Midlife is the season we finally stop doing things just because we always have. 👻

On this Halloween episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, my friend Maria Williams, author of The Pretty Truth, joins me, and we’re each revealing the 6 things we’re ghosting in midlife. Some of our answers surprised even us.

We get real about menopause, mom guilt, people-pleasing, marriage, and date nights. Plus the advice a 91-year-old woman in a headband gave Maria forget it.

And Maria’s #4? You’re going to want to steal it. 😏

Listen now to find out what made our lists, and what we’re keeping.

(00:00) Boo besties! Welcome
(03:31) Meet Maria from The Pretty Truth
(04:49) Maria’s #1
(07:40) Jenn’s #1
(10:29) Jenn’s #2
(11:35) Maria’s #2
(16:08) The 91-year-old in the headband
(17:04) Jenn’s #3
(17:57) Maria’s #3
(20:15) Jenn’s #4
(23:02) Maria’s #4 (the mic drop)
(27:33) Jenn’s #5: confessions of a recovering people-pleaser
(29:59) Maria’s #5
(31:24) Marriage, date nights and the empty nest
(36:41) Don’t ghost yourself
(38:37) Jenn’s #6
(39:24) Maria’s #6 (sort of 😉)
(43:14) Where to start with mom guilt
(48:46) Sneak peek: The P.A.U.S.E. Planner
(51:36) Where to find Maria

💌 What are YOU ghosting this season? Write me in The Sweet Spot at justjellypodcast.com
📬 Sign up for The Scoop: justjellypodcast.com
📖 Silent to Spoken: A Woman’s Journey Through the Pause: silenttospoken.com
💕 Book a 1:1 with Maria: theprettytruth.com
📸 Follow along on Instagram: @justjennboard and @theprettytruth_official

Season 5: It’s Fall, Y’all! The Messy Middle of Midlife. New episodes every Tuesday.

What do you do when you can’t see the road ahead?

On day one of the Camino de Santiago, I almost quit. A brutal hill, a car that clipped my e-bike, and three words I never thought I’d say: “I can’t do this.” So I called a taxi. And what I saw out that window changed how I think about fear, starting over, and what’s next.

Welcome to Season 5 of Just Jelly Unfiltered. After a summer of walking across Spain, publishing my first book, moving to Orlando, and becoming an empty nester, I came home asking one big question: What now?

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why fear makes the road ahead look harder than it really is
• Looking back at how far you’ve come so you can move forward
• Starting over in midlife without burning your life down
• The empty nest bedroom door I couldn’t open
• Launch day for Silent to Spoken (without my author copies!)
• Saying yes to yourself, even when you’re scared
• Trusting God when you don’t know what’s next
• A first look at the 2027 P.A.U.S.E. Planner

Chapters:
00:00 I Almost Quit Because I Couldn’t See What Was Next
00:24 Welcome to Season Five
02:24 Day One on the Camino
05:23 Sometimes We Have to Look Back to Move Forward
07:12 Starting Over in Midlife
07:37 Empty Nest: The Door I Couldn’t Open
09:06 Afraid to Let Your Dream Become Real?
12:10 Saying Yes to Yourself
14:31 Who Are You When You’ve Never Been Alone?
17:09 Trusting God When You Don’t Know What’s Next
20:47 Coming Up in Season Five
21:33 First Look: The 2027 P.A.U.S.E. Planner

📖 Get Silent to Spoken: A Woman’s Journey Through the Pause: silenttospoken.com
🗓️ The 2027 P.A.U.S.E. Planner, pre-orders opening soon
✉️ Write me a Pen Pal letter: justjellypodcast.com
📱 Follow along: @justjennboard and @justjellypodcast

Next week: Halloween fun with Maria from The Pretty Truth, talking about what we’re ghosting in midlife. 👻

The deeper we dive, the sweeter it gets. Stay sweet out there. 💋 Jenn

✨ What do you do when life doesn't look the way you thought it would?

Come sit with me.

In this Season 4 finale of Just Jelly Unfiltered, I'm sharing thelessons from Luke 8, 9, and 10 that helped me find permission to speak again through grief, starting over, and preparing to walk the Camino de Santiago.

For the past two years, I've been moving through some of the hardest seasons of my life. Relationships changed. Dreams shifted. Parts of my story unraveled. Then I found myself sitting with Luke 8, and what surprised me wasn't what I learned about Jesus. It was what I learned about myself.

In this episode, I share:

🌱 Tending the Soil: Why the people praying for you matter morethan the people talking about you.

🌊 Handling the Storm: Trusting God when life feels uncertain,and learning that faith matters just as much when the water is calm.

✨ Holding On to Hope: Remembering who you are beneath the titles, expectations, and losses.

👣 Walking by Faith: Taking the next step when you don't haveall the answers.

I also share the daily rhythms that carry me through the storms, my 5 W's:

• Wake & Worship

• Walk & Workout

• Work & Win

• Whisper & Witness

• Wind Down & Write

This conversation is about faith, healing, midlife, starting over, and finding the courage to keep walking when the path ahead isn't fully visible.

My question for you:

Where have you been waiting for permission?

Permission to speak.

Permission to take up space.

Permission to startover.

Permission to live again.

Tell me in the Hey You section on the website.

It's the heart of what Season Five will be, and I want it shaped by you.

Silent to Spoken releases October 6, 2026.

Don't quit in the quiet. 🤍

I love you. Just stay sweet out there.~ Jenn 🤍🌷

The Messy Middle of Coming Out, Starting Over, and Finding Your Truth | From Silent to Said It with Jerod

In this unfiltered conversation, I sit down with Jerod to discuss coming out, divorce, parenting, bullying, self-discovery, and finding the courage to live authentically. Jerod shares his personal journey of discovering his sexuality, navigating major life transitions, having honest conversations with his children, and learning how to embrace his truth.

We explore the messy middle that so many people experience when life doesn’t go according to plan. From rebuilding after divorce to overcoming fear, judgment, and expectations, this episode is about finding your voice and stepping into the person you were always meant to be.

Jerod shares how finding his voice through podcasting opened the door to an entirely new chapter. Today, he is the founder of Said It Beauty, turning his experiences, resilience, and passion into a brand that encourages others to show up authentically. His journey proves that some of life’s most difficult seasons can become the catalyst for our greatest growth.

If you’re navigating a life transition, questioning what’s next, healing from the past, rebuilding your confidence, or learning to live more authentically, this conversation will remind you that you are not alone.

• Coming out later in life
• LGBTQ+ community and Pride Month
• Divorce and starting over
• Parenting through life transitions
• Bullying and self-acceptance
• Finding your voice
• Authentic living
• Personal growth and self-discovery
• Building confidence
• Entrepreneurship and Said It Beauty
• Midlife transitions
• Mental health and resilience

Silent to Spoken in finding YOUR truth.

Don’t quit in the quiet.

This week on Messy Midlife Monday, Maria from The Pretty Truth and I are talking about the 2026 trends everyone in midlife seems to be discussing: AI, side hustles, money stress, menopause, friendship shifts, boundaries, burnout, going offline, and what it really means to start over.

What began as a four-episode series became some of my favorite conversations about navigating the messy middle of life. Maria, thank you for showing up with honesty, wisdom, laughter, and heart. It has been such a gift to share these conversations with you and our community. Thank you for helping us normalize the conversations so many people are having behind closed doors.

If you've enjoyed this series and would like to be considered as a future guest co-host, send me a DM. I'd love to hear your story.

Next week, in honor of Pride Month, I'm sitting down with Jarod from Said It. As he prepares to launch his own lip gloss line, Jarod shares his journey through the messy middle of self-discovery, finding love, embracing his authentic self, and navigating conversations with family and friends along the way.

His story is a reminder that every person deserves to be seen, heard, loved, and accepted for who they are.

Because no matter where you are in your journey, your voice matters.

What state are you finding your voice in? Tell me below.

Someone else may need to know they’re not walking this journey alone. We were never meant to sit in silence alone.

https://www.silenttospoken.com/voices/

Silent to Spoken in the messy middle. 🤍

I love you. Just stay sweet out there.... Jenn

Summer can feel fun and heavy at the same time. In this episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, I’m talking with Maria about midlife summer overwhelm, mom guilt, shifting routines, empty nest emotions, marriage communication, nervous system stress, and the pressure to make summer magical for everyone else.

If you feel overstimulated, out of sync, or emotionally exhausted as summer begins, you are not broken, you are transitioning.

We talk about summer routines for moms, midlife motherhood, empty nest grief, family boundaries, simple summer memories, and how to pause before burnout takes over.

If you want the conversation to continue, visit justjellypodcast.com and read my Summer blog.

Confidence can feel different in the summertime too. New routines, body changes, family schedules, photos, swimsuits, social plans, and life transitions can bring up emotions we did not expect. That is why Maria and I also talk about rebuilding confidence in real life, not the polished version, the messy middle version.

This is also the heart behind Silent to Spoken, learning how to stop shrinking, name what is really happening, and find your voice again in the middle of changing seasons. Join the early email list for book updates, preorder details, reflection prompts, and encouragement as you learn to find your voice again.

For more encouragement and resources on rebuilding confidence, visit Maria at theprettytruth.com.

Pause is power. Don’t quit in the quiet.

AI does not have to feel scary, complicated, or only for tech people. In this episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, Jen and Maria talk about using AI in the messy middle of life, especially for midlife women who feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, stretched thin, or unsure where to start.

This conversation is not a tech tutorial. It is a real, lived-in discussion about how AI can be used as a practical support tool for meal planning, weekly routines, decision-making, confidence, boundaries, emotional regulation, moving stress, social media ideas, and organizing all the thoughts running through your mind.

Jen shares how AI helped her navigate overwhelm, people pleasing, hard emotions, communication, and nervous system regulation. Maria shares how she uses AI for planning, confidence, reinvention, and simplifying life as a busy woman in a new chapter.

They also talk honestly about AI safety, what not to share, why you should protect your personal information, and why AI should never replace therapy, faith, counseling, professional guidance, or real human connection.

If your brain has 47 tabs open and life feels like seven lanes of traffic, this episode will help you see AI in a new way: not as something to fear, but as a tool that can help you pause, breathe, and take the next step.

Resources Mentioned

Start here with the Just Jelly AI Beginners Guide:https://justjellypodcast.com/ai-beginners-guide

You Were Never Meant to Navigate the Messy Middle Alone.

Join the Facebook community:https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CaM51zwfB/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Pretty Truth downloads:http://theprettytruth.com/downloads

In this first episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered with The Pretty Truth, Jenn and Maria invite you into an honest, lived-in conversation about midlife, friendship, identity, loneliness, leadership, healing, and learning how to know yourself again.

What started as a simple connection becomes a deeper conversation about why relationships can feel harder in midlife, why making new friendships can feel awkward, and why maintaining old ones can feel complicated when you are changing too.

We talk about becoming authors, recovering from people-pleasing, learning to use our voices, navigating confidence, body changes, faith, family shifts, and the messy middle of becoming the healthiest and happiest version of ourselves.

This episode is your invitation to come sit with us, breathe for a minute, and remember: you are not the only one trying to figure out who you are while still showing up for everyone else.

Free 7-Day Confidence Reset:
https://theprettytruth.com/justjelly/

Want to understand why midlife can feel so messy? Here are neuroscience-based resources that help explain what’s happening in the brain and body during major life transitions:
https://lavishlifeliving.com/blog