This morning was gloriously uneventful; I was sitting on the sofa with a chai latte, replying to emails and easing myself into the day. No big strategy session, no business planning, no “I must create something today” energy. Just me, my laptop, my cup of vanilla chai latte, and a slow morning.
And somewhere between one email and the next, I had an idea: What if I created a directory of Substack publications for midlife women?
The funny thing is, the idea didn’t come completely out of nowhere. Over the past couple of years, through the 5-minutes with…, #85WeeksToFifty and my Expert Interview series, I’ve had the privilege of connecting with some genuinely amazing people. Women, men, and experts with fascinating stories, brilliant work, different perspectives, and very different experiences of midlife.
And so many of those conversations have led me down little rabbit holes of discovery.
I’d finish an interview, visit someone’s Substack, discover another writer through them, then find another publication through someone else’s Notes. And I kept thinking about how many brilliant voices are out there that women simply haven’t discovered yet, because Substack can sometimes feel a little like wandering around a very large bookshop without knowing which shelf to start with.
You find one writer, which leads you to another, which leads you to someone else, and before you know it you’ve lost an hour happily falling down a rabbit hole. So I thought, why not create a little starting point?
That’s how the Midlife by Design Directory was born.
And because apparently this is how my brain works, I had the idea in the morning, and by the time I’d finished my chai, I was building the page. A little while later, I looked at my screen and thought, Oh. It’s actually live. 😂
The directory is a growing collection of Substack publications exploring the many different dimensions of midlife. There are writers talking about menopause, identity, relationships, purpose, money, health, reinvention, ageing, creativity, and what it means to build a life that actually feels like your own.
And I want to be clear about what it is — and what it isn’t.
It isn’t intended to be exhaustive, and it isn’t an endorsement of every perspective shared. It is simply a place to discover more voices, stories, and conversations.
Because I don’t think there is one version of midlife. There isn’t one way to navigate it, one story that explains it, or one woman who gets to tell the whole thing. We need the menopause experts and the women starting over. The writers exploring identity and the ones talking about money. The funny ones, the thoughtful ones, the provocative ones, the deeply personal ones. The people asking questions we’ve never thought to ask.
That, for me, is part of what Midlife by Design has always been about: opening the door to possibility.
And perhaps this is another expression of that. Not me saying, “Here is everything you need to know about midlife.” But rather, “Here are some women worth listening to. Go and see what resonates.”
The directory is already live, and I know it will keep growing. I’ll keep discovering new publications, meeting new people, and adding voices that I think women in midlife might enjoy finding.
So if you write about midlife, or you know a Substack that belongs here, send it my way.
And if you’re simply looking for something new to read, come and have a browse.
You never know, your next favourite writer might be hiding somewhere between someone else’s chai break and a very good idea.
Midlife by Design Directory
The Midlife by Design Directory is a growing collection of Substack publications exploring the many different dimensions of midlife. It isn't intended to be exhaustive or an endorsement of every perspective shared. It's simply a place to discover more voices, stories, and conversations.
I love the idea of bringing these voices together. There is something particularly interesting about midlife as a moment when so many women begin questioning definitions they may have inherited rather than chosen—success, ambition, home, work, even what constitutes a valuable life. What I’m discovering is that those questions aren't necessarily about starting over. Often they're about becoming much more deliberate about what deserves to come with us into the next chapter.
Kiran, I think what I appreciate most about this is that you haven’t tried to define midlife by curating it. You’ve done almost the opposite.
You’ve made room for its complexity by bringing very different voices into view.
There is generosity in building something that deliberately sends people toward other people’s work. And somehow, that feels very much like you. 🤍