Dear Kerry Ann: Honest Answers to Your Midlife Questions
Real questions from accomplished women navigating midlife — answered with honesty, depth, and hard-won wisdom. New letters published regularly. Subscribe to have them delivered to your inbox.
How to Find the Right Support During a Midlife Transition
How do you find the right support during a midlife transition? Start by figuring out what you need right now, and only then choose the best match. Retreats, courses, communities, life transition coaching and therapy all work beautifully for high-achieving women when the support is designed to meet the need. But they are costly and ineffective when the need and support don’t match.
Sudden Crashing Fatigue at Midlife: When Your Labs Are Normal and Rest Isn't Enough
What causes sudden crashing fatigue in midlife women, and why doesn't rest fix it? Physical causes come first and deserve a proper medical evaluation. But when your labs come back normal and rest still isn't enough, the medical conversation continues. And it's also worth getting curious about the context of your energy: when it rises, when it disappears, and what your body may be asking you to notice about your life.
What High Achievers Don't Tell You About Getting Everything You Wanted
High achievers almost never say this out loud: sometimes you get everything you wanted, and it doesn't feel the way they expected. Not because something's wrong with their life, but because arriving was never going to do what we hoped it would do. This edition of Dear Kerry Ann features a letter from a middle-aged woman who achieved everything she set out to do, but wants to know why she feels flat.
A Menopause Reading List: From Biology to Becoming
Menopause is often discussed as a collection of symptoms to manage. But it can also be understood as a profound developmental transition, one that touches the body, brain, identity, relationships, culture, creativity, and our sense of who we are becoming. The menopause books on this list explore that fuller landscape, moving from science and medicine into lived experience, cultural narratives, fiction, and finally the deeper questions of meaning, power, and Elderhood.
I’m at a Crossroads in Midlife. Do I Have to Choose?
"I'm at a crossroads" is what midlife professionals say when something new comes alive and their stable career suddenly feels less central. But a life that's outgrown its container is not the same as a life that needs to be turned upside down. Here's how to tell the difference, and how to take your new passion seriously without quitting your job.
Welcome to Your Midlife Awakening: What It Is and How to Know If You're in One.
What is a midlife awakening, and how do you know if you're having one? It's the quiet and disorienting sense that the life you built no longer fits the person you're becoming. Here's how to recognize it, and why it isn't the crisis you've been taught to fear.
When a Midlife Career Change Isn't Really About Your Career
“Should I change careers?” and “Who am I becoming?” are not the same question. Here’s which one to answer first — and how to begin.