Well, hello strangers! This little corner of the internet has been pretty quiet over the summer. Partly because life was full (in the best way), but also because I've been doing some thinking about what I want this community to be. When I started The Peri Posse, I was deep in the world of perimenopause. Learning, sharing, researching, trying to make sense of all the changes happening in our bodies. And while that chapter is still very much part of my story, I've found myself craving something different. Quite frankly, I'm a little exhausted by the information whiplash that comes with being a woman in midlife. The endless advice about what we should eat, how we should exercise, what supplements we should take, what we're doing wrong... At some point, I started asking myself: when do we actually get to enjoy our lives? We talk SO much about living longer. But what about living better? I've become increasingly interested in nervous system health, the importance of presence, and how the seemingly ordinary things we do every day contribute to our overall wellbeing. Moving our bodies. Learning something new. Spending time with good people. Laughing until our cheeks hurt. Finding little pockets of joy and actually giving ourselves permission to enjoy them. Which brings me to our new name... Welcome to LIVING ON PURPOSE! A community for women 40+ who want to get more life out of the years we've got. Moving forward, we'll be exploring four things that I believe contribute to a life well lived: ⚡ Physical wellness: Building strong, capable bodies through movement. 🧠 Mental stimulation: Staying curious, learning new things and a little hobby-maxing (I'm very into this one lately). 💕 Social connection: Making time for friendships, community and shared experiences. 🌿 Emotional wellbeing: Understanding our nervous systems, finding presence and creating a little more space between life's chaos and how we respond to it. And because I don't want this to become another place where we simply consume MORE information about how to live better, I thought we could start with something small.

Press play, find a little space, and give yourself permission to actually be, this weekend. Just you, your mat (or your living room floor), and 40 minutes that belong to no one but you. I know home practice can feel different than being in a room together. Maybe it's harder to stay present. Maybe some of this feels unfamiliar, or even uncomfortable. Stay anyway. Follow along in whatever way your body can meet it today. That's enough. There's no version of this you're doing wrong. Consistency is what makes this work, not intensity. Your nervous system doesn't need a perfect practice. It needs a body that shows up, again and again, even in small ways. That's what's actually shifting things underneath the surface, even on the days it doesn't feel like anything's happening. Questions, thoughts, how it felt in your body - drop them below. And ...would a live version of this be useful/enjoyable/something you might consider? Same flow, but real-time, so I can see your form and guide you through it together. Tell me if that's something you'd want. Happy Weekend, my friends!

I keep meeting women who assume the ones who seem to have it together at 50 just got lucky. Good genes. Easy hormones. Less on their plate. They didn't. Every single woman I know who feels good in her body and her mind at midlife is doing something on purpose, most days, without making a big deal out of it. Not a 90-day overhaul. Not a supplement stack that costs more than her mortgage. Small, boring, repeatable things. Here's what's actually on the list. 1. Water first thing, before coffee. Eight hours without fluids and then straight to a diuretic is not setting her up for the day. 2. Real food. Food that grew from the ground or had a mother. If it came from a package, it's likely not serving you. 3. Colour on her plate at most meals, not perfection, just colour. Polyphenols from colourful produce are some of the most studied anti-inflammatory compounds we have. 4. Strength training 2-3 times a week, non-negotiable. Estrogen decline accelerates bone and muscle loss starting in perimenopause, and resistance training is the single most protective intervention against both. 5. A short walk after meals. Ten minutes of movement after eating measurably improves blood sugar response. 6. Protein and fiber before any meal that includes refined carbs. It blunts the blood sugar spike without asking her to give up the bread. 7. Putting her phone in another room for the first 20 minutes after waking. Cortisol is already naturally highest in the morning. Adding a feed of other people's demands on top of that is pouring gasoline on a fire that was going to burn down anyway. 8. Morning sunlight. It resets your circadian rhythm and supports your next night's sleep. 9. Protecting the first hour after waking from screens and the last hour before bed from screens. Light exposure timing is one of the strongest levers on sleep architecture available, and it's free. 10. Stretching or mobility work daily, even five minutes. Connective tissue changes with declining estrogen, and consistent movement keeps her functional, not just flexible. 11. Omega-3 rich foods most days. Fatty fish, walnuts, flax. They directly counter the inflammatory shift that happens as estrogen, a natural anti-inflammatory, declines. 12. Staying connected and social. Mahjong, pickleball, morning walks with a friend, a bookclub. It's essential. 13. Recognizing and addressing chronic stress. Stress is THE root cause of all disease. It's imperative to learn how to manage it. 14. Prioritize consistency over perfection. Small incremental daily changes produce better results. 15. Cook most of their food at home so they know what's in it.

Women in perimenopause are being sold a story. That their hormones are broken. That their body is the problem. That if they could just fix their estrogen, track their macros, and hit their protein goals, everything would fall into place. I'm done with that narrative. Of course hormones matter. They do. But I keep having conversations with smart, capable, incredible women white-knuckling their way through protocols and still feeling lost. The worst part is the sense of identity - still feeling like they misplaced themselves somewhere between the school lunches and the quarterly reports. My best friend and I have been talking a lot lately about grief. The grief of losing someone special AND ALSO, the grief of being in a life stage that feels sudden, confusing, demanding and overwhelming. We are in it. Here's what I actually believe: lasting health starts with your nervous system. Not your cortisol panel. Not your supplement stack. Your nervous system. And sometimes the most powerful thing you can do today isn't a workout. It's a 3 minute smoothie that fuels you for hours without thinking about it. It's 15 minutes of online Mahjong when you had other things to do (because your brain needed space, not more input) It's a podcast that reminds you that you're not falling apart. You're in a season. The smoothie I make when I need to feel like I'm taking care of myself without making it a whole thing: 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/4 avocado, 1 heaping cup frozen mango, 1 giant handful of baby spinach, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 tsp ground flaxseed. Ice to thicken Blend it. Drink it. Done. Anti-inflammatory, genuinely filling, and it tastes nothing like a green smoothie should be allowed to taste. The podcast I keep coming back to: School of Greatness with neuroscientist Emily McDonald.