If you’re the one who remembers everyone’s everything – the logistics, the appointments, the emotions – but can’t remember the last time you had proper time-out, this episode is for you. In this Season Three opener of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, Monique talks about the mental load, invisible labour and unpaid work so many women carry, and introduces The Anti-Guilt Calculator – your SPACE Prescription to finally see what you do, name what it costs, and carve out real space and time-out without apology.

In this episode you’ll:

• Turn the mental load into a visible “receipt for services rendered” you can see, share and use as a starting point for change.
• Use SPACE (Simplify, Plan, Act, Connect, Explore) as a practical, repeatable way to protect time-out in your actual week.
• Try a 10-minute writing exercise to sketch your next season of life and design one realistic “toe-in-the-water” escape.

Additional Resources:

Your SPACE Prescription - calculator
Free Weekly Newsletter
Dear Blokes Downloadable
Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

Hello, for the first episode of season three, I'm going to replay one of our most downloaded, most messaged about episodes to ease you into the year and ask, what about me and what about right now?

Season 2, episode 8:
If you’ve ever looked around your life and thought, “Is this it?” while simultaneously being needed by everyone, this one’s for you.

In the final episode of Season Two, author and nutritionist Monique van Tulder looks at what actually happened when she stopped just writing about A Grown Up’s Gap Year and lived it – running away, coming home, writing the book, and then spending a year saying “yes” to things that made her mildly nauseous but curious: TV couches, radio interviews, speaking gigs and all.

Monique shares:

• how one “Mum got mad and took off” moment became a book, a podcast and a very public experiment in mid-life reinvigoration
• what readers and listeners have done with the ideas – from cruises and retreats to blunt conversations at home and long-service-leave experiments
• why the Sydney Morning Herald comments and Morning Show clips made her double down on solo women’s travel, money, and the mental load
• what changed in her 25-plus-year marriage when she stopped being the default setting and both partners decided to partner with purpose

You’ll also hear how her new Your SPACE Prescription quiz (the “anti-guilt calculator”) and the 52 Ideas for Your Version of a Grown Up’s Gap Year list fit into all of this – simple tools to help you put yourself back in the picture, whether your escape is a solo night in a hotel or something more adventurous.

No resolutions, no 75-day challenges, no pressure to be anyone else. Just one woman reporting back from the field so you can plot your own version, in a way that fits the life you have now.


Additional Resources:

Your SPACE Prescription - calculator
Free Weekly Newsletter
Dear Blokes Downloadable
Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

Hello and Happy New Year. During January, I'm replaying four of our most downloaded, most messaged about episodes. Think of them as a short series to ease you into the year and ask, what about me and what about right now? So we're going right back to the Foundations.

Season 1, episode 5:
Ever feel like you’re circling the same question - What now? Why not me? - without actually moving forward? This episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year takes you straight to the compass you’ve been missing: your values.

In less than half an hour, you’ll learn how to uncover your 3–5 non-negotiables - the litmus test for every yes, no, and “not for me.” Monique van Tulder guides you through her five-step “Values Lab,” weaving in real-life stories, Joan Didion wisdom, and practical micro-actions you can try this week.

Episode Resources & Links:

• Download: Grown Up's Guidebooks - Core Values List

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram