Episode #061 A Christmas Message from Kate Porter

Wishing you a Christmas Day as fabulous as you! Thank you for being part of Midlife Unlimited - because without you there would be no Midlife Unlimited.

Together there's no limit to what we can achieve. 

Transcript

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Welcome to Midlife Unlimited, the podcast for women who want more. I'm your host, Kate Porter, the Midlife Metamorphosis Coach, and I know what it's like to feel stuck navigating the midlife maze. I've looked in the mirror and thought, who is that woman? So Midlife Unlimited is here to let you know you are not alone. You don't have to put on a brave face and put up with it. You don't have to play it safe. Midlife Unlimited is all about ripping off that mask and telling midlife how it really is. Nothing is off limits because together there's no limit to what we can achieve. So, welcome to today's episode and Merry Christmas, because I'm talking to you this Christmas morning here in slightly overcast Buckinghamshire. I'm looking forward to heading up to my favourite place around here, which is the Duck Pond. And it's about 10 minutes' walk from my house. We talked about traditions shifting over time as the kids grow and move out. And as I as you all know, my boy, my not-so-little boy, moved out a few months ago to London to live with his wonderful girlfriend, and it's been tough, you know, empty nesting. I did it twice with him. First time when he went to university, and then he was home for his year in industry, and then back again for his final year, and then home for a bit while he started working, and then off they went. Anyway, I digress. My favourite place around here is the duck pond. I've done posts from there, it's perfect for a piece of me time. But on Christmas morning, one tradition that I'm delighted I've been able to uphold, and long may it last. Who knows? In the future, when the grandkids come over, we can go up as well. Finley and I, that's my boy, we go up to um the duck pond, and we've got our favourite bench there, and we sit there and we can normally get there just before eight o'clock in the morning, armed with a mince pie and a coffee, or a hot chocolate, maybe in his case, and we watch, well, I say we watch the sunrise. We don't always watch the sunrise because more often than not it's overcast. But we sit there, we have a chat, we put the world to right, we set up our plans for the day, and we're lucky that um grandad stroke dad is obviously one of the first ports of call. So Christmas morning, once we get back from our duck pond sunrise, we uh stock up with uh presents, including Finlay's stocking, that nowadays he he paces himself, so we tend to go to grandads to open that, and uh and then it's back home for a small but perfectly formed or not per imperfectly perfectly formed Christmas Day where uh we just take it at our own pace, we take it at our own pace, and uh this pace can last quite a while because our presents, it's my partner Scott's family tradition that presents should have a um clue on them, and the rule of the game is that uh until you solve the clue, you can't open the present, and these clues have been well, especially in my drinking days, could be rather cryptic. Um and my uh mother-in-law has even been known in to put the wrong clues on the wrong presents, which was even more fun. But now I'm all about breaking the rules as well. So if if it's dragging on too long, or if the clues are just slightly random, not through drinking, probably through to brain fog on my part, uh clues may be given, and uh that's close enough has been said. Uh, but I was thinking as well about my word for the year, what what's it been? And flourish is obviously one of my favourite words. My sign off here is always here's to being fabulous and flourishing together. But another of my favourite words, it's four letters and it's not rude, it's more. Now, this won't come as a surprise to some of you because that's the name of my group programme, but I say again the tagline for Midlife Unlimited is for women who want more. More what? I get asked sometimes. More of whatever lights us up. The flip side of I want less of this, and we don't always know specifically what we want more of, but we don't want to be sitting there surrounded in should thinking I just don't want this anymore. So obviously the end of the year, winding down, it can be a bittersweet time, it can be a really poignant time. I'm not a fan of New Year's Eve at all, and I'm definitely not a fan of New Year's resolutions as forthcoming episodes will tackle. And if you want a little taste, go and check out um last year's uh Boxing Day episode with the wonderful Carrie Frost, where we go digging deep into why we don't think New Year's resolutions work and why New Year's Me Solutions, as I like to call them, do. But I digress. Back to today, Christmas Day. Now, however you're spending it, you might be buzzing with excitement, you might be dreading it, you might be on your own for the first time in a long time for a myriad of reasons. So I just thought today I'd pop on, send you huge hugs, send you good wishes, peaceful wishes for a 24 hours that you can get through on your terms, whether that means curling up under a big fluffy blanket and just taking some time out, or having a glass of bubbly and laughing till your sides ate with loved ones, because I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ditch the shoulds. Stop trying to be the perfect person. Stop well, if you enjoy being the hostess with the most test, fair enough, enjoy it, but don't be stuck in the kitchen hearing the laughter in the other room and wishing you were part of it, because I don't do regrets and I don't want you to either. So thank you this Christmas morning for being part of Midlife Unlimited. Over a year now. So excited about that, and this is just the beginning. If you fancy joining me as a guest, you know where I am. Come and check out the website or get in touch with me through the links in the show notes. Um, and spread the word. Give me a little gift, go and get other people to listen to it as well. Sign up to or subscribe to the YouTube channel as well at Midlife Unlimited where there are gosh getting on for 60 now um video podcasts, and obviously last week's episode was um episode 60. 60, oh my goodness, with the wonderful Rachel. So yeah, if you've taken some me time over the festive period, go and check out the back catalogue. And uh, I've got so literally I'm planned into February already, so 2026 is looking pretty epic. Um, but I'd love you to let's have a chat and come and join me as well. And maybe if you know someone who'd like to sponsor Midlife Unlimited, that would be rather fabulous as well. So as I say, come and get in touch, leave a comment, leave reviews, um, but above all, just be part of the Midlife Unlimited community because it means the world to me, and without you, there'd be no midlife unlimited. So, as I say every time, here's to being fabulous and flourishing together, and to living midlife unlimited. Merry Christmas. Look forward to tuning in. Well, I'll say happy new year because the next episode comes out on the 1st of January 2026. Oh my goodness, where the wonderful Kath Cheng will be my guest. So I'll say it again. Here's to Living Midlife Unlimited. It's fabulous having you in my world, and it's my privilege to be talking to you in yours. Take care. Lots of love. Merry Christmas. Bye bye.