When did being healthy become another full-time job?

Midlife seems to arrive with an ever-growing checklist: eat more protein, lift weights, walk your steps, take your supplements, remember your hormones, look after your cholesterol, improve your mobility, do some cardio, sleep properly... and somehow fit all of that around an actual life.

In this episode of Midrising Conversations, Gill and Barbara ask whether we really need to optimise the sh*t out of midlife.

We talk protein obsession, the mythical 10,000 steps, strength training, cardio, frozen shoulders, supplements, changing bodies and the strange shift from exercising because you want to look good to exercising because you want to be strong, mobile and independent at 70, 80 and beyond.

But we also get into the other side of wellness culture: what happens when looking after yourself becomes yet another list of things you feel like you’re failing at?

There’s plenty of talk about perfectionism, self-compassion, longevity, tearing up the to-do list and accepting that sometimes showing up and doing something is more than enough.

Because maybe midlife isn’t about becoming the most optimised version of yourself. Maybe it’s about looking after yourself well enough to actually enjoy it.

This episode shares our personal experiences and opinions and isn’t intended as medical or nutritional advice.