In this Stress Awareness Month edition of Pressing Play, host Jo Fiddy unpacks the stress trap of perimenopause: the part no one warned you about. The shrinking tolerance. The thinning sleep. The cortisol that lands harder than it used to. The anxiety that seems to come from nowhere.

Spoiler: nothing is wrong with you. Your brain is literally rewiring.

Jo walks you through what’s actually happening in the hippocampus and amygdala as Estrogen fluctuates, why cortisol hits differently in midlife, and how to work with the renovation instead of fighting it.

Then she gives you 5 ways to support yourself — practical, doable, and rooted in both science and soul.

This is perimenopause support for midlife women who are done being told it’s “just stress” or “just ageing.” It’s neither. It’s a hormonal transition that deserves real understanding.

In this episode:

• Why perimenopause anxiety is a brain event, not just a hormone event

• Why cortisol lands harder in midlife (and what that means for stress, sleep, and mood swings)

• 5 evidence-informed ways to support yourself: sleep, exercise, nutrition, community, and play

• Why dopamine through play isn’t optional — it’s neurological maintenance for women over 40

• Embracing the Power Years on the other side of the renovation

About Jo Fiddy

A Menopause Coaching Specialist who blends science with soul, anf works with women who’ve hit an invisible pause button in perimenopause and are questioning whether their best years are behind them. Through her Menoplaying® approach, Jo helps them regulate their energy, rebuild their confidence, and step into a powerful next chapter.

The 90s have made a comeback and now it's your turn. Get your FREE Comeback Kit - download here.

Work with Jo - find out more about working with Jo and how you can start pressing play on our life - find out more here.

Podcast: Pressing Play — available on Apple & Spotify & Amazon out every Thursday

www.jofiddy.com

This week on the Pressing Play Podcast, Jo is joined by the remarkable Queen of the Cotswolds, Roanna Stromberg Smith Founder of the RSS bespoke Cotswold experienced, and a woman whose life is a masterclass in what it means to keep the pilot light on.

This episode is a conversation about authentic transition the chosen ones and the ones that choose us. About what it takes to keep pressing play when the chapters of your life don’t arrive in the order you imagined. About running a business, grief, grit, reinvention and keeping your pilot light on.

Roanna is living proof that it’s never too late. That midlife is not a closing door. That you can hold devastation and possibility in the same hands and still build something that matters.

🎧 Listen now to Episode 5 with Roanna Stromberg Smith

Connect with Roanna:

Join Roanna in the Cotswolds or sign up to her exclusive suppers curated for interesting and interested women.

www.the-rss-brand.co.uk

Instagram: @therssbrand

This episode inspired and deeply moved me and a reminder to keep pressing play. I want to thank Roanna for sharing her story, providing beautiful gems of advice for women who are running or want to start their own business and coming on the Pressing Play podcast.

with love

Jo xx

About Jo Fiddy

I work with women who’ve hit an invisible pause button in perimenopause and are questioning whether their best years are behind them. Through my Menoplaying® approach, I help them regulate their energy, rebuild their confidence, and step into a powerful next chapter.

Read to press play? The Comeback Kit is your free guide. Download Here.

Podcast: Pressing Play — available on Apple & Spotify out every Thursday

www.jofiddy.com

In this episode, Jo Fiddy reframes the midlife narrative completely because what you’re experiencing isn’t a breakdown, it’s a biological and identity upgrade that’s been centuries in the making.

Welcome to your Queenager era.

Let’s be honest. The stories we’ve been told about midlife are awful. Brain fog. Hormonal chaos. Losing your edge. The cultural script says you’re on the way down. This episode is your permission to throw that script out entirely.

In today’s solo episode, I’m talking about why midlife isn’t a crisis it’s a coronation. Why everything that feels like it’s falling apart is actually falling into place.

In this episode I cover:

• The Queenager concept by Eleanor Mills — and why this decade is your most powerful yet

• The 100-year life lens: how to think about midlife when you’re only halfway through

• Why the women who thrive in this chapter aren’t the ones who push through they’re the ones who Press Play

Resources + links mentioned:

• The Comeback Kit — the 90s made a comeback and now it's your turn. Your free 3-day micro-moments guide: https://jofiddy.myflodesk.com/comeback

• Work with Jo: includes a 90 minute Reset Session 1:1 to help you start pressing play. https://jofiddy.com/coaching

Connect with Jo

Instagram: @jofiddy_

Website: www.jofiddy.com

If this episode landed for you, share it with a woman who needs to hear it. And leave a review it helps more women find this show.

In episode 3, Selina Barker Coach, Speaker and Author of Burnt Out: The Exhausted Person’s Guide to Thriving in a Fast Paced World and Goodbye Hello Journals.

Selina’s work is all about helping us rethink how we live and work, moving away from constant pressure and overwhelm and towards a way of life that actually supports our energy, our wellbeing and who we are becoming.

Selina is also the creator of Time to Thrive - a toolkit and audio guide that shows you how to reclaim your energy through her unique 5 Energy Zone framework, where she explores the idea that we’re not in a time crises but an energy crisis.

In the show we talked about your Burnout Archetypes and you can take the quiz here. https://projectyoushop.com/pages/burnout-archetype-quiz

You can follow Selina Barker on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/selinathecoach/and https://www.instagram.com/projectyouprojectyou/

And her own podcast Another Way - hosted over on Substack: https://anotherwaywithselinabarker.substack.com/s/another-way

Ready to press play? Join my newsletter and find out how to press play on your life.

www.jofiddy.com

Are you ready to press play? Here is the trailer for the Pressing Play Podcast hosted by Jo Fiddy. Out soon!

Press Play!

https://jofiddy.com/

In this episode, Jo Fiddy discusses the power of play and its impact on the midlife female brain particularly during perimenopause. In this episode Jo explores the role of dopamine, the different play personalities, and the importance of reintroducing play into one's life as a way to boost creativity and reconnect with oneself.

Imagine how powerful the world would be if women in midlife started pressing play!

Shownotes:

Jo Fiddy is a Motivational Speaker and Menopause Mentor empowering women to press on their life in midlife through the Pressing Play Movement.

Find out more

https://jofiddy.com/

Follow

https://www.instagram.com/jofiddy_/

The first episode of the Pressing Play podcast is an empowering and motivational conversation aimed at women in midlife. Host Jo Fiddy encourages women to press play on their lives and challenges the perception of midlife as a pause or post phase. She shares insights on language, beliefs, and the power of embracing the menopausal journey as a pivot into power years.

Takeaways

• Empowerment in midlife
• Challenging age bias and perception

Chapters

• 00:00 Welcome to Pressing Play Podcast
• 08:29 Learning to Pause
• 15:05 Pressing Play on Life

Find out more about Jo Fiddy and Pressing Play on Menoplaying® https://jofiddy.com/

Join the mailing list for news and updates on Pressing Play https://jofiddy.myflodesk.com/o9ic3adbxk