Midlife Advice | Perimenopause, Hormones and Midlife Women’s Health
You're a woman over 40, you're in the thick of perimenopause or menopause, and lately you keep coming back to the same thought: I just don't feel like myself anymore.
You're doing everything right. Showing up for your family, your work, everyone who needs you. But you feel exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix. Work feels harder and less fulfilling than it used to. Your relationship feels distant. Your body is changing. You’re overwhelmed with the neverending decisions. And no matter what you do, you just feel off. Disconnected from yourself.
Midlife Advice is the podcast for intelligent midlife women who are ready to stop white-knuckling through life and feel next-level good.
Each week, host Jessica Long brings you honest conversations about navigating perimenopause and menopause, hormones, overwhelm, relationships, confidence, and the identity shift nobody warned you was coming. Not as a patient. Not as a problem to be solved. As a woman who deserves to actually feel GREAT again.
Jessica is a holistic health coach, certified menopause coaching specialist, breathwork facilitator and fellow midlife woman navigating all of this right alongside you.
If you've ever searched:
- "Why am I so exhausted all the time?"
- "Why does work feel so hard lately?"
- "Why do I feel so disconnected from my partner?"
- "Why can't I relax even when I have time?"
- "Why don't I feel like myself anymore?"
- “Is this perimenopause or something else?”
This podcast was made for you.
✨For more midlife musings, follow me on Instagram @midlifeadvicepodcast and @heyjessicalong
💌 Join my email list for personal stories, recipes, favorite products, podcast updates, and early access to my special offers! https://belongwellness.myflodesk.com/g7gzq0mtnl
💛 Ready to actually feel good again? Learn about working with me. https://www.belongwellness.com/
Midlife Advice | Perimenopause, Hormones and Midlife Women’s Health
Not Feeling Heard in Your Relationship: A 5-Step Fix to Rebuild Connection
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Struggling with communication in your relationship or feeling unheard by your partner?
Not feeling heard in a relationship is one of the most common challenges for midlife women, especially in long-term partnerships where conversations can start to feel like logistics, criticism, or defensiveness instead of real connection. If you’ve ever wondered why communication in your relationship feels harder than it used to, or why you and your partner keep having the same conversations without actually feeling understood, you’re in the right place.
In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Stephanie Bacon to discuss why relationship communication often breaks down in midlife and what actually helps. She shares a simple, practical 5-step communication framework called PHIES that helps you slow down, regulate your nervous system, and communicate what’s really going on beneath the surface so both you and your partner feel seen, heard, and understood.
We talk about how to stop trying to be right, how to navigate defensiveness (yours and theirs), and how to rebuild emotional connection in a relationship that still matters deeply to you.
In this episode, we cover:
• Why communication in long-term relationships gets harder in midlife
• The PHIES framework (and how to use it in real conversations)
• What’s actually happening when your partner gets defensive
• How to feel heard without turning every conversation into a fight
• A simple mindset shift that can completely change your relationship
Connect with Dr. Steph:
RippleEffectEmbodiedSEL.com | @RippleEffectwithDrSteph
I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!
💌 If you’re a midlife woman navigating perimenopause, hormone shifts, personal growth, and just not feeling like yourself, you’ll fit right in to my community. Join my email list where I share personal stories, favorite products, high-protein recipes, book recs and exclusive discounts. I’ll send you my 3 favorite smoothie recipes to get you started!
✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong
⚡️Ready to feel centered, energized, and like yourself again? Learn more about working together at belongwellness.com.