Episode Summary In this episode, Jen Berlingo talks about her story, her thoughts on the midlife crisis, breaking away from social norms, and finding what serves and does not serve you in different stages of life. She also highlights staying true to yourself, dismantling social norms, admitting our own truths, and why we need support in our lives and finishes with insights about her book. About Our Guest Jen Berlingo, MA, LPC, ATR (she/her) is a midlife coach, a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Colorado, a Nationally Registered Art Therapist, and a master-level Reiki practitioner. After two decades of midwifing hundreds of women through life’s major transitions and experiencing her own passage through a fiery midlife portal, she was inspired to write Midlife Emergence to accompany other women in traversing their midlife journeys. Jen is also a visual artist who creates custom pieces for collectors worldwide and exhibits her fluid, abstract art locally in her beloved town of Boulder, Colorado. There, among the sunny foothills, Jen can be found making bottomless bowls of popcorn and snuggling on the couch with her unconventional family, her coven of close friends, and her Norwegian forest tabby rescues, Jinx and Juju. Insights from this episode: — Jen’s thoughts on midlife crisis — The process of breaking down — Breaking and dismantling social norms — Finding what works for you — Staying authentic to yourself — Admitting our truths — Jen’s relationship story — Why we need support — Details about her book Quotes from the show: “It’s a decade that I think of as a space, between the first and second half of life. It’s sort of this waiting room where we have an opportunity to architect the second act of life in a way we want it to be.” –Jen Berlingo, Emerging Women Podcast On reframing midlife crisis: “As an emergence of our more authentic self after we have the courage to maybe challenge or change or shed some of the social and familial and cultural conditioning that we might have played into in the first half of life.” –Jen Berlingo, Emerging Women Podcast “If you can go through it (the process of breaking down) consciously and really with support, I feel like it's such an opportunity to step more fully into yourself.” –Jen Berlingo, Emerging Women Podcast “The fact that the lack of expression of the fullness of my sexuality had gotten so internally loud and pretty painful for me as I entered midlife meant that I needed to explore this more.” –Jen Berlingo, Emerging Women Podcast “Making decisions from our own intuition can feel like a very lonely experience, and especially ones that are going to rock the boat, or norms or shake up systems that we put in place for ourselves (…) it takes a lot of courage to keep going in that.” –Jen Berlingo, Emerging Women Podcast “The things that make us feel alone are really what connects us to one another” –Jen Berlingo, Emerging Women Podcast “It’s not possible for any living being to become whole or fully expressed, from flowers, animals, in isolation.” –Chantal Pierrat, Emerging Women Podcast Stay Connected: Chantal Pierrat Twitter: @chantalpierrat LinkedIn: Chantal Pierrat Jen Berlingo Website: Jen Berlingo Facebook: Jen Berlingo, LPC, ATR Twitter: Jen Berlingo (@jenberlingo) LinkedIn: Jen Berlingo, MA, LPC, ATR Instagram: Jen Berlingo, LPC, ATR (@jenberlingo) TikTok: jen berlingo - midlife coach (@jenberlingo) Emerging Women Website: https://emergingwomen.com/ Twitter: @emergingW Facebook: @EmergingWomen Instagram: @emergingW LinkedIn: Emerging Women Youtube: Emerging Women Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher and Apple Podcasts.