I’ve had a bit of an aha-moment this week, and it’s quietly changed how I’m looking at everything. The growth I’ve seen lately, the profile views, the new subscribers, the comments that actually feel like real connection… it isn’t because I’ve suddenly become louder, slicker, or more strategic. It’s because I stopped trying to sound impressive and started sounding true.
For years, I genuinely believed I had to lead with credentials, polish, the perfect wording, the best angle, the most put-together version of me, the version that sounds like she has it all figured out.
But midlife has a way of stripping that right back. What’s landing now is the human stuff; the messy middle, the small, real moments, the honest dilemmas, the tired mornings, the “I’m doing my best, and I’m still showing up”.
And here’s the thing: women aren’t looking for another perfect voice to follow. They’re looking for someone who tells the truth and makes them feel less alone while they find theirs.
So if you’ve been holding back because you feel you’re not polished enough yet, or you don’t have the perfect words, or you’re still in the middle of figuring it out… this is your reminder.
Your truth is not a draft, your honesty is not unprofessional, and your real life is not something to edit out. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is simply show up as you are and speak from there.
Calling all Midlife Women
I’m creating something special for International Women’s Day. I’m inviting midlife women to send a 15-second video finishing this sentence:
This is Midlife by Design, not by default, because…
Your voice will be part of a compiled video shared on International Women’s Day, a reminder to women everywhere that midlife is not a crisis. It’s a turning point.
How to take part:
Record a 15-second video (selfie style is perfect)
Start by saying: This is Midlife by Design, not by default, because…
Keep it real, keep it you (messy hair and honesty welcome)
Send your video to: hello@kiransinghuk.com
Include: your name + location + Instagram handle (optional)
Deadline: 6th of March
Let’s make something beautiful together.
Quick filming tips (so the compilation looks good)
Film vertical (portrait)
Face a window for natural light
Speak slowly and clearly
Quiet background, if possible
No music (I’ll add it when editing)
Example endings (to spark ideas)
because I’m choosing myself without needing permission
because I’m done shrinking to keep things comfortable
because I’m listening to my body and respecting what it’s asking for
because I’m redesigning my life around what matters now
because I’m allowed to want more, and I’m brave enough to go for it
because I’m making choices that match the woman I’m becoming
because I’m not starting over, I’m starting from experience
because I’m building a life that feels like home
because I’ve stopped living on autopilot
because this chapter is mine to curate
🎧 Catch Up on the Podcast
In this episode of Midlife by Design: Curating Your Next Chapter, we’re talking about the kind of midlife lesson that doesn’t arrive as a big breakthrough… but as a small decision that changes everything.
It starts with a solo trip to France, an early train, a £47 hotel room near King’s Cross, and that familiar internal debate so many women know by heart: Do I choose comfort… or do I prove I can handle it? Because in midlife, we’re often not denying ourselves ease because we can’t afford it, we’re denying it because we think we have to earn it.
This episode explores what it really looks like to stop making your needs smaller, stop pushing through out of habit, and start choosing what supports you, especially when your body is already carrying pain, fatigue, or the weight of being the one who holds it all together.
We talk about guilt, the “strong woman” reflex to abandon yourself the second someone else needs something, and the practice of learning that you can love people deeply without derailing your life to prove it. There’s also a powerful reminder woven through this story: health is not a motivational quote. It’s your foundation. And the earlier you start prioritising it, the kinder your future becomes.
If you’ve been making life harder than it needs to be just to prove you can, this episode is your permission slip to choose ease without apology, because midlife isn’t the season to do things the hard way. It’s the season to do them the kind way.
New from the Journal
Interview with Kate Codrington, Menopause Facilitator, Author & Speaker. A grounded, thoughtful conversation about menopause, identity shifts, and how to meet this chapter with more language, compassion, and choice.
When Your Hormones Rewrite Your Life: A Compassionate Guide to the Perimenopause Years. A gentle guide for the season that can feel like it’s changing everything, your body, your mood, your identity, and how to move through it with more understanding and self-trust.
What’s Getting Me Through Perimenopause at 48: The Essentials I Actually Rely On. A practical, real-life list of what’s truly helping me right now, not the trendy stuff, the steady stuff that makes midlife feel more manageable.
I Am a Wanderer: A reflection on the kind of woman who doesn’t follow one straight path, and why wandering isn’t failing, it’s often how we find ourselves.
A Note from the Nest
Lately I’ve been holding something close: the way time is moving, and the way it’s inviting me to live more intentionally, not dramatically, just honestly. I am starting a project called 85 Weeks to Fifty. It’s a love letter, really. To the woman I’m becoming, to the woman I’ve been, to the version of me who has lived a thousand lives inside one lifetime already. It’s also a love letter to other women in midlife. The ones who feel like they’re in an in-between: not who they used to be, not fully who they’re becoming yet. The ones quietly asking, “Is it too late to begin again? Is it too late to choose myself? Is it too late to live differently?” It’s not.
This project is my way of marking time with meaning, of gathering stories, wisdom, and truth from women who’ve crossed into their fifties and beyond, and holding them up like lanterns for the rest of us, because we don’t need more perfection, we need more real. We need language for what’s happening to us, we need reminders that midlife isn’t a shrinking, it’s a returning. And maybe that’s the thread running through everything right now: the more I tell the truth, the more I remember who I am. The more I return to myself, the more I expand into what’s next. Read all about the project here!
If you’ve been holding it together for everyone else, consider this your permission slip to come back to you. The Midlife Reset is a 14-day soft restart for midlife women who are ready to begin again, kindly.
With love,
Kiran x
Kiransinghuk.com | The Sattva Collective
