Caregiving isn’t a character test—it’s a terrain stressor. The cognitive, emotional, and metabolic load of sustained caregiving hits midlife women hardest, when hormonal shifts have already narrowed the margin for error. This isn’t about trying harder. It’s about harm reduction until the load shifts.
Why does normal feel so wrong? Because systems export their incoherence into human bodies — and the nervous system is left holding the difference.
“Know, like, trust” is a marketing tactic—not how you choose a practitioner who actually understands your midlife physiology.
Self-care was sold as recovery. Sovereignty is the body remembering its authority. Dr. Jen on the physiology of command and the end of performative wellness.
Instead of thinking of it as a breakdown, think of midlife as a portal—a transformative passage where your body, mind, and spirit recalibrate.
Midlife decline isn’t destiny. It’s a reckoning—your body’s signals demanding recalibration, not collapse.