Loneliness has the same health impact as smoking many cigarettes a day. Not a typo. In this episode — the fourth in our SPACE framework series — Monique van Tulder makes the evidence-based case for why connection is as critical as sleep, nutrition, and movement. And why midlife is exactly the moment to stop letting it slide.

She talks about being an introvert masquerading as someone who loves people, why building your tribe now requires deliberate effort in a world that no longer provides it automatically, and what the Okinawan moai can teach us about ageing well. Healthy mid-life wellbeing. Plus — the architecture of connection, navigating family relationships that don't always fill your cup, and why your future self will thank you for making the call you've been putting off.

One action. One person. One date. That's it.

For women navigating the Sandwich Generation — and anyone who's been meaning to reach out but keeps waiting for things to calm down. Friends, they do make the world go round.

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription - Anti Guilt Calculator
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

What if midlife isn’t the beginning of the end, but the start of your 2nd act?
In this episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, Monique sits down with Michelle Parsonage, host of the Your 2nd Act podcast and community for women navigating mid-life change and reinvention. Michelle’s message is all about “the power and beauty of women in their middle years” and the real stories of what happens when women pause, get curious and choose what’s next.

Together they talk about what it’s really like to be the capable one who copes – running the domestic corporation, holding the mental load, doing all the invisible work – and then suddenly find yourself asking, *“What now? What about me?”*

You’ll hear:

• how Michelle knew she was ready for her own 2nd act – and why she started a podcast in her 50s
• why everyday women’s stories are such powerful fuel for courage and change
• the difference between blowing everything up and making small, brave moves in your actual life
• practical ways to create space for your own next chapter when you’re still busy and needed

This isn’t about becoming a different person. It’s about living a little louder as the woman you already are – with more agency, more curiosity, and a 2nd act that actually feels like yours.

Episode Resources:

YOUR 2ND ACT: INSTAGRAM

Events & Website: joamor.com

Additional Resources:

Your SPACE Prescription - Anti Guilt Calculator
Free Weekly Newsletter
Dear Blokes Downloadable
Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

You've made the plan. You can feel what you're chasing. But you still can't quite see the shape of what comes next - and that fog is exactly what's keeping you stuck.

This episode is about closing the gap between knowing and doing - and why the clarity you're waiting for won't arrive until you actually start moving.

In this episode, Monique van Tulder walks you through the ACT stage of the SPACE roadmap - the part where you stop waiting for the perfect moment (spoiler: it doesn't exist) and start designing your next act in real life.

You'll discover:

• Why action creates clarity - not the other way around
• The Atomic Habits framework that makes new habits stupidly easy to stick
• Why your 15-minute walk is more powerful than a ten-step plan
• The "running away from home account" trick that one listener used to fund her airfare
• Why "I'm too old" is the most expensive story you're telling yourself
• How to stop living passively and start living actively - even in small ways

Plus: the "Dear Blokes" segment - what to say to your partner when you're suddenly just... doing things.

Clarity doesn't come before action. It comes because of it. And your next act is not a someday dream. It's a decision you're making today.

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

Have you ever had a head full of ideas about what comes next, and absolutely no idea how to turn any of them into something visible?

Last week we introduced our P is for PLAN episode — treating yourself like a project worth designing, and getting clear on feelings before actions. This week I wanted to bring you someone who has made it her life's work to help women do exactly that, out loud, visibly, and on their own terms. Own Your Lane!

My guest today is Michelle B. Griffin, a personal brand and visibility strategist who works with smart humans who know they're ready for a next chapter but don't want another cookie-cutter "build your brand in 7 days" plan. She helps people turn the fog in their head into something clear on paper, and then into small, visible steps in real life. What I love about Michelle is that she's lived this herself. She's had her own "what am I doing with this next bit of life?" moment, and she's done the sometimes very unglamorous work of changing it.

In this episode we talk personal brand, LinkedIn, owning your lane, and what it really means to make yourself visible on your own terms. And the big takeaway? Clarity doesn't come before you start. It comes because you start.

Michelle is also a contributor to A Grown Up's Gap Year and a friend, proof that meaningful connections made later in life, across continents and entirely online, can genuinely change everything.

You'll find Michelle's brilliant thinking across two podcasts; 'Own Your Lane™' and 'The LinkedIn® Branding Show' . All in the show notes.

So if you've ever thought, "I don't need another vision board; I need a plan that fits my actual life", this conversation is for you.

Episode Resources:

• Michelle's website: michellebgriffin.com
• Michelle's Book: Position Yourself
• Podcasts: Own Your Lane & The LinkedIn Branding Show

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

If you've cleared the decks, simplified your life, and still have no clue what comes next - this episode is for you.

Most planning advice gets it wrong. It starts with "what do you want to DO?" - jobs, trips, projects, hobbies. But that's putting the cart before the horse.

The better question? How do you want to FEEL?

In this episode, Monique van Tulder walks you through the PLAN stage of the SPACE framework - the essential Winter work that most women skip in their rush to get to the good bit.

You'll discover:

• Why planning is an act of self-respect, not control
• How to identify the three feelings that will shape your next chapter
• Why one picture on your mirror is more powerful than a ten-step plan
• The Dolly Parton quote that will change, how you think about change
• How to write your own version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

Plus: the "Dear Blokes" segment - what to say to your partner when you're suddenly talking about "purpose" and "your next act."

This is Winter work. Foundation work. The kind that doesn't look flashy but makes everything else possible.

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

Overwhelmed and Over It: How to Simplify One Part of Your Life This Week ...so there’s more time for what you actually want to do.

In this solo episode of *A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, author and health and wellbeing professional Monique van Tulder brings an evidence-based wellbeing lens to real life: mid-life, mental load, the domestic corporation, and that nagging thought that everyone else has hobbies and you have logistics. Space, she argues, is a legitimate prescription – sometimes in another country, often in your own postcode.

This is the first in the S.P.A.C.E series Season, where Monique walks you through her simple roadmap: Simplify, Plan, Act, Connect, Explore. Today is S = Simplify – not as in outer space, or moving to a monastery or throwing your life in a skip, but deliberately removing what no longer fits so you can move through your days with more ease and less resentment.

Along the way, Monique reads from A Grown Up’s Gap Year on why decluttering isn’t cosmetic, talks frankly about running a domestic corporation on top of a day job, and offers a “Dear Blokes” fridge-note for the men who are wondering why the woman they love is suddenly talking about space and simplifying.

No personality transplant. No beige minimalism. Just less noise, more breathing room, and one part of your life that finally starts to feel like it belongs to you.

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription - Anti Guilt Calculator
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

Today we’re talking about something that doesn’t get nearly enough airtime: life after menopause. Not the hot flush headlines, not the “is this peri?” panic – but what comes once the immediate hormone storm has settled and you’re looking at your 50s, 60s and beyond thinking: Right. What now? And how do I stay well enough to actually enjoy it?

In this episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, Monique is joined by Dr Joanna Bruce, GP and practice owner of Myma Health in Bondi Junction. Dr. Jo has been a doctor for almost 30 years, a GP for almost 20, and now spends much of her time seeing women exactly like us – post-menopause, carrying a lot, and wanting to feel well, strong and supported in the next bit of life.

Together they explore:

• what Dr Jo wants a woman to know when she’s been told she’s “through it” but still doesn’t feel herself
• the key health pillars for the 10–20 years after menopause – bone, heart, brain, muscle, pelvic floor
• where HRT might sit in the longer-term picture, not just for symptom relief but for future health
• what not to dismiss as “just getting older”
• how to tune out the noisy supplement and “meno-washing” market (and what actually is worth spending money on)
• how to have better, less rushed conversations with your GP or specialist about this phase, including what to bring to appointments and what to ask

You’ll also hear them talk about travel and time-out – what to think about if you’re planning your version of A Grown Up's Gap Year and want your body to keep up.

This conversation is general in nature – it’s not personal medical advice or a substitute for seeing your own doctor – but it is designed to help you ask better questions and feel more informed when you do.

No scare tactics, no miracle fixes. Just clear, evidence-based guidance on how to feel strong, supported and well in the decades after menopause, so the next act of your life.

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram

If you’re the one who remembers everyone’s everything – the logistics, the appointments, the emotions – but can’t remember the last time you had proper time-out, this episode is for you. In this Season Three opener of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, Monique talks about the mental load, invisible labour and unpaid work so many women carry, and introduces The Anti-Guilt Calculator – your SPACE Prescription to finally see what you do, name what it costs, and carve out real space and time-out without apology.

In this episode you’ll:

• Turn the mental load into a visible “receipt for services rendered” you can see, share and use as a starting point for change.
• Use SPACE (Simplify, Plan, Act, Connect, Explore) as a practical, repeatable way to protect time-out in your actual week.
• Try a 10-minute writing exercise to sketch your next season of life and design one realistic “toe-in-the-water” escape.

Additional Resources:

• Your SPACE Prescription - Anti Guilt Calculator
• Free Weekly Newsletter
• Dear Blokes Downloadable
• Setting Boundaries That Stick - checklist
• 52 Ideas for YOUR Version of A Grown Up's Gap Year

📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year.

• Monique's LinkedIn
• Monique's Instagram