Things No One Talks About (But We Should): Midlife Edition

There are so many things I wish someone had told me about midlife.
But maybe they didn’t because no one ever told them.
So let’s just lay it all out, right here. Right now. The things we whisper about in parking lots, laugh about in dressing rooms, and cry about in the shower.

Because this is midlife, too.
And it’s time we talked about it.

1. Hair. Where it shouldn’t be. And gone where it should.

Why is there a random chin hair named Brenda showing up uninvited every week, but my eyebrows are slowly ghosting me?

2. Your body starts narrating its own movements.

Every time I get up, there’s a sound effect. A grunt, a creak, a “whew.” My knees now have opinions. So does my lower back.

3. Sleep is a rollercoaster — and you never asked for a ticket.

Some nights I sleep like a rock.
Other nights I wake up at 3:12 a.m. for absolutely no reason, and stare at the ceiling like I’m in a horror film.
And if you fall back asleep before 5? Congratulations. You’ve won.

4. You cry — not because you're weak — but because you feel everything.

Commercials. Graduation photos. Remembering you used to carry your baby on your hip and now they’re taller than you.
The tears come out of nowhere and mean everything and nothing at the same time.

5. You will suddenly care about comfortable underwear.

There comes a day when you take off that lacy thing that never fit right and say, “I deserve better.”
And you never look back.

6. You’re more confident and more unsure than you’ve ever been — at the same time.

You don’t care what people think anymore.
Until you do.
Then you breathe. Then you remember who you are.
Then you stop caring again.

7. You feel invisible… and completely powerful.

It’s weird, isn’t it? How midlife can make you feel unseen in one breath — and then completely in charge of your own damn life in the next.
It’s like we become invisible to the world, but more visible to ourselves.

8. Your friendships become deeper, smaller, and more sacred.

You don’t want circles anymore. You want tables.
Conversations that feel like home.
Women who let you show up messy and mid-process.
Less performing. More presence.

9. You’re starting to want things just for you. And that feels scary.

Wanting space. Wanting solitude. Wanting passion.
Not to run from your people — but to remember yourself.
It’s not selfish. It’s survival. It’s self-respect.

10. You’re finally realizing this season is not a decline — it’s a return.

Not to who you were before motherhood or marriage or life took over.
But to someone deeper.
Wiser.
Wilder.
And fully, unapologetically you.

Let’s Keep Talking

What would you add to this list?

The unfiltered truths.
The soft surprises.
The strange and sacred realities of life after 40.

Drop yours in the comments. Or send me a message. I want to know what midlife really looks like for you.

🖤
Brandy