There’s something especially compelling about a woman who has already built a successful career, stepped away from it, and then chosen not to disappear quietly into the background, but to build again. This time, with more intention, more clarity, more self-honesty about what she actually wants her life to stand for.
That’s what stayed with me, reading Dr Kristine Sickels’ answers. She spent more than twenty years in corporate leadership, building brands and leading teams, and now, in her 50s, she’s an entrepreneur, speaker, and author helping women use their voice with more confidence in the rooms that matter. What I loved most about her answers is how clearly they speak to the shift that so many women feel in midlife: the movement from proving to knowing. From building someone else’s vision to finally asking what you want to build with your own experience, gifts, and life force.
There’s no frantic reinvention here, no desperate “new chapter” performance, just the grounded power of a woman who has enough perspective now to know what aligns, what doesn’t, and what kind of legacy she actually wants to leave behind.
And maybe that’s what makes this conversation land so deeply. It reminds us that midlife is not only a time for reflection. It can also be a time for redirection, for choosing impact and income on your own terms, for deciding that your time, talents, and voice are too valuable to keep spending only in service of someone else’s bottom line.
What stayed with me most was the shift in the question she began asking herself, not “What am I going to do next?”, but “What can I do?” Such a small change on paper. Such a huge one in practice.
Because one question carries pressure, expectation, and the old habit of needing to have it all figured out immediately, the other opens the door to possibility, to imagination, to capacity, to a woman remembering that she is not trapped by what she has done before. That she still has agency, that she still gets to choose.
I also loved what she said about no longer taking opportunities just because they look impressive on a résumé or LinkedIn profile. That is such a clear midlife boundary. The older we get, the less appealing empty prestige becomes. You begin to feel the cost of misalignment more quickly. You begin to care less about appearances and more about whether the thing actually fits the life you are trying to live.
And then there is the wider truth running through all of it: that midlife is not the age to start playing safe. If anything, it may be the age where women are finally experienced enough to take the right kinds of risks.
Who are you, and what season of life are you in?
I am Dr Kristine Sickels. I’m a former corporate executive who spent more than twenty years building brands and leading teams in the consumer products industry. In my late 40’s, I left corporate and am now an entrepreneur, speaker, and author. I’m in a season of designing the life I want to live. I am focused on prioritising my health, investing my time and talents into the next generation, and the legacy I would like to leave. I’m writing a book about how to use your voice at work and help women show up with clarity and confidence in the rooms that matter.
What surprised you most about your 50s?
The clarity that comes with age. In my 30s and 40s, I was building my expertise and focused on proving what I was capable of. Now at 52, I know what I stand for, what I’m good at, and where I want to spend my time. This clarity is incredibly freeing and drives my decisions.
One thing you’ve stopped doing (and you’re better for it):
Spending all my energy building value for someone else’s bottom line. After decades in corporate leadership, I’m now focused on building work that creates income for me and helps other women use their voice and expertise to shape the lives and careers they want.
One thing you’re choosing instead:
Work that creates both income and impact. I’m focused on building things that use my experience to help other women use their expertise and voice to shape the lives they want.
One boundary you now honour, no apology:
From a career perspective, I no longer take on opportunities just because they look impressive on a resume or LinkedIn profile. If it doesn’t align with my values, my time, or the life I’m building, it’s a no.
One micro-decision that changed everything:
A shift in the question I was asking myself. After leaving corporate, everyone kept asking, “What are you going to do next?” and I started asking myself the same thing with a lot of pressure and anxiety behind it. But one day, after much reflection and some time away from work, my mindset flipped from “What am I going to do?” to “What can I do?” That small change opened the door to dreaming again and eventually led me to the work I’m doing now.
One practice that keeps you steady:
Prioritising a long walk or a workout. It’s something I didn’t consistently make time for earlier in my career, but now I see how much it clears my head and helps me stay grounded.
One belief about midlife you no longer subscribe to:
That we’re supposed to play it safe by this stage of life.
The best thing about being in your 50s:
Clarity. I’m clearer about my values, my voice, and the kind of impact I want to have.
At 50+, I am…
…clear about my values, my voice, my experience, and the impact I want to make.
My Note to My Future Self
What I love about Kristine’s answers is their steadiness. They remind me that clarity is not loud, but it changes everything. It changes how you choose work, how you spend your time, how you define success, and how willing you are to say no to what looks good on paper but feels wrong in your body.
I think so many women spend their earlier decades proving; proving they are capable, reliable, smart, worthy, useful. And then midlife arrives and asks a deeper question: “Yes, but what do you actually want to do with all of that?”
That is where this chapter gets interesting, because the point is not simply to have experience, the point is to use it, to turn what you know into something that matters to you. Something that creates not only income, but meaning. Not only achievement, but legacy.
If you’re following along this week
My Stop: Where am I still spending my energy building value for something that doesn’t truly belong to me?
My Start: What would it look like to build work that creates both income and impact?
My Boundary: What opportunities look good on paper but don’t align with the life I actually want?
My Micro-decision: What would change if I stopped asking what I should do next and started asking what I can do?
My Practice: What helps clear my head and bring me back to what matters?
Journal prompt: Where in my life am I being invited to stop proving and start choosing more intentionally?
85 Weeks to Fifty is a series born from one woman walking herself towards fifty in the company of other women’s wisdom. If their stories are landing, if you’re finding yourself in their honesty, there is a space where this conversation continues, week by week, not just in interviews but in the deeper, more personal work of actually living this season differently.
The Midlife Circle is that space. Bi-weekly essays and The Midlife Edit, a private podcast, a Starter Library of tools, and a monthly personal video from me, from £19/month or £149/year.
And if you’re ready for the deepest layer, audio training, The Midlife Reset course, and four quarterly 1:1 calls with me, the Midlife Inner Circle is £297/year.
You don’t have to walk towards fifty alone. Come and do it properly.
Midlife Circle Founder: four calls a year with me. Not forty more things to read.