What if the restlessness you're feeling at midlife isn't a problem to solve, but a calling you've been too busy to hear?

Nevada has spent over 20 years helping teams see themselves more clearly. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, she had a realization that she'd spent decades in what she calls the three Ps — performing, productivity, proving — and had completely lost touch with her inner life in the process.

Out of that came the Midlife Wisdom Circle, a container she built for women navigating exactly this transition: the messy, disorienting, necessary work of moving from the first half of life into the second.

We talk about the three Ps and why the first half of life almost requires them, the grief that can come with looking back, why a big midlife transition doesn't mean blowing your life up, and how to start moving at the speed of connection.

What You'll Learn
⭐ Why the first half of life is almost designed to pull you away from your inner life
⭐ What the three Ps are and how to recognize when they've stopped being enough
⭐ How the Enneagram can help you see the adaptive strategies that are no longer serving you
⭐ Why a transformative midlife experience doesn't have to mean blowing up your life
⭐ Simple practices to start reconnecting with your inner life right now

Key Insights

The Three Ps Were Never the Whole Story
Performing, productivity, proving — Nevada says the first half of life almost requires us to go out and demonstrate we can make it in the system we were born into. The cost is that we can forget about the deeper part of ourselves that has a calling. And at some point, the three Ps stop hitting the mark.

The Enneagram as a Mirror
Nevada picked up an Enneagram book at 13, knew she was a Type 3, and put it back down because she didn't want to be one. It wasn't until her early 40s — right in the middle of her own midlife transition — that she picked it back up. And it laid out every adaptive strategy she'd been running, clearly and completely.

A Big Transition Doesn't Mean Losing Everything You've Built
Nevada is still married to the same person, living in the same city, raising the same kids. And her experience of her life is completely different because of the inner work. Midlife evolution doesn't require blowing things up. It requires going deeper.

Moving at the Speed of Connection
A phrase Nevada borrows from an indigenous teacher: moving at the speed of connection — with other people, and with yourself. In a world that rewards speed and output above all else, slowing down enough to actually connect is the hardest and most important practice of midlife.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro: meet Nevada and her 20 years of facilitation work
01:26 Graphic facilitation — what it is and how she found it
05:47 The "full body yes" as the spark of purpose
07:25 The Midlife Wisdom Circle and why she built it
10:07 Being in community as permission
12:12 The three Ps — performing, productivity, proving
15:44 The grief that can come with looking back
17:13 The Enneagram at 13, and again at 40
21:00 Can your Enneagram type change? A nuanced answer
25:29 Why she started her own business 20 years ago
29:50 Growing up in a Zen Buddhist temple in San Francisco
35:31 The wake-up call — the anger in the car
36:58 The searching: every modality, every retreat
37:57 Why the Midlife Wisdom Circle came to be
40:36 Moving at the speed of connection
44:06 The vertical axis — what holds you when the horizontal goes sideways
47:29 Simple practices to start reconnecting with your inner life
49:14 A transformative midlife experience doesn't mean blowing your life up
53:40 The legacy question

Resources and Links
Find host Kristin Belden on LinkedIn or at https://www.BeldenStrategies.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinbelden/
Sign up for Kristin's newsletter Big Deal Energy: https://www.BeldenStrategies.com/newsletter
Connect with Nevada on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/nevadalane/
Learn more about the Midlife Wisdom Circle: https://www.nevadalane.com/
Learn more about her organizational work: https://www.lanechangeconsulting.com/

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#womeninmidlife #midlifetransition #enneagram #graphicfacilitation #womenleadership #innerwork #midlifewisdom #connection #careerevolution #over40 #kindofabigdeal #kristinbelden

What does it take to stop outsourcing your sense of safety — to a company, a title, a paycheck — and finally realize it was always coming from inside you?

Su Zangara spent over a decade at Intel before the company let her go two days after her mother's funeral, while she was on maternity leave with her second child. It was the moment that cracked open everything she thought she knew about stability. From there: a toxic job she walked out of, an epiphany listening to Tony Robbins CDs while the kids were at school, a dream that she worked for him, and then, she did. Out of 500 applicants, she was one of 18 who got a job offer at the end of his Coaches' Academy. Now she runs her own practice working with high-capacity women who are successful on paper but exhausted from performing, and leads Radiant Year, a women's mastermind built for identity shifts.

We talk about what it means to stop shrinking, why wanting more doesn't make you ungrateful, and why the certainty you've been looking for was never in the company. It was always you.

What You'll Learn
⭐ Why "stable" jobs are an illusion
⭐ How to recognize when you're exhausted from performing a version of yourself that isn't you
⭐ Why wanting more doesn't mean you're ungrateful
⭐ How to tell the difference between your sage mind and your stubbornness
⭐ What it means to receive a compliment
⭐ How to stop shrinking and start taking up the space you were always meant to fill

Key Insights

The Certainty Is You
Su spent years chasing the safety of a steady paycheck, stock options, and corporate stability — until Intel let her go two days after her mother's funeral. The lesson she eventually learned: the certainty she was seeking was never in the company. It was her all along.

They're Exhausted From Performing
The theme Su sees most consistently in the women she works with: they're tired of the hustle, the people pleasing, and the shrinking. They've spent years being rewarded for compliance, for fitting a version of themselves that was never quite right. And at some point, they just can't do it anymore.

Wanting More Is Not the Same as Being Ungrateful
One of the most common disclaimers Su hears: "I know I have so much, but..." She calls it an either/or that doesn't exist. You can be deeply grateful and still want more. The yes/and is where everything shifts.

When the Knowing Becomes Louder Than the Fear
Su's framework for getting unstuck: you don't have to eliminate the fear. You just have to get to the point where the knowing is louder. That's courage. That's when you take your hand off the desk and walk toward the brownie sundae.

Receiving a Compliment Is Receiving Love
Most of us deflect compliments not because we're modest, but because we're protecting ourselves. If I reject me first, you can't reject me. Su's reframe: when someone gives you a compliment, they're giving you a gift. Not receiving it is giving it back.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro: meet Su, the Queen of Mindset
02:00 What Su is seeing in women right now
06:16 "Shoulding on yourself"
07:12 What happens when the spark starts to come back
10:02 "Our minds are gonna make up good shit"
12:04 Getting let go two days after her mother's funeral
14:35 It's all an illusion of safety — the certainty is you
16:04 Walking out of a toxic job and finding Tony Robbins
25:00 Manifestation, permission, and knowing what you actually want
32:24 Yes, and — grateful AND wanting more
32:44 "Be selfish" — filling your cup first
34:33 Owning your accomplishments without apology
35:21 Kristin's daughter and the magic of "I know I am"
37:04 Why we deflect compliments
40:05 Receiving a compliment is receiving love
42:26 When the knowing becomes louder than the fear
48:09 Building a business on her own
49:56 The eagle and the turtle — raising your frequency
57:13 Radiant Year — Su's women's mastermind cohort

Resources and Links
Find host Kristin Belden on LinkedIn or at https://www.BeldenStrategies.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinbelden/
Sign up for Kristin's newsletter Big Deal Energy: https://www.BeldenStrategies.com/newsletter
Learn more about Su's work:
https://paperbell.me/su-zangara
Learn more about Radiant Year: https://app.paperbell.com/checkout/packages/227950

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#mindset #womeninmidlife #heartcentered #selfpermission #womenleadership #careerreinvention #intuition #identityshift #womeninbusiness #over40 #kindofabigdeal #kristinbelden