I feel like yes this is so common for women as they move into midlife. I share about this too, because no one has talked about it so we go into this, hold tight to the narrative we’ve been taught, feel ashamed, confused and broken when we can’t make it fit anymore. Because as women we aren’t gathering like we need to, we aren’t sharing the stories. I’m determined to share them so the next women know what to expect and perhaps are prepared far better than I was.
Keep sharing!!! And thank you for sharing in such a real vulnerable way.
We share such a similar vision and inspiration! I’m excited to be connected and follow your story. I hope you keep sharing too, we need to get our stories out into the light. 🫶
I really relate to what you shared here. I’m six years into my own purpose-driven business and in a slightly different version of that questioning right now—reevaluating what I want to create, how I want to earn a living, and whether those two things even need to come from the same place. I’ve been noticing how easily the financial pressure, brain fog and exhaustion can start stealing energy away from my creativity and vision, and I don’t want everything I feel called to create to immediately have to become something I sell.
I really liked what you wrote about letting go before you knew what was next. I think there’s so much pressure to have the next plan ready before we loosen our grip on the old one. Reading how much came alive for you once you actually gave yourself that space makes me want to hear more. Please keep writing about it.
I understand how financial pressure, brain fog and exhaustion can start stealing energy away from our creativity and vision. And I love how you're asking the question about if what you want to create and how you want to earn a living have to be the same thing. It's so embedded in the entrepreneurial space that we need to make money from what we love, and there's a lot about that messaging that I resonate with. But after being in the space for so many years, I do find myself more recently also asking the same questions.
It’s such an interesting place to be…in the question. I have no idea where I’ll land with it yet, but I’m kind of glad I’m not the only one asking it ❤️
Beautifully written and so so true. We all seem to go through the same emotions, similar circumstances and experience the void. The dark ages are some rough times and mind bending to navigate. Love the light attached. Feel you!
Same to you my friend! It’s been such a great thing to find other women, writing from the raw and feeling all the same things here. Makes you feel so less alone, heard, seen and supported ❤️
@Curtis Rivers Thanks so much for letting me know it resonated! And sacred feminine is energy that both men and women can be connected with, so yay! It looks like we explore similar topics in our writing in terms of “reimagining, realigning, and reigniting our path to freedom, purpose, and authenticity” - love that from you bio!
Thanks @Jessie May ✨ Alchemy & Ash - part of my daily practice is in balancing those sacred energies, so very comfortable walking tall in both. 🥰. And yes, our work does seem very aligned! ✨
Hi Kay! Wow, I’m so curious what that was like for you and what you’re discovering on the other side. Have you written about this in any of your posts?
Jessie, I just started writing a few months ago. I have not gotten to the parts yet where I sold the business, and life on the other side. I really just started embracing my own voice, after all these years. This post kinda kicked it all off for me: https://stories.kaywalten.com/p/soul-searching-on-the-french-riviera
I will say there are days I flounder, but I remind myself when I started any new businesses in the past there were rudderless days as well. So I just keep trying. 😉
We have to let go FIRST, before the next thing is clear' — this is the part so many women fear most: if you release the thing your identity was built on before you have proof of what comes next, you'll be left with nothing. But the void you're describing isn't nothing — it's what gets to surface once the noise clears. Thank you for staying in it long enough to come back and tell us what was on the other side
Thanks @Dr. Amy Casey! Letting go before the next thing is clear is so scary. I think many of us want a plan and proof that the next thing will work out and when we can’t even see what the next thing is, it can be terrifying! Thanks for reading!
Thank you for sharing so openly. It can be so hard to let something go when you aren't sure what there is to grab onto on the other side. I've been there more times than I can count... pushing to find the thing to grab onto before letting go. And the truth is that what I was grabbing onto was often the wrong thing. The times I have truly let go of something and stepped into the void are when the magic happened. It is a good reminder for me right now actually. Thank you.
Thanks for bringing up the point about how it was usually the wrong thing when you were trying to find it before letting go. I think there’s a lot of truth to that because we’re reaching from a place of desperation to sooth our existential crisis rather than a of openness to the truth that wants to find us.
Lovely piece, Jessie! Really enjoyed learning more about you and your history through this one. I have a 15 year old private psychotherapy practice and am very peri - moving into serving women in new ways to support them doing deep inner work as they shed old stories and patterns as well 💗
Loved this! I walked away from an 8-year relationship in 2025. That was hard! But also freeing. Also in peri-meno, so I'm here for that. GREAT post - inspiring story. Can't wait to read more.
Jessie, “Copy. Paste. Save.” turns the Kajabi cleanup into a ritual of release, one file at a time. The essay carries the ache of seeing proof of fifteen faithful years while also hearing the old critic try to turn unfinished work into failure. Your perimenopause story widens into a larger truth about sunk cost, identity, and the courage required to let space arrive before clarity does. Thank you for giving such generous language to women who are releasing businesses, roles, dreams, or versions of themselves that once made sense and no longer carry life.
Interestingly, I am writing about a similar theme, potentially my next substack post: leaving my 10 year corporate career without a career plan. When you've built so much of your identity around your career, whether it's your own business or through a company, it is HARD to walk away without a plan. But you need the pause to start to see a vision for what's next first. I appreciate reading your example.
Thanks! I've written the theme before but am taking it from a different angle. I've been meaning to write this and am halfway there so I will finish it, a matter of if it's my next post or if I post a different topic first. Thanks for your encouragement!
Jessie, thank you for this. I don't have the perimenopause story, but I do have the "I invested years building something I loved and finally had to let it go" story. I spent nine years building programs I was incredibly proud of. Walking away felt like leaving a piece of myself behind. Reading this reminded me that sometimes staying costs more than leaving. I needed that reminder today.
Hi Tracy, thanks for sharing. It’s hard to let go. It’s especially hard to let go of things we created that represent parts of our lives and ourselves that we feel proud of. Wishing you all the best wherever your path is taking you now 💖
I feel like yes this is so common for women as they move into midlife. I share about this too, because no one has talked about it so we go into this, hold tight to the narrative we’ve been taught, feel ashamed, confused and broken when we can’t make it fit anymore. Because as women we aren’t gathering like we need to, we aren’t sharing the stories. I’m determined to share them so the next women know what to expect and perhaps are prepared far better than I was.
Keep sharing!!! And thank you for sharing in such a real vulnerable way.
We share such a similar vision and inspiration! I’m excited to be connected and follow your story. I hope you keep sharing too, we need to get our stories out into the light. 🫶
I really relate to what you shared here. I’m six years into my own purpose-driven business and in a slightly different version of that questioning right now—reevaluating what I want to create, how I want to earn a living, and whether those two things even need to come from the same place. I’ve been noticing how easily the financial pressure, brain fog and exhaustion can start stealing energy away from my creativity and vision, and I don’t want everything I feel called to create to immediately have to become something I sell.
I really liked what you wrote about letting go before you knew what was next. I think there’s so much pressure to have the next plan ready before we loosen our grip on the old one. Reading how much came alive for you once you actually gave yourself that space makes me want to hear more. Please keep writing about it.
I understand how financial pressure, brain fog and exhaustion can start stealing energy away from our creativity and vision. And I love how you're asking the question about if what you want to create and how you want to earn a living have to be the same thing. It's so embedded in the entrepreneurial space that we need to make money from what we love, and there's a lot about that messaging that I resonate with. But after being in the space for so many years, I do find myself more recently also asking the same questions.
It’s such an interesting place to be…in the question. I have no idea where I’ll land with it yet, but I’m kind of glad I’m not the only one asking it ❤️
Same!
Beautifully written and so so true. We all seem to go through the same emotions, similar circumstances and experience the void. The dark ages are some rough times and mind bending to navigate. Love the light attached. Feel you!
Thanks for your reflections Shelby. It’s so nice to find people here like you who get it!
Same to you my friend! It’s been such a great thing to find other women, writing from the raw and feeling all the same things here. Makes you feel so less alone, heard, seen and supported ❤️
This 👉🏽 The way I show up now is more rooted in Self energy and less driven by fear.
And this 👇🏽
But what I’ve discovered is that surrendering into the void, and sitting in the unknown is actually where the magic lives.
Thank you for sharing your journey.
Thanks @Kai Soremekun 🤸🏽♀️✊🏽 I’m so glad these parts resonated!
SO much of your post resonated with me @Jessie May ✨ Alchemy & Ash - which might come as a surprise with me being a guy! 🙈
What can I say, I’m in touch with my sacred feminine too. 😉
Thanks for a wonderful read, and for all you’re doing right now.
⭐️🙏🏼⭐️
@Curtis Rivers Thanks so much for letting me know it resonated! And sacred feminine is energy that both men and women can be connected with, so yay! It looks like we explore similar topics in our writing in terms of “reimagining, realigning, and reigniting our path to freedom, purpose, and authenticity” - love that from you bio!
Thanks @Jessie May ✨ Alchemy & Ash - part of my daily practice is in balancing those sacred energies, so very comfortable walking tall in both. 🥰. And yes, our work does seem very aligned! ✨
⭐️🙏🏼⭐️
I love that. Can’t wait to learn more from you!
Great article I can so relate. I walked away from a business I built after 23 years. And almost 7 years later I am still trying to find my way.
Hi Kay! Wow, I’m so curious what that was like for you and what you’re discovering on the other side. Have you written about this in any of your posts?
Jessie, I just started writing a few months ago. I have not gotten to the parts yet where I sold the business, and life on the other side. I really just started embracing my own voice, after all these years. This post kinda kicked it all off for me: https://stories.kaywalten.com/p/soul-searching-on-the-french-riviera
I will say there are days I flounder, but I remind myself when I started any new businesses in the past there were rudderless days as well. So I just keep trying. 😉
I love that you’re starting by embracing your own voice. That’s how I’m starting too and staying open and curious to where it leads me!
So many ties the journey is internal more than external. And sometimes its the internal bit that is the hardest.
We have to let go FIRST, before the next thing is clear' — this is the part so many women fear most: if you release the thing your identity was built on before you have proof of what comes next, you'll be left with nothing. But the void you're describing isn't nothing — it's what gets to surface once the noise clears. Thank you for staying in it long enough to come back and tell us what was on the other side
Thanks @Dr. Amy Casey! Letting go before the next thing is clear is so scary. I think many of us want a plan and proof that the next thing will work out and when we can’t even see what the next thing is, it can be terrifying! Thanks for reading!
Thank you for sharing so openly. It can be so hard to let something go when you aren't sure what there is to grab onto on the other side. I've been there more times than I can count... pushing to find the thing to grab onto before letting go. And the truth is that what I was grabbing onto was often the wrong thing. The times I have truly let go of something and stepped into the void are when the magic happened. It is a good reminder for me right now actually. Thank you.
Thanks for bringing up the point about how it was usually the wrong thing when you were trying to find it before letting go. I think there’s a lot of truth to that because we’re reaching from a place of desperation to sooth our existential crisis rather than a of openness to the truth that wants to find us.
Lovely piece, Jessie! Really enjoyed learning more about you and your history through this one. I have a 15 year old private psychotherapy practice and am very peri - moving into serving women in new ways to support them doing deep inner work as they shed old stories and patterns as well 💗
Thank you so much! I love that we’re both stepping into this space. I’m sure your many years as a therapist will serve you well! ❤️
Loved this! I walked away from an 8-year relationship in 2025. That was hard! But also freeing. Also in peri-meno, so I'm here for that. GREAT post - inspiring story. Can't wait to read more.
Ooof that sounds really hard and still fresh. And also FREEING! Yay! I can’t wait to see what you create in your emergence into what’s next. 💖
Jessie, “Copy. Paste. Save.” turns the Kajabi cleanup into a ritual of release, one file at a time. The essay carries the ache of seeing proof of fifteen faithful years while also hearing the old critic try to turn unfinished work into failure. Your perimenopause story widens into a larger truth about sunk cost, identity, and the courage required to let space arrive before clarity does. Thank you for giving such generous language to women who are releasing businesses, roles, dreams, or versions of themselves that once made sense and no longer carry life.
Thank you!
Interestingly, I am writing about a similar theme, potentially my next substack post: leaving my 10 year corporate career without a career plan. When you've built so much of your identity around your career, whether it's your own business or through a company, it is HARD to walk away without a plan. But you need the pause to start to see a vision for what's next first. I appreciate reading your example.
Rachael, oh how cool that we’re both writing about this! I hope you post it, I’d love to hear what that was like for you!
Thanks! I've written the theme before but am taking it from a different angle. I've been meaning to write this and am halfway there so I will finish it, a matter of if it's my next post or if I post a different topic first. Thanks for your encouragement!
Jessie, thank you for this. I don't have the perimenopause story, but I do have the "I invested years building something I loved and finally had to let it go" story. I spent nine years building programs I was incredibly proud of. Walking away felt like leaving a piece of myself behind. Reading this reminded me that sometimes staying costs more than leaving. I needed that reminder today.
Hi Tracy, thanks for sharing. It’s hard to let go. It’s especially hard to let go of things we created that represent parts of our lives and ourselves that we feel proud of. Wishing you all the best wherever your path is taking you now 💖