes I feel like I have to really work hard to know exactly what I'm going to talk about yeah, yeah, no, I do, I do.

Speaker 2:

I completely hear you now. It has been an absolute joy interviewing you for your own podcast. Thank you so much for letting me join you. It's been a joy.

Speaker 1:

Thanks Lucy, I really appreciate it. Maybe, yes, perhaps, we'll make this a regular thing, who knows? Thank you so much for coming and doing this and, yeah, it's been fun.

Speaker 2:

You're so welcome. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much for listening once again to Menomorphosis. I really hope that you enjoyed this conversation. If you can, please do rate and review this podcast and subscribe if you haven't already. It makes such a big difference to me when people subscribe. Basically, it means that the podcast is going to be more visible to other people who might benefit from hearing it. If you'd like to receive my free weekly newsletter, which is a dose of inspiration every week, you can sign up for it at pollywarringcom. Do come and follow me on instagram at pollywarringcoaching. I would love to connect and if you want to sign up for a free breath book session in the inner space, you'll find the link in the show notes. I would love to connect and if you want to sign up for a free breath book session in the inner space, you'll find the link in the show notes. I would absolutely love to see. You have a wonderful week and, if you can remember, try and stress less and so that you can shine more, take care bye.