Middling Along

By: Emma Thomas
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  • Summary

  • Middling Along is the podcast for ‘midults‘ who want to spend their middle years thriving, not just surviving. Voted as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause at https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/ - Emma speaks to a wide range of guests who entertain, inform, and inspire in equal measure!
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Episodes
  • Nahid de Belgeonne is here to Soothe our frazzled selves!

    Nahid de Belgeonne is here to Soothe our frazzled selves!
    Nov 7 2024
    This is the 100th episode of the Middling Along podcast! In a week of overwhelming world political developments, this podcast feels particularly timely... This time I welcome Nahid de Belgeonne: Nahid has had a varied career having previously worked fashion, publishing, technology and wellness. During her perimenopause, she swapped bricks and mortar studios in central London for her online clinic and now lives by the sea. Her Soothe Programme helps women recover from Burnout, anxiety and trauma and she has translated all her expertise into a book called ‘Soothe, the book your nervous system has been longing for.’ Nahid talks to me about her own struggles with chronic anxiety, stress-related skin conditions, neuralgia, and almost dying from gangrenous appendicitis because she refused to listen to her own body - and subsequently learning how to ‘rewire’ the brain through movement. Her in-depth research into why certain things work and why they are good for you led her to write ‘Soothe’ and the programme it is based on. Listen to our chat to find out more about: How we are conditioned to do more, and more, and more…putting ourselves at the bottom of the priority list;How if you regulate yourself you also non-verbally regulate those around you - a win-win;How important it is to carve out time when your brain is not being constantly stimulated;How, if you are wholly engaged with what you are doing, your levels of contentment go up;That you feed information to your brain through your senses, interoception - listening in to the signals your body is sending you;Why we need to internalize our comfort instead of externalizing it;Why we need to be dealing with microstressors as they happen throughout the day instead of saving them all up and trying to ‘deal’ with them at the end of the day. What the seemingly simple act of rocking can do for our bodies and brains. As Nahid says in the book: “The brain’s job is to keep us alive by budgeting our resources…Your brain is constantly predicting what will happen to you next…” Our brains are working so incredibly hard in the modern world aren’t they? Did you know that our visual distance gets fixed if sitting all day looking at a screen, which sends alarm signals to the brain. Walking in green spaces is a great antidote, even just for a short period of time - but walking in general is also helpful, the way our eyes move when we walk is also calming for our brains! Nahid also suggests that we treat your phones as a rare and precious commodity rather than an appendage! The importance of social connections and interactions for a healthy nervous system cannot be underestimated...there's so much more in this episode I'd love you to discover. For now, I’ll leave you with my favourite quote from the book: “...what if ambition, speed and acquisition were not the only human goals? What if we also valued sensing, exploring, learning, the beauty of the process, resting, creating, pausing, resetting, repairing, calibrating, or even compassionately being?” You can find more about Nahid’s work on her website: www.thehumanmethod.co.uk Buy the book at https://www.waterstones.com/book/soothe/nahid-de-belgeonne/9781800817104 You can find her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehumanmethoduk/ You can also find her on Substack: https://nahiddebelgeonne.substack.com/ If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a short review online! If your workplace wants to become more ‘menopause friendly’ then please let them know about the work I do at http://www.managingthemenopause.com You can also find me over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/
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    32 mins
  • Victoria Tomlinson is on a mission to banish ageism in the workplace

    Victoria Tomlinson is on a mission to banish ageism in the workplace
    Oct 23 2024
    My guest this time is Victoria Tomlinson - chief executive and founder of Next-Up - the company she launched in 2018 (at the age of 63), to help businesses and their employees use the skills and talent of the 50+ generation in new ways, before and after retirement. [Note that our chat was recorded on the eve of the 2024 general election so before the current government was elected!] A former director at EY, Victoria is a bestselling author and an international speaker on unretirement, personal branding and using LinkedIn strategically as well as on leadership and women on boards. Through Next-Up, she is on a mission to combat age discrimination and get society and employers to value and invest in 50+ employees and use their skills to create the workforce of the future. Shockingly fewer than 1 in 10 organizations are tackling ageism as part of their EDI strategy and age discrimination is rife. Victoria quotes hearing from an HR Director at an event that they personally “won’t even look at an applicant’s CV if they’ve worked in one organization for 20-30 years” - and they’re surely not alone… It seems ageism is the one ‘ism’ that no-one is really cracking down on - though Victoria fully expects discrimination cases to increase in the near future. Despite very well-publicized stats that the share of the population aged 50 and older will increase from 37% in 2020 to 45% in 2050 and widespread skills shortages, many recruiters are still blatantly discriminating against older applicants, and when Victoria posts (as she regularly does) on LinkedIn, she is deluged with hundreds of examples of individuals who have first hand experience of that discrimination. Next-Up is tackling this in range of ways, with progressive employers, and Victoria mentions a few that are leading the charge, like Unilever (their ‘U work’ model provides a basic contract and benefits, and then employees can contract on top of that for projects of all sizes and shapes that fit with their individual circumstances), and Fullers Brewery who are using Restless to recruit older workers and combat skills shortages. With multi-generational workforces of five (and soon seven) generations in the workplace, companies need to figure out how to manage the differing needs of all employees for whom traditional 9-5 models just do not work. Also to focus on multi-generational working – purposefully designing boards, projects and everyday work with generations threaded through it all. Victoria also offers her pointers for what older workers can do to ensure that we are not being 'left behind' which include: Taking advantage of free courses to upskill in tech, and AI in particular, since older individuals have a key role to play in helping companies better understand AI and the places where it needs to be refined - a huge opportunity;Data and cyber risks - again , lots of free courses;Being mindful of the language we use: avoid saying things like “oh we didn’t do it like that in my day;”Respecting, mentoring, and forging relationships with younger people;Being curious and cultivating a growth mindset. She also shares her advice for finding ‘age inclusive’ employers and her dream for a future where Unretirement means people retain long term relationships with their employers wherein they come back to to mentor colleagues, companies make use of their valuable knowledge and use them as an interim resource – to cover holidays, maternity leave and more; and individuals retain purpose and value in their work. You can find Victoria at https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriatomlinson/ and Next-Up at https://www.next-up.com/ https://restless.co.uk/ is the other organization that Victoria mentions. Find out more about U Work at https://www.unilever.com/sustainability/future-of-work/future-workplace/ If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a short review online! If your workplace wants to become more ‘menopause friendly’ then please let them know about the work I do at http://www.managingthemenopause.com You can also find me over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause Join our weekly newsletter, The Messy Middle: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/
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    30 mins
  • Special Edition: The Panorama Menopause documentary and implications for menopause care with Dr Beth Thomas

    Special Edition: The Panorama Menopause documentary and implications for menopause care with Dr Beth Thomas
    Oct 16 2024

    In this extra podcast episode, we dive into the recent BBC Panorama documentary’s portrayal of the menopause industry.

    Our guest, Dr Beth Thomas, GP, British Menopause Society accredited specialist at Everything Menopause, and clinical lead at Managing the Menopause, shares her expert insights on the complexities of menopause treatment, the importance of individualized care, and the implications of the documentary on both healthcare providers and women seeking menopause support.

    This episode covers

    • A brief look at the documentary’s critique of a prominent menopause clinic and its implications for the wider industry.
    • Beth explains the current British Menopause Society (BMS) and NICE guidelines for oestrogen dosing. Risks of oestrogen doses beyond current guidelines, and why individualized care is essential.
    • Common issues with absorption and how switching between patches, gels, and sprays can improve outcomes for some women.
    • Discussion of the challenges faced by women in accessing quality menopause care through the NHS.
    • The need for more research and clinical trials on HRT and menopause treatments.
    • The importance of patient consent and shared decision-making.
    • Recognizing that HRT is not a cure-all and the value of a holistic approach during the menopause transition.

    Links and Resources:

    • Watch the BBC Panorama Documentary on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023jdn
    • Advice on HRT: https://www.womens-health-concern.org/help-and-advice/factsheets/
    • Previous interview with Paula Rastrick, a participant in the Panorama documentary: https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-paula-rastrick-on-our-brain-body-connection-in-perimenopause-could-you-be-an-hsp/

    If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a short review online!

    If your workplace wants to become more ‘menopause friendly’ then please let them know about the work I do at http://www.managingthemenopause.com

    You can also find me over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause

    Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share

    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/
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    17 mins

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