It is midnight. Ryan and I are sitting in his living room trying to record a podcast while doing my press-on nails. I have magnesium kicking in, and neither of us can stay on one subject for more than five minutes. 😂

We talk about Matix being home and something nobody really prepares you for: what happens when your adult child comes back home after being gone for two years!! I thought it would just feel like pure happiness. And it does. But it also changes the entire family dynamic again! Everyone has grown. Everyone has changed. And now we are all figuring out who we are together in this new season, including me as I figure out what guiding adult kids is like.

I also get really honest about some things I have realized as a mom, including the ways I leaned on Matix too much when he was younger and what I see differently now.

Somewhere in between that, Ryan and I get into how much I, Heidi Lynn Lane… have changed over the last few years. My voice is different. My look is different…I AM JUST DIFFERENT, yo. But in all the best ways… as I am more comfortable in my own skin than I think I have ever been. PS. Who YOU think I am, and who I ACTUALLY am… are prob two diff people… bc social media never tells the whole story.

Also after years of grief, pulling back, and saying no to almost everything, 2026 has become my year of YES. I am making friends. Going places. Saying yes when something feels good. Letting people unfollow me if who I am now is not for them. And I can’t leave out, I’m overwhelmed most days by ALL the yeses. ha!

And maybe that is what this episode is really about. Life looks different than I thought it would. But I think I am finally learning to let it.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What nobody tells you about an adult child coming home after two years away
• The ways I unknowingly leaned on Matix too much as a parent and what I see differently now
• Why I am actually okay with losing followers as my life and identity continue to change
• How Ryan noticed that even my voice has changed as I have become more comfortable being myself
• My “year of YES” after spending the last few years pulling back from life
• And, obviously, press-on nails, getting lost in LA, soap operas, and all the completely unnecessary side quests that make this Heidi’s Lane

Maybe you’re in a season where your family is changing, your kids are growing up, or you’re realizing you’re changing too. I hope this episode reminds you that you’re allowed to grow, outgrow things, say yes again, and become more of who you actually are.

Life doesn’t always look the way we thought it would, and sometimes that can be really freaking beautiful.

I love you guys. Thanks for being here and growing through all of it with me. ❤️

Here are the key moments from the episode:

00:00 A midnight life update with me + Ryan

03:08 Why i’m actually okay with losing followers

09:53 Why Ryan says even my voice sounds different now

14:08 The real me vs. who people think i am online

22:56 My “year of yes” after years of saying no

26:44 What feeling supported in a relationship looks like for me

30:28 Why people’s first impression of me is usually wrong

34:48 The hard truth about being known online vs. in real life

38:39 Matix is home: the family dynamic has already changed

42:17 Why i’m learning to appreciate the constant “mom, mom, mom”

46:15 Nobody prepares you for your adult child coming home

50:49 How Matix coming home changed all four kids’ roles

54:56 How much responsibility should parents take for adult kids?

58:39 Why parenting adult children feels so much harder

1:02:44 What we actually learned from this very chaotic life update

Connect with Heidi:

Website: https://heidipowell.net/

Email: podcast@heidipowell.net

Instagram: @realheidipowell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realheidipowell/

YouTube: @RealHeidiPowell

Join Heidi’s next Hormone Reset Challenge: heidipowell.net/reset

Heidi’s FREE Get Fit Community: https://fit.heidipowell.net/get-fit-community/

It is 4 p.m. on a Saturday. I leave for the airport in two hours. My son has been gone for two years. And Ryan and I are sitting in the car with a mic between us because apparently this is what my podcast has been reduced to — and I could not care less.

This is a real-time life update, recorded in the window where I know everything is about to change and I don’t know how. I haven’t figured out the sleeping arrangements or what having all four kids under my roof for the first time in two years will look like. I’m guessing, hoping, over-thinking, and telling you all of it from the front seat.

Then we get into the partial hysterectomy conversation I promised you — what my urogynecologist said, what the surgery actually removes, and why I said absolutely not when my doctor told me to come back in three years.

And finally, the weekend. Mastermind, the challenge winners, a woman who flew for the first time at 50, and Ryan on a pole. Yes, that Ryan. Yes, that pole.

Cozy up. This one’s a ride.

IN THIS EPISODE

The countdown. I haven’t figured out the sleeping arrangements and I’m not going to — they can battle it out. But I explain why the room situation is so loaded, including something I’ve never said here: Matix and Marley may have quietly carried the “step kid” position in a house where I was always pregnant, recovering, or filming.

They were loved beyond measure. They also slept in their brother’s room for years while other rooms sat empty.

So no, Matix is not getting the pullout bed. That boy hasn’t picked his own sheets in two years.

I also get into kids leaving home after graduation, why Marley pays me rent and where that money actually goes, and the Matix and Cash dynamic I’m watching. Cash was a little boy when his brother left. He isn’t anymore.

The hysterectomy decision. HPV came back negative, my Epstein-Barr is down, and the abnormal cells are still there. My doctor said come back in three years. I said absolutely not — a pap takes a few samples, and a few samples is not the whole picture.

I also correct something from last episode: HPV is linked to cervical cancer, not uterine or ovarian. Then we get into what they’d actually take, early menopause, and what nobody talks about — sex afterward.

My experience and my doctor’s answers, not medical advice. Take it to your own provider.

The weekend. Jennifer is 50, down 30 pounds, and hasn’t felt confident since she was 25. First time on an airplane. Ever. First time submitting before-and-afters. First cold plunge. First breathwork session.

The thing I can’t stop thinking about is what these women have survived. You would never guess. One told me that night it was the first time she hadn’t felt like an outcast.

That’s the entire point.

TIMESTAMPS

0:44 — Episode 95, recorded in the car
4:22 — Two hours to the airport
8:04 — The sleeping arrangements are Hunger Games
10:12 — Did Matix and Marley get the short end?
14:25 — Why Marley pays rent
20:52 — The Matix and Cash dynamic
23:54 — Why I want a house big enough for everyone
26:36 — Correcting what I said about HPV
29:19 — What a partial hysterectomy removes
35:20 — My kids mattered more than money
42:22 — Jennifer’s firsts
47:35 — My team and best friends
53:32 — Ryan. On the pole.
56:07 — The four-day event I’m already planning

COME DO THIS WITH ME

The 30-Day Core, Pelvic Floor & Hormone Strength Challenge starts soon. Back to basics for the deepest layer of our bodies we’ve spent decades ignoring.

heidipowell.net/challenge

Save the date for January — the next 60-day challenge, with nutrition education LIVE this time.

LET’S TALK

Two real questions:

If you’ve had the hysterectomy conversation and chose not to do it — where are you now? Do you wish you had?

And do you think kids should move out after high school? I left immediately, failed every class, figured it out, and I’m convinced I wouldn’t be who I am without it.

Tell me in the comments — honestly, because I’m reading them.

This week’s episode was supposed to be a deeper dive into perimenopause, but as I started talking, the conversation went somewhere completely different. And honestly, I think it went exactly where it needed to go.

I open up about some very personal parts of my health journey, including living with HPV, abnormal pap smears, precancerous cervical cells, and a recent conversation with my doctor about potentially having a partial hysterectomy. That conversation brought up so many questions for me about what happens to our bodies as we age and the parts of womanhood we don’t talk about nearly enough.

I also share what I’ve noticed changing in my 40s when it comes to sex, libido, vaginal health, and how those changes have affected the way I see myself as a woman. We talk about vaginal estrogen, recurrent UTIs during perimenopause, my recent experience with an infection I initially ignored, and why listening to our bodies and advocating for our health matters so much.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Living with HPV and my history of abnormal pap smears
• Why my doctor brought up a partial hysterectomy
• Sex, libido, vaginal dryness, and intimacy in your 40s
• Vaginal estrogen and vaginal health during perimenopause
• My recent UTI experience and why I wish I had acted sooner
• Learning to listen to your body and advocate for yourself

If you’ve been experiencing changes in your body that you don’t understand, putting off an appointment, or simply wondering why no one ever taught us about some of these things, I hope this conversation encourages you to ask questions, listen to your gut, and take your health seriously.

Our bodies are such a gift, and sometimes, watching them change can be harder and more emotional than we expect.

Here’s to asking more questions and learning as we go. ❤️

WANT TO JOIN A COMMUNITY THAT UNDERSTANDS THIS? Sign up for my next 30 Day Challenge: CORE, PELVIC FLOOR + HORMONE STRENGTH, starting August 31, 2026…go to heidipowell.net/reset or click HERE.

Here are the key moments from the episode:

00:00 Why I’m Going Deeper Into My Perimenopause Journey

03:19 What I’ve Learned From Living Through Perimenopause at 44

05:55 HPV, Cervical Cancer Risk & What Women Need to Know

08:43 Why I Refuse to Skip My Annual Pap Smear

11:42 The Partial Hysterectomy Decision I’m Now Facing

14:28 Sex, Libido & Vaginal Changes During Perimenopause

17:15 The Emotional Reality of Watching Your Body Age

20:20 The Bladder Symptoms I Mistook for Something Else

23:28 My UTI Got Worse: When I Finally Went to Urgent Care

25:08 Why UTIs Can Become a Bigger Problem During Perimenopause

27:28 Vaginal Health Signs Women Shouldn’t Ignore

28:24 The Health Checks I Want Every Woman to Stop Putting Off

Connect with Heidi:

Website: https://heidipowell.net/

Email: podcast@heidipowell.net

Instagram: @realheidipowell

Facebook: Heidi Powell

YouTube: @RealHeidiPowell

Join Heidi’s next Hormone Reset Challenge: heidipowell.net/reset

Train with Heidi on her Show Up App: https://www.showupfit.app/