My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani

When there's a fire, you can do one of three things: run away, stand and watch, or run toward the flames. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has spent her career running toward the flames. Most recently, she went to Washington to ask President Trump for aid after an historic ice storm hit northern Michigan – and ended up, as The New York Times put it, “an unwilling participant in his unending reality show.” But she did it because the people of Michigan needed her to stay and get the help they needed. Reshma also asks the Governor about getting called “that woman from Michigan,” her decision to share that she was sexually assaulted in college, navigating a divorce, and if she has any plans for 2026 when her term is up.

Follow Governor Whitmer on Instagram @truegretchwhitmer and on X @truegretch. Check out her book, True Gretch, which also has a YA edition.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram. 

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thasunda Brown Duckett was trying to do it all – be a mom, a wife, and a high-powered CEO – when it hit her: work-life balance is a lie. The President and CEO of TIAA tells Reshma how this realization helped her prioritize the myriad things fighting for her time and caused her to become a more present mom to her four children. Thasunda also tells Reshma that she’s learned to live her life knowing that you rent your title but you own your values. Plus, Thasunda offers some accessible financial advice for women in midlife and convinces Reshma to start a Midlife Money group chat with her girlfriends. 

Follow Thasunda Brown Duckett on Instagram @thasunda.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram. 

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you don’t understand what’s happening to your body during menopause, you’re not alone! Dr. Mary Claire Haver is a Certified Menopause Practitioner and joins Reshma to answer all her questions about what the heck is going on with her body during midlife. They tackle everything from sleep issues, weight gain, depression and anxiety, nutrition, frequent urination – nothing is off-limits in this incredible conversation!

Follow Dr. Mary Claire Haver on Instagram @drmaryclaire.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram. 

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special episode, Reshma joins two of the world’s leading voices on happiness and beloved podcast hosts Gretchen Rubin (Happier with Gretchen Rubin) and Laurie Santos (The Happiness Lab) for a candid, thought-provoking roundtable on the power of friendship. They dive into how our friendships shift as we grow, the right way to handle conflict, and why forming new connections in adulthood can feel daunting — plus, real strategies for making it easier.

Resources & Links Related to this episode:

• Four Tendencies Quiz

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tamron Hall looks like the very definition of success. She’s an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, author, wife, and mother. But all of that happened after she was fired from co-hosting The Today Show’s third hour. She and Reshma share their biggest failures … and why they’re so grateful for them. They discuss the lessons they learned from life’s defeats, including the benefit of throwing yourself a little pity party. Look, we all lose. But Tamron has learned how to still win in the loss, and wants you to be able to do the same.

Follow Tamron on Instagram @tamronhall.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram. 

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phoebe Robinson is known for making us laugh. Whether it’s through her standup, her books, her acting, or her podcasts she is writing award-winning jokes about some of life’s universally awkward moments. But now that she’s officially joined the 40’s club, Phoebe is…running. She’s running marathons. She and Reshma talk about how running becomes a metaphor for life. It teaches you that you can’t give up when it gets hard, how to deal with rejection, and that tuning into what you need always serves you in the long run. 

Follow Phoebe on Instagram @dopequeenpheebs.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram. 

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve got something special for you this week. We previously had economist, professor, and author Emily Oster on the show, where she shared her invaluable insights on parenting, pregnancy, and motherhood. We loved the conversation so much that we wanted to introduce you to her own podcast, Raising Parents.

When Emily was a kid in the 1980s in New Haven, Connecticut, she grew up on a block with a lot of other children. Every day after dinner, around 6:30, everyone emptied out of their houses and went down to the church parking lot where they engaged in all kinds of unsupervised activities—throwing balls at each other in front of the church wall, climbing up trees and sometimes falling out of them, riding Hot Wheels until people skinned their knees. There was street hockey and there were scrapes. There were a few broken arms. 

That experience of playing outside unsupervised in the dark—or walking a mile home from school in kindergarten—is very different from her own children’s experiences, even though they’re growing up in a very similar environment, with very similar parents. They aren’t leaving the house every day after dinner. If Emily had suggested that they walk home from school in kindergarten, even though it’s only a couple of blocks, there’s no chance that would have been met with the school’s acceptance.

Since 1955, there has been a continuous decline in children’s opportunities to engage in free play, away from adult intervention and control. In 1969, 47 percent of kids walked or biked to school, whereas in 2009 that number had plummeted to 12 percent.

How did we get here? What are the consequences of hypervigilant parenting? On kids’ happiness? On their well-being? Their mental health? And on their ability to grow into independent, self-sufficient, and successful adults? And, maybe most importantly, how can we alter this trajectory before it’s too late?

***

Resources from this episode:

• Timothy Carney: Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be (Bookshop))
• Jonathan Haidt: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Bookshop)
• Lenore Skenazy: Free-Range Kids: How Parents and Teachers Can Let Go and Let Grow (Bookshop)
• Let Grow 
• Free Range Kids
• Jonathan Haidt in The FP https://www.thefp.com/t/jonathan-haidt 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does it seem like everyone around you is microdosing, or is at least talking about it? Reshma had a lot of questions about psychedelics, so she called up psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist Dr. Julie Holland, one of the leading voices in the field of psychedelics and mental health. Reshma and Julie dive deep into the hard science and real data behind psychedelics and discuss how these tools can be used to unlock profound healing. Plus, they get into the specific reasons why midlife may be the ideal time to unpack trauma with psychedelics.  

Follow Dr. Holland @juliehollandmd on Instagram.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram. 

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chelsea Handler has made a career of saying exactly what’s on her mind. And the comedian and actor has compiled a lot of her frank thoughts in her latest book, “I’ll Have What She’s Having,” which came out yesterday — her 50th birthday. Chelsea tells Reshma about balancing her vanity with the realities of aging, being grateful to Jane Fonda for calling out her bad behavior, the positives of being child-free, and why she finally decided to address her anger with therapy in her 40s. Then, Reshma calls up her personal therapist Dr. Malika Bhowmik to dive more into the anger so many people in midlife are feeling. She offers tips and tricks to validate our anger, stop gaslighting ourselves, and eventually, move through our feelings.

Follow Chelsea at @chelseahandler on Instagram and check out her new book, I’ll Have What She’s Having. 

Follow Dr. Malika Bhowmik on Instagram.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram. 

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Actor Richa Moorjani says she’s had chronic pain much of her life, but it got really bad in her 30s. She tells Reshma how she’s learned to prioritize self-care and why she finds that talking about it publicly has been healing. Plus, they talk about Richa’s acting career, including the importance of representation in media and the reason Richa almost didn’t audition for what became her breakthrough role in “Never Have I Ever.”

Follow Richa at @richamoorjani on Instagram. 

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Given everything happening in the world right now, it's important to remember there are people fighting for what's right. To that end, we wanted to revisit Reshma's conversation with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who knew she wanted to sit on the high court since she was a little girl. Now in her midlife, she’s made that dream come true – and she’s the first Black woman to do so. Reshma talks with her friend Justice Jackson about how to stay present while balancing it all: the kids, the marriage and the highest of high-pressure jobs. Literally, if she can manage to do it – it gives us all hope. Plus, we hear about her new love of boxing, why it’s OK to sometimes say no, and how gospel music keeps her going throughout the day.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If saving and investing money isn’t a top priority in your life, you’re not alone. The AARP reports that over half of Americans over 50 are worried they won’t have enough money to support themselves in retirement. Noah Kerner created Acorns to help people gain control over their financial future. Noah and Reshma discuss how our relationship with money changes and evolves as we get older, the biggest financial hurdle Noah sees people having to overcome in midlife, and how to save money if you really don’t have much to spare. 

Head to acorns.com/midlife or download the Acorns app to get started.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Kelly Casperson — a urologist, sex educator, and host of a hit podcast — wants you to have great sex. And she knows you probably aren’t. A lot of that, she says, is because most of what we think we know about sex — especially in midlife — is flat-out wrong! She and Reshma get to the bottom of some fundamentals around libido, desire, and hormones, and also give you some tips on how to improve your sex life. 

Follow Kelly at @kellycaspersonmd on Instagram. Check out her book and podcast You Are Not Broken.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 41, Mel Robbins was at her rock bottom when a rocket launch changed the trajectory of her life. Mel tells Reshma how she got herself unstuck and began the work that would lead to becoming a #1 New York Times bestselling author and podcast juggernaut. Mel puts her “Let Them” theory into practice for Reshma, with examples from Reshma’s relationships with her mother and her friends. Plus, Mel shares what she’s still working on in her own midlife.

Follow Mel at @melrobbins on Instagram. Check out her latest book, The Let Them Theory. 

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sahaj Kaur Kohli is going on her fourth father-daughter trip soon – something that she could never have imagined 10 years ago. And it’s something that Reshma definitely can’t imagine with her own father. Both daughters to immigrant parents, Reshma and Sahaj talk about how their unique upbringing has informed their senses of self. But Sahaj’s work as a therapist, journalist, and founder of Brown Girl Therapy isn’t limited to adult children of immigrants. She gives Reshma tools for setting boundaries, breaking generational cycles, and rebuilding adult relationships with our parents – things we can all use in our midlife. 

Follow Sahaj at @BrownGirlTherapy. Check out her book, But What Will People Say?  here.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Classicist Mary Beard is the author of Women & Power: A Manifesto and has a cult following because she doesn't fit any kind of mold. She definitely speaks up, and she says whatever she thinks whenever she wants. But it wasn't always like that. In this episode, she talks to Reshma about how she had writer's block for most of her 20s and 30s. It wasn’t until midlife that she figured out how to write in a way that resonated with women. In her manifesto, Mary uncovers the ancient roots of misogyny in the Western world. Basically, she points out the first historical record of a man telling a woman to shut up, and in light of the 2024 election, this is the conversation we need to put it all into perspective. 

You can follow Mary Beard on Instagram @wmarybeard.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bozoma Saint John is the newest cast member of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and she has a take-no-shit approach to life that will motivate you to demand everything you deserve. After working in executive marketing positions for companies like Uber, Netflix, Apple and Pepsi, Boz decided to leave corporate America and do things her own way. She had experienced so much loss in her life that she didn’t want to take a single day for granted. She lost her first daughter after a tough pregnancy, and her husband died of cancer. But Boz is not only working through it, she's talking about it. In this episode, she talks with Reshma about her life as a corporate girlie, the conversations she had with Housewives producers and what we can all learn from her book “The Urgent Life.”

Follow Bozomo Saint John on Instagram @badassboz. Her book is called The Urgent Life and her Wig and Hair Care company is called Eve by Boz.

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Famed activist, journalist, and feminist Gloria Steinem knows how to regroup after a loss. Just like the rest of us, she’s gearing up to live through a second Trump presidency.  At 94 years old, she’s here to remind us that our community – friends, family, chosen family – is our power and our medicine. Gloria talks about how her home has become a sanctuary, and why she opens it up to women of all different backgrounds to exchange stories and ideas. Plus, Reshma reflects on a tough year, she shares her New Year's resolution and the goal-setting tradition she does with her husband.

Follow Gloria Steinem on Instagram @gloriasteinem

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For actress, comedian and singer Margaret Cho, being 50 is hot. And she’s here to tell us how we can all feel the same way. Not only is she taking better care of herself these days but she’s also tapping into her goddess energy. So much so that people are paying attention! And she says she owes a lot of this midlife energy to menopause. With hormones no longer ruling her life, she is free to be who she wants to be. She tells us how that evolution happened. Plus, the rituals she does to honor her age, what she's addressing in her new stand-up special Live and Livid and what we can all do to make daily meditation work for us.

Follow Margaret Cho on Instagram @margaret_cho

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ilana Glazer is all grown up! You might know them from their spunky stoner bestie role in Broad City. But now, they’re a mom, and they’re determined to show us what it's really like to be a pregnant person. We're talking about the funny, messy, and totally insane parts of growing a human that no one talks about. Illana talks to Reshma about getting the funding for their film Babes and what it was like going on tour for their newest comedy special, Human Magic. Plus, why they’re so pumped about midlife, how they shut off her work brain, and why pregnancy led them to come out as nonbinary.

Follow Ilana Glazer on Instagram @ilana https://www.instagram.com/ilana/?hl=en

You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en

Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. 

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.