There’s a moment many women quietly reach in midlife — when symptoms start showing up, energy changes, sleep shifts, and the body stops responding the way it used to — and no one can give you a clear answer why. That’s where my conversation with Frankie Leigh Shelton begins.

Before she ever worked in women’s health research, Frankie went through a health crisis in her twenties that forced her to understand her body differently. It eventually led her into clinical nutrition and into exploring the gaps in how women are treated, tested, and taken seriously, especially between the ages of 35 and 55.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why so many midlife symptoms are brushed off as “normal” instead of investigated
• The connection between declining estrogen and rising cardiovascular risk
• How glucose, sleep, and other biomarkers can reveal what standard checkups miss
• Why “eat less and move more” no longer works for aging women
• The emotional load of caring for others while your own body is changing

Frankie speaks with clarity and compassion about the parts of women’s health that often go unnamed or unexplained. This isn’t a conversation about fixing yourself — it’s about understanding what’s changing and finally having language for it.

👉 Connect with Frankie

https://www.frankieleighshelton.com/

🌟 Explore All Things Midlife

https://midlifeetc.com

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Some conversations feel like sitting down with someone who has lived many lives and still meets change with curiosity. That’s what this first interview on the Midlife etc. podcast is — a real, open-hearted exchange about loss, reinvention, aging, and finding your way when life asks you to start over.

My guest is Dagmar Spremberg, a yoga teacher who spent over two decades in Costa Rica, where she founded and ran Montezuma Yoga, building a life that, from the outside, looked like a dream. But when the studio closed unexpectedly in 2021, everything changed. Instead of forcing herself back into what was, she followed a quiet pull back to Europe — and eventually landed in Mallorca.

We talk about what it means to lose an identity you’ve carried for years, how aging asks us to soften our ambition and listen to our bodies, and why community matters even more when you’re reinventing yourself in midlife. Dagmar shares honestly about weight gain, injury, and the discomfort of no longer being who you were — and how she’s learning to trust that not knowing is part of the path.

You’ll also hear:

• How life kept nudging her into new chapters she didn’t plan
• The unexpected grief and freedom of letting go of a long-held role
• What aging has changed — in her energy, her body, and her priorities
• Why simple rituals matter more than perfect routines
• How to handle the “lost” seasons without rushing to fix them

If you're standing in a doorway you didn't choose, or sensing something shifting inside you without knowing where it leads, I think this episode will feel like a deep exhale. Dagmar’s story is a reminder that starting over doesn’t mean you’ve failed — it means you’re still alive to your own becoming.

👉 Connect with Dagmar

https://dagmarspremberg.com/

https://www.instagram.com/montezumayoga

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https://www.instagram.com/midlife.etc

🌟 Explore All Things Midlife

https://midlifeetc.com

Welcome to the Midlife etc. podcast! I can’t believe it’s finally here. in this first episode, I’m not starting with a polished intro or a list of what this podcast will cover. I’m starting with the real story of how I got here, because that’s the only way this could begin.

I talk about growing up in Germany, spending years in a corporate career, and how everything began to shift after a yoga teacher training in Bali in my forties. That experience opened a door I didn’t know I was allowed to walk through. It led me to create an online business, live in Bali for years, travel across Europe in a campervan, and eventually settle in Mallorca.

From the outside it might look like freedom and adventure, and in many ways it was. But the deeper change came later, when perimenopause arrived quietly and then all at once. My energy, my confidence, my sense of who I was — it all began to feel different. I didn’t have the language for it at the time. I just knew I couldn’t keep pushing through. Midlife forced me to look at what matters, what doesn’t, and what I want the rest of my life to feel like.

This podcast was born from that space. From the moments when you’re not broken, but you’re not the same. When you’re searching for language, connection, and conversations that don’t pretend everything is fine or falling apart — just human.

If you’re in a season of change, or sensing something shifting quietly inside you, I hope this episode makes you feel less alone. This is just the start, and I’m really glad you’re here.

💖 Connect with Susanne

https://susannerieker.com

🌟 Explore All Things Midlife

https://midlifeetc.com

📸 Follow Midlife etc. on IG!

https://www.instagram.com/midlife.etc