The Midlife Brief

August 14th 2026

Aug 14, 2026

I’m sharing the posts that I found most interesting and helpful this week.

Some are menopause specific, others are more midlife focused. All have been posts that made my “saved” list.

Let me know if you’ve saved posts and if you think I would find them helpful.

Menopause Transition

Perimenopause Unfiltered

The Perfect Catch-All

There was a time over two decades ago when I had little babies. All three popped out in under five years. As an ill-equipped, trauma-laden, perfectionistic young mother, I did my very best to do it right, and as many of us probably know by now, there is no way to do parenting right beyond apologizing profusely and loving your children with abandon, most…

15 days ago · 6 likes · 1 comment · Perimenopause Unfiltered

The Kitchen Witch

Midlife crisis is real, and it's called perimenopause.

When I was young, I heard about the midlife crisis, but mostly the cliché version, a man buying a red convertible to feel young again, with a twenty-something in the passenger seat pretending his jokes are funny, so he can say he’s still got it. I assumed the whole midlife crisis thing was bullshit. But now, at 43 years old, having lived through interna…

15 days ago · 19 likes · 19 comments · The Kitchen Witch

Everything Looks Good

When Everything Becomes “Perimenopause”

When I sit with women in this phase of life, what I hear is often very consistent. They have been told that what they are experiencing is perimenopause. The timing makes sense on paper. Cycles may be shifting. Sleep is less reliable. Anxiety feels different. Their body is responding in ways that feel unfamiliar, and there …

17 days ago · Alex Mufson, LCSW

The Woman's Handbook

Is it Perimenopause Or Is It Life?

One of the biggest problems with perimenopause is knowing whether you’re actually in it. It can creep up on you. A slow but steady stream of changes that make you feel increasingly ‘off’: fatigue you can never quite sleep off, a smell you don’t recognise as your own, an unsettling feeling of dread with no obvious source. Not to mention that these sympto…

22 days ago · 7 likes · 6 comments · Dr Natalie Hutchins

If you find The Midlife Brief useful, please share it with others.

Midlife

The Midlife Flip

How a Midlifer Turned Two Hobbies into Two Career Paths

Something different this week: Midlife Movers is an interview series that I’ll post every four to six weeks and will replace, at least at the start, that week’s post. I’ll be speaking to people from all walks of life who’ve shifted careers, started businesses, reshuffled relationships, or turned long‑held hobbies into something more…

20 days ago · 12 likes · Claire Schoen

Second Spring Living

Midlifers- You Don’t Have to Make Up for Lost Time

I keep encountering some version of the same story about women entering the second half of life. It appears in books and podcasts, in Instagram posts and conversations about menopause, burnout, empty nests, aging parents and the sudden realization that time is moving. The story goes something like this…

15 days ago · Second Spring Living™

Geezer magazine

Let’s Not Lie to Ourselves

I can’t stop thinking about this article I read by Robin Levine Shobin on middle-aged women who don’t exist…

18 days ago · 32 likes · 15 comments · Laura LeBleu

15 Reasons More Midlife Women Are Walking Away From Marriage

For years, many women stayed trapped in abusive marriages just because they wanted to keep the facade of a perfect marriage. They were too scared of the taboo surrounding divorce in society. Sometimes, shared children acted as the glue that held them together physically when they had long mentally checked out, while some were s…

14 days ago · TheModestMan

If you found this collection of articles interesting please share it with others that you think would benefit from reading it.

This Substack runs on copious amounts of tea. If you enjoyed this post you can always show that by buying me a cuppa.

Discussion about this post

Hey Simon! This was a lovely surprise. Thanks for including my article. Glad you found it save-worthy.

1 reply by Simon Salt

Perimenopause Unfiltered

Thanks for including us in your post, I appreciate it!

1 reply by Simon Salt

2 more comments...

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