We know our parents as Mom and Dad. We know the stories they’ve told us, the family history, the traditions, the big moments.

But how well do we really know the people they were before they became our parents?

In this episode of Message in the Middle, I’m talking with Neil Taylor, founder of Me and My Old Man, about the conversations we so often put off with our aging parents and the stories we may never get to hear if we wait too long.

Neil’s own journey into this work began in 2021, when he lost his dad, Patrick, after a long struggle with dementia. Six days later, his son was born. In that space between losing his father and becoming a father, Neil found himself thinking about all the questions he still had for his dad and could no longer ask.

That realization led him to create Me and My Old Man, a 12-week guided experience that helps adult children sit down with their parents and talk about the things that really matter. The conversations are recorded and turned into a life story audiobook the family can keep.

Neil has now recorded more than 350 hours of life stories with families across six countries.

We talk about why we often know our parents through the role they played in our lives, but may never take the time to know the whole person behind that role. We talk about the ordinary stories that can turn out to be the most meaningful, why we keep waiting for the “right” time to have these conversations, what dementia can teach us about not waiting, and what adult children often wish they had asked.

And we go somewhere a little more personal too. I ask Neil what he would ask his own dad if he had one more hour.

This conversation left me thinking about my own grandparents and parents, and about all the stories sitting inside the people we love that we may never think to ask about.

Because sometimes the question isn’t whether we love our parents.

It’s whether we’ve taken the time to really know them.

Connect with Neil:

• Website
• The 107 questions (free resource)
• LinkedIn

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

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What if your child’s success has quietly become your success, and their struggles feel like your failures?

For many mothers, that connection can be hard to see, especially after our children become adults. We know we can't control their choices, yet we still worry, advise, fix, compare, and sometimes lie awake at 2 a.m. wondering if we somehow got it wrong.

That is exactly where today’s conversation with Gigi Baxter begins.

Gigi spent thirty years quietly grading herself as a mother. When one of her three children was thriving, she gave herself an A. When one struggled, that grade dropped. Eventually, she realized she had confused motherhood with her own identity and was carrying emotional problems that were never hers to carry.

That realization became her book, Your Children Are NOT Your Report Card: How to Love Your Adult Children Without Losing Yourself.

In this episode, Gigi and I talk about the invisible report card so many mothers carry, grieving the imaginary versions of our children, and recognizing the difference between loving support and trying to fix or control their lives.

We also talk about the "emotional suitcases" we carry for our adult children, the Parenting Olympics, Gigi's "Board Seat, Not CEO" approach, and her simple "Mute & Pause" practice for those moments when our instinct is to jump in.

If you've ever wondered whether you're carrying something that belongs to your adult child, or if you've ever questioned where your identity ends and motherhood begins, this conversation is for you.

Because loving our children deeply doesn't mean we have to carry their lives for them.

Sometimes, putting down the report card is where we finally begin coming home to ourselves.

Connect with Gigi:

• Website
• Amazon Book Page
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter/X

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.

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There are some life changes we choose. And then there are the ones that choose us.

In January 2024, Jennifer White woke from a coma following brain tumor surgery and found herself facing a life she barely recognized. A retired registered nurse, Jennifer knew the healthcare system from one side of the bed. Suddenly, she was experiencing it from the other.

She had to relearn how to walk, think and talk. Some memories returned slowly through writing. Others may never return. And while many of the changes were visible during her recovery, others remain hidden: depression, exhaustion, difficulty finding words and the emotional weight of rebuilding a life she never planned to have.

But somewhere in that recovery, something unexpected happened. Jennifer began to reinvent herself.

Writing became a way to reconnect with memories, discover new interests and make sense of who she was becoming. Today, she writes medical thrillers and children's books, drawing from both her experience as a nurse and her experience as a patient.

In this episode of Message in the Middle, Jennifer and I talk about what it really means to rebuild your identity after life changes without your permission. We talk about grief, resilience, invisible struggles, the difference between surviving and becoming, and what happens when you finally stop trying to get back to the person you were.

Because sometimes the goal isn't to get your old life back.

Sometimes it's to discover what comes next.

Connect with Jennifer:

• https://www.jennywhite.ca
• https://www.molsonjennyadventures.ca

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.

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Sometimes life isn’t falling apart because of one big thing. It’s just… a lot.

The news feels relentless. The world feels increasingly complicated. Family dynamics can be difficult. Aging parents bring a whole new set of responsibilities. Health concerns, work, relationships, and the everyday stuff of life keep piling on.

And somehow, we’re still supposed to keep going.

In this solo episode of Message in the Middle, Marianne talks about what it feels like when life is really, truly “lifing.” Not from a place of having all the answers, but from the middle of her own messy, complicated season of life.

She reflects on the things we can’t control, the difference between what is ours to carry and what isn’t, and why sometimes the best thing we can do is stop trying to solve everything at once and focus on the next right thing.

She also talks about something that has been grounding her lately: intentionally noticing the good.

A good cup of coffee. A conversation with a friend. A hug. A laugh with her grandchildren. A quiet moment when the sun comes out after a rainy day.

Because the hard things don’t disappear when we notice the good. But the good can keep the hard things from becoming the only things we see.

If life has been lifing for you lately too, this episode is a reminder that you don’t have to figure everything out today.

Sometimes keeping going looks like taking care of yourself, loving the people you love, letting go of what you can’t control, noticing the small moments that make you smile, and simply taking the next step.

One day at a time. One small moment at a time. One deep breath at a time.

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.

Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

What if your marriage doesn't need a new person? What if it needs two people willing to become new versions of themselves, intentionally choosing each other, over and over?

That's the question at the heart of my conversation with Kameran Alareqi, a Gottman Certified marriage coach, host of the Married and Connected podcast, and founder of the Recognizing Potential Coaching Program.

Kameran doesn't talk about marriage from a textbook. She's lived through infidelity, infertility, divorce, and ultimately reconciliation with her husband. And what she discovered is that rebuilding a marriage isn't necessarily about going back to what you had. Sometimes it's about creating something neither of you has ever had before.

In this conversation, we go much deeper than communication tips and marriage advice. We talk about identity, childhood patterns, pride, friendship, resentment, humility, and what it really takes to change the person you're bringing into a relationship.

We also explore a question I think many people quietly wrestle with: When is fighting for your marriage an act of courage, and when does it become self-abandonment?

Kameran shares what reconciliation actually required, how she learned to take responsibility for her own transformation, and what it can look like to fall in love with the same person again, not by recreating the old marriage, but by intentionally building a new one.

If you've ever wondered whether people can really change, whether a disconnected marriage can become a connected one again, or whether it's possible to find your way back to the person sitting across the table, this conversation is for you.

Because sometimes the question isn't, "Do I need a different marriage?" It's, "Am I willing to become the person who can build the marriage I want?"

Connect with Kameran:

IG

YouTube

Skool Community

Book- Connected To Me: The Blueprint

Substack

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.

Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

Anxiety doesn't always arrive with racing thoughts or panic attacks.

Sometimes it shows up as perfectionism. People pleasing. Constant overthinking. Staying busy so you never have to slow down long enough to notice how exhausted you've become.

It quietly convinces us to stop taking chances, stop trusting ourselves, and settle for surviving instead of truly living.

This week on Message in the Middle, Marianne sits down with registered psychotherapist, internationally certified EMDR therapist, expressive arts educator, and author Elke Scholz for an honest conversation about reclaiming your life from anxiety.

Drawing from more than thirty years of clinical experience and her own personal journey with anxiety, Elke shares practical, compassionate tools that help people move from fear toward confidence without waiting until anxiety disappears.

Together they explore:

• The subtle signs of anxiety many people never recognize

• Why workplace stress feels heavier than ever

• How overthinking, perfectionism, and people pleasing often mask anxiety

• Why listening to your body may be the first step toward healing

• How creativity can unlock healing in ways words sometimes cannot

• Daily practices that build resilience and emotional freedom

• Why you don't need more time. You need more life inside the time you already have.

If you've been waiting until you feel less anxious before living the life you really want, this conversation is your reminder that you don't have to wait.

Connect with Elke:

• Website: www.elkescholz.com
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYf99EPFC3m01ft5ugIIC-g
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/elke-scholz-a2aa6b17/
• https://www.facebook.com/elke.scholz.71
• https://www.instagram.com/lovingyourlife1?igsh=M3hpbWNsb2R2Y29l

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.

Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...

We spend years preparing for retirement. We save, invest, plan for healthcare, and think about how we'll spend our time.

But what about preparing for who we'll be when the work is gone?

What no one tells you about life after work is that retirement isn't simply a change in schedule. It's a change in identity. When the meetings end, the calendar goes quiet, and the role you've spent decades becoming disappears, the freedom you imagined can sometimes feel surprisingly unfamiliar.

In this episode of Message in the Middle, I sit down with Cheryl Fimbel, who spent forty-five years leading healthcare organizations through major change before experiencing an unexpected career transition of her own just before retirement.

That experience led Cheryl to explore the emotional side of retirement that financial planning often overlooks.

We talk about why the first ninety days matter so much, why high achievers can struggle with unstructured time, how grief can show up even when retirement is a choice, and why purpose isn't something you discover overnight. We also explore emotional readiness, relationships, routine, community, and what it takes to begin building a meaningful life after work.

Because the question isn't simply, "What will I do when I retire?"

It's also, "Who am I when I'm no longer doing the work that defined me?"

Whether retirement is years away or already part of your story, this conversation offers a different way to think about the transition and a reminder that the next chapter isn't about replacing who you were.

It's about making space for who you're becoming.

Connect with Cheryl:

Crown Years Media Website: https://crownyearsmedia.com

The Hidden Side of Retirement Book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/08hFM0IJ

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.

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Episode Description

What happens when you've achieved everything you thought you wanted, only to discover there's something deeper calling you?

For more than thirty years, Kathy Robinson built an impressive corporate career, rising to become Chief Audit Executive and Chief Risk Officer at a Fortune 250 company. Then, at the height of her success, she made the courageous decision to walk away. What followed wasn't the end of her story. It was the beginning of a profound transformation.

In this thoughtful conversation, Kathy shares the inspiration behind her new book, Walking with the Sage: A Story of Leaving Everything to Find More, and explores why midlife isn't a crisis to survive, but an invitation to become more fully ourselves. Together, we talk about identity, reinvention, aging with intention, and the wisdom that often emerges when we're willing to slow down and listen.

If you've ever wondered whether your best years are behind you, or if there's still another chapter waiting to be written, this episode offers hope, practical insight, and a gentle reminder that the answers you're searching for may already be within you.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why major life transitions are invitations for growth rather than signs of failure

• What it means to be "in the goo" and why the messy middle is where transformation begins

• How nature and stillness help us reconnect with our inner wisdom

• The difference between living as a warrior and living as a sage

• Practical ways to navigate uncertainty with greater self-trust and authenticity

• Why your most meaningful chapter may still be ahead

Whether you're navigating a career change, an empty nest, retirement, or simply feeling called toward something more meaningful, this conversation will leave you feeling grounded, encouraged, and inspired to trust your own path.

Because sometimes the bravest journey isn't climbing higher. It's having the courage to come home to yourself.

Connect with Kathy: https://athenawellness.com/

Free book companion that offers three wellness practices: https://athenawellness.com/sage

Connect with Marianne:

• Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
• Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
• Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne

Subscribe to Message In the Middle:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.

Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...