About This Blog

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My Midlife Mayhem is a blog for women of a certain age and attitude who see “the change” as an adventure and an opportunity for growth.

Backstory

After I lost my job eight years ago, my confidence took a severe knock that triggered a massive anxiety episode. I found the best way to combat my negative thoughts was to diarise them and My Midlife Mayhem was born.

It didn’t take long for me to discover the massive gap in our blogging market for humorous, thought-provoking content targeted at women like me, over-50 and seeking new meaning to their lives, validation and visibility.

And since then, I’ve discovered a passion for the literary equivalent of verbal diarrhoea and extended my writing into a full-blown writing career that has included opinion pieces for women’s and lifestyle magazines as well as blog posts for small business websites. As an interior decorator and property stylist, I have also created The Styling Consultant – an interiors blog, full to the brim of wonderful styling tips and ideas for people looking to sell or renovate their property.

Content

Middle-Age:

Middle-age can be a scary period of life for those women who are badly affected by menopause and other health issues, relationship break-downs, parenting issues, poverty and job insecurity. Not only are we confronted by the physical changes that come with ageing, society’s warped perception of who we should be means we aren’t even allowed to age gracefully.

Inevitably, these issues may lead to anxiety and a dip in confidence, and one of the missions of this blog is to empower women to embrace this period of their lives – to highlight WHAT THEY CAN DO not what they can’t.

Mental Health:

This is a key topic of this blog. ANXIETY has been a life-long friend of mine for which I’ve tried numerous treatments – therapy, exercise, mindfulness, and medication. These days, I rely on a combination of all of them, but I will never forget the first time I put a name to the feeling of terror and anger that followed the birth of my first child, when what should have been a milestone achievement felt closer to an overwhelming experience of which I had no control. More recently, my anxiety has been triggered by menopause and the struggles caused by the mental health of my son.

Parenting:

I am the mother of two adult children, and like many of us I learnt about parenting on the job. As the mother of a child with mental health issues, I’ve also been a special needs parent, another reason why this blog has been so cathartic for me. I have a forum to dump tips and the advice I pick up along the way about the best ways to navigate parenting with these special kids – with ADHD, OCD, DEPRESSION and ANXIETY – and I have felt supported by many of my followers.

Relationships:

Whether you are married, partnered, or single, I give you my spin on relationships in this blog – usually at the expense of my husband. As a proud feminist, I’m also not short on opinions about the differences between men and women and what we still need to do to stop the discrimination of women, in particular women of colour.

Health:

I’m a proud believer in “all things in moderation in life”, and I know I drink and eat too much, especially when those pesky hormones get involved. I try to balance out my vices with exercise and positivity, but I will be honest about my failed diets, my body’s natural aversion to exercise and the change in my outlook that my new appreciation of nature and a more minimalist lifestyle has brought about.

It is safe to say I have an opinion about most things – my husband will vouch for that – and as a passionate feminist, social justice advocate and proud Leftie, I also like to stir the pot on politics – particularly gender politics.

Aim

In a nutshell, My Midlife Mayhem is a high-five to middle-aged women who find themselves in this craze new arena of life after fifty. It is a safe space where everyone’s opinions are valued (as long as they are respectful), in which I look at the difficulties of “having it all” whilst maintaining your sanity; living with adult kids or empty-nesting; coping with the body changes and health issues that come with ageing and trying to hold relationships together. It is mainly about learning to give fewer fucks.

35 thoughts on “About This Blog”

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    1. Thanks so much for your support. It’s really great to know when someone enjoys it. I hope I’m not scaring you off middle age – it’s really not THAT bad!

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  9. Love your ramblings and brutal honesty. Can totally relate. I’ve channelled my energy away from chardonnay into cooking. Helps block out the mayhem in our very busy household with three hormonal teenagers. Love them dearly but they do my head in. Of course all that eating has not been kind to my waistline so like Princess I’ve
    embarked on the 5-2 diet. Perhaps I should have stayed with the chardonnay…

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  10. Pingback: More penises? No thanks. | By The Seat Of My Panties

  13. I love your blog. It makes me want to re-do my format and make it a lot funnier, and expose my feelings more, become more succinct, and I could go on with the list. I’ll get there eventually I suppose.Great job – I will return to enjoy more of your posts.

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  14. You write so well! The honesty and humour is refreshing.
    I just celebrated my first wedding anniversary but can relate to soooo many of your posts!
    Looking forward to reading many more 🙂

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  15. I woke up yesterday after years of having quashed the desire to write with an unhealthy obsession with work, and decided i would blog. No idea why or how but checked out meetups and found yours on June 9. Love your work so far!

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  16. Hi Louisa,

    I found your blog through a ‘Midlife’ search on FB, I’m looking at as many Blogs along this line as possible as my own new Blog is telling the story of people who have made lifestyle changes, career changes, travel…..all good Midlife issues. Really enjoyed your blog, I am similar in many ways in that who would want to read anything I have to say, but after getting a couple of poems noticed and published I thought why not! I’d be grateful if you or any of your readers have a wee nosey and leave critique if you/they want, it all helps. Here’s a link if you fancy a look.

    Thanks Drew.

    http://www.themiddlecorner.com/2015/09/27/the-west-coast-wanderer-mclean-scotland/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. Hi there! Just wanted to let you know that the link ’17 Parenting Mistakes…Daughter’ says ‘Not Found’ when clicked. Not sure if the post is gone or if there’s a mistake in the link, but whatever the issue, the link is broken. 😦

    Namaste

    A.

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  21. Oh my days I have only recently started blogging but I wish I’d started ages ago so that I could have read your stuff before now!

    Priceless, I absolutely love it!

    My blog is a little different in subject (as in, polar opposites given that I blog on living with bipolar), but definitely we have the same sense of humour!

    Plus the muddling through life bit is spot on!

    Thank you for entertaining me, Louisa, and keep well. And funny. 😉

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  22. Hi Louisa. I am really new to this blogging thing but think we’re singing from a similar hymn sheet. Seems to me that “middle age”, albeit a bit shite at times, can be a good excuse to finally be and do what you want, sort of!
    Looking forward to reading you more.

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