“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all: Read a lot and write a lot.”
Stephen King
Backstory
After I lost my job eight years ago, my confidence took a severe knock that triggered a massive anxiety episode. One way to combat my negative thoughts was to diarise them, hence 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 over-50 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 includes opinion pieces for women’s and lifestyle magazines and blog posts for company websites. As an interior decorator and property stylist, I have created The Styling Consultant – an interiors blog, full to the brim of wonderful style tips and ideas for people looking to sell or renovate their property.
What is My Midlife Mayhem about?
Middle-Age:
Many of us have come to terms with the fact that middle-age is a scary new period of life where women are confronted by a number of things such as physical changes caused by menopause, and a changed societal perception of who we are. Unless you are as thick-skinned as a rhino, women aren’t allowed to age gracefully. And to add salt to the wound, our brain starts to slow down which may lead to anxiety and a dip in confidence. One of the missions of this blog is to help women embrace this period of their lives; to highlight what you CAN DO rather than what you 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 – and I now rely on a combination of all of them. The first time I put a name to the feeling of terror and the anger caused by anxiety was after the birth of my first child, when what should have been a milestone, became a completely overwhelming experience. 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 the majority of us, I’ve learnt about parenting on the job. As the mother of a child with mental health issues, I’ve also done a whole lot of special needs parenting. During our journey with our son, it has been cathartic to use this blog as a journal and a guide where I can dump tips and the advice I’ve picked up along the way about how to navigate parenting with these special kids with ADHD, OCD, DEPRESSION, and ANXIETY.
Relationships:
Whether your married, partnered, or single, I’ll give you my spin on relationships – usually at the expense of my muse, my husband. As a proud feminist, I’m also not short on opinions about the differences between men and women.
Health:
I’m a proud believer in the “all things in moderation in life” school of thinking. I drink too much and love my food, but I try to balance it with exercise and positivity. I’ll be honest with you about my failed diets, my hatred of running, and the change in my outlook that my new appreciation of nature has brought about.
It’s safe to say that I have an opinion on 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 the topic of politics – particularly gender politics.
But in a nutshell, My Midlife Mayhem is a high-five to middle-aged women stuck in this confronting arena of life after fifty, where some of us notice a distinct loss of currency and visibility. In this blog, I try to dissect the difficulties of having it all AND maintaining your sanity; living with adult kids and empty-nesting; coping with the body changes and health issues that come with menopause; holding relationships together, and learning how to give fewer fucks.
Greetings from a fellow mid life kicker and screamer, and thanks for following my blog! I’m looking forward to reading more of yours.
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Hi there – I just nominated you for a Beautiful Blogger award.
If you want to accept it, click below for details.
http://narcissista.me/2012/08/09/with-gratitude-for-other-bloggers/
No worries if you’re not into the award thang:)
Becca
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Thank you! Of course I want to accept it. You’ve just made my Friday and of course I will carry out the duties therewith!
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Hi. Got access to your blog through bloggers.com. No, am not middle aged and not going through its crisis but i totally love your blog and writing and am following it. Well done.
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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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Thank you for visiting and liking my last post. Appreciate your time to do so 🙂
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love your about ramblings.. right there with ya!
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Just found you, devouring your posts, and liking and following you and and signing up for emails all over the place!
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Thank you! It’s always really fantastic to get feedback so thank you for taking the time to write comments. Louisa x
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http://runningawayfrom49.wordpress.com/
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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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Would love some tips on giving up the Chardy. Tried and failed many times. How else do you escape from the teens?
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Hey Louisa, came across your blog & love what I have read so far. Looking forward to more!
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Thanks for the comment Lynn.
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Oh dear; yet, I can relate in many ways.
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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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Thanks Amy. Send me the link to your blog.
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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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Thank you! The writing’s not the best but I say it how it is for me.
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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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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/
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Hi. I’m also a middle aged woman. I call myself a middle aged woman gone wild
https://confessionsofamiddleagedwomangonewild.wordpress.com
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Hi Louisa, love your blog ! I just came across it by accident on Linkedin.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Cheers Louise (Brawn)
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Hi Louise, thank you – glad you’re enjoying it. All good. You?
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Sounds like a normal family to me.
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Ha ha!
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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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Thank you. I’ll check it out and pretend I know what I’m doing but you can probs find it with a Google search.
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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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Thank you for your kind words 🙂
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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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Welcome! Agreed – it’s nice to finally know who we are.
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review https://hydra20online.com
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