375. Midlife: From Crisis to Curiosity with Meg McKelvie and Debbie Sorensen

Psychologists Off the Clock

Are you in the midst of a midlife transition, grappling with big questions about purpose, change, and self-discovery?

For this week’s episode, cohost Debbie Sorensen celebrates her 50th birthday with a discussion on the transformative period of midlife with her friend, Dr. Meg McKelvie.

A period rich with psychological shifts, existential questions, and challenges in finding deeper meaning, they get into acceptance and commitment therapy, emotional, psychical and cognitive changes, ways to overcome people-pleasing habits, and much much more.

With practical exercises and writing practices, this episode is a gift to anyone navigating midlife transitions and relationships, offering insight, reflection, and a path toward deeper understanding and fulfilling connections. We hope you enjoy this heartfelt and poignant conversation!

Listen and Learn:

• Opportunities that midlife brings for deeper understanding and transformation
• Confronting body changes and the aging process
• How your relationships can become deeper in midlife; letting go of surface-level bonds and embracing genuine honesty and shared experiences
• The myth of the midlife crisis and how, contrary to what stereotypes lead us to believe, it frequently involves a sharp internal existential shift rather than a dramatic upheaval
• Living with unanswered questions and learning to sit with the discomfort of uncertainty
• Ways you can cultivate a personal space that nurtures self-reflection and self-sufficiency
• The lessons that regret can teach us
• The value of sitting with challenging emotions such as anger and grief, and how these feelings can provide critical insights into your life
• The difference between body neutrality and body positivity and how stepping back from the internal debate about your body can lead to a more peaceful relationship with yourself

Resources:

• Meg’s website: https://www.drmegmckelvie.com/
• LInk to the “Soul-Searching Questions” handout on Meg’s website and Debbie’s website.
• More writing resources from Meg and Debbie:
• Meg’s writing workshops: https://www.drmegmckelvie.com/workshopsgroups
• Debbie’s Instagram for journaling prompts: https://www.instagram.com/drdebbiesorensen/
• Debbie’s Guided Journaling substack: https://guidedjournaling.substack.com/
• 345. Writing for Personal Growth with Maureen Murdock
• A Substack essay Debbie wrote on her 50th birthday
• A commentary on the Surgeon General’s recent advisory on parental stress, by co-hosts Debbie and Emily, and former co-host Yael Schonburn!
• Books mentioned in the episode:
• Finding Meaning In the Second Half of Life: https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9781592402076
• The Heroine's Journey: https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9781611808308

Related episodes:

• 199. Belonging From the Inside Out with Meg McKelvie
• 345. Writing for Personal Growth with Maureen Murdock
• 315. Hot & Bothered: Menopause with Jancee Dunn
• 291. Finding Freedom From Regret with Robert Leahy
• 257. The Gift of Being Ordinary with Ron Siegel
• 242. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management with Oliver Burkeman
• 351. You Only Die Once with Jodi Wellman
• 274. Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood with Satya Doyle Byock
• 138. Exploring Existence and Purpose: Existentialism with Robyn Walser
• 116. Building a Meaningful, Values-based Life with Jenna LeJeune
• 285. What Do You Want Out of Life? Values Fulfillment Theory with Valerie Tiberius

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