Is This All There Is? Welcome to Millennial Midlife

September 18, 2025 - Season 2, Episode 1

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Is This All There Is? Welcome to Millennial Midlife

Have you ever sat down at the end of the day, looked around at your career, family, house—the life you worked so hard to build—and thought: Why doesn’t this feel better?

Do you ever feel guilty for not being more grateful? You look at everything you’ve achieved and think, Who am I to complain? Or maybe you’ve asked yourself quietly (or loudly): Is this all there is?

If so, you’re not broken, and you’re not alone. These thoughts are the heartbeat of Millennial Midlife—a podcast for high-achieving millennial women navigating the messy middle of life.

Why Do High-Achieving Millennial Women Feel Burned Out?

I know these thoughts well because they were my thoughts, too.

I grew up believing that perfection was the only way to be worthy. So I followed all the rules: I got the good grades, went to the right schools, landed the big job, rented the apartment people envied.

On the outside, I looked like I had it all. But on the inside? I felt mostly empty.

Sure, there were occasional dopamine boosts from wine, shopping, vacations, or scrolling on social media. But deep down I kept thinking: This can’t be it, can it?

And then the guilt would hit: Who do you think you are to complain? Look at how good you have it.

That cycle—resentment, shame, more achieving—felt endless. Like climbing a mountain only to realize it wasn’t the right one.

The Invisible Struggles of Midlife Women

For a long time, I thought I was the only one who felt this way. But through conversations with friends and clients, I realized how common it is—especially among millennial women in midlife.

We checked all the boxes, hustled our way “there,” and discovered it doesn’t feel the way we thought it would.

This isn’t just about midlife in your 40s. I felt it in my late 20s, and I hear it from women in their 30s, 50s, and 60s. It’s about the middle of life—the place where you wake up and realize you don’t fully feel like yourself in your own life.

We’ve been everything to everyone else, and in the process, we’ve lost touch with ourselves. We’ve lost the ability to rest, to have fun, to even know what we want.

But here’s the truth: this doesn’t happen because we’re broken. It happens because we’re conditioned. Our nervous system, our brain, our culture—all taught us to perform, please, and perfect.

The good news? That conditioning can be rewired. We can choose a new way of being.

How to Shift From Burnout to Calm and Clarity

What finally changed everything for me was realizing that happiness, peace, and self-trust don’t come from external validation. They can’t be bought, awarded, or achieved.

They have to be practiced—and they come from within.

This work isn’t glamorous or instant. But it is possible. And when you start working with your brain and nervous system (instead of against them), life feels profoundly different.

That’s why I created Millennial Midlife. Because I believe millennial women are the bridge. We are the ones who get to stop burning out and start leading with compassion, presence, and grounded clarity.

We’re entering middle age. We’re the leaders now. And we get to make new rules—for ourselves and for the generations that follow.

What You’ll Learn on Millennial Midlife

Think of this podcast (and this blog) as an honest, up-leveled conversation with a girlfriend—somewhere between therapy and coaching.

You’ll find:

Science-backed tools for nervous system regulation and mindset shifts
Somatic practices and journaling prompts to help you reconnect with yourself
Stories and coaching that normalize burnout, anxiety, and overwhelm—while pointing toward calm and clarity
Guest conversations that make the invisible struggles of midlife visible

Each episode will leave you with one practical takeaway—something you can use right away in your beautifully messy, real life.

Finding Calm, Clarity, and Self-Trust in Midlife

If you’ve ever asked, Is this all there is? The answer is no.

There is so much more—more calm, more clarity, more joy, more presence. Together, we can name the invisible pressures of midlife, normalize the feelings of burnout and disconnection, and navigate toward a life that feels aligned, grounded, and whole.

Welcome to Millennial Midlife. I’m so glad you’re here.

Topics:

Why so many high-achieving millennial women feel burned out, disconnected, and wondering “Is this all there is?” even after checking all the boxes.
Cecelia’s story of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and success that looked great on the outside but left her feeling empty inside.
How nervous system regulation, mindset shifts, and self-trust can help you move from burnout and overwhelm to calm, clarity, and alignment in midlife.

Episode Resources:

Click here for a raw, unedited episode transcript

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (00:24.396)

Let me ask you this, have you ever sat down at the end of a day, looked around at your life, the career, the family, the house, and thought, why doesn’t this feel better? Do you ever feel guilty for not being more grateful because you look around at all you have and all you’ve done and think, who am I to complain? Have you ever wondered quietly or perhaps loudly to yourself, is this all there is? Do you ever feel trapped in endless obligations and expectations thinking, where am I in all of this?

And have you ever looked around and thought, I’m where I hustled to, and it doesn’t feel like I thought it would. Where exactly, when exactly do I get to enjoy life? If you’ve ever felt that way, you’re not broken, you’re not alone, and this podcast and this episode are for you. I know these thoughts very well because they were and sometimes still are my thoughts. I grew up believing that perfection was the only way to be worthy, so I checked all the boxes. I thought I needed…

I needed to check, right? All the rules. I followed all of them. I got good grades. I went to the right schools. I got the big job. I got the apartment people envied. I got to the proverbial there a few times. And on the outside, it looked like I had it all. And it looked like I had it all together. But on the inside, I felt mostly empty. The occasional boost from wine shopping or vacation fuel dopamine or, you know, the daily social scroll. I remember thinking a lot, this can’t be it, can it?

This isn’t all there is, followed by an immediate, who do you think you are to complain? Look at how good you have it. I felt really trapped in that cycle of discontent and then shaming myself for feeling discontent and trying to check more boxes to feel good again. It felt a little bit like I was climbing a mountain. I would reach the top and realize this maybe wasn’t the right mountain because I didn’t feel like I was supposed to feel, and then I would doubt myself. I’d think maybe something was wrong with me.

This is what I’m supposed to want, right? Maybe I didn’t follow the directions or maybe I just needed to double down and get another promotion or another win before happiness and contentment finally arrived. Because while I felt like I’d made it, or it looked like I’d made it, it sure didn’t feel like it on the inside. So for a long time, I thought I was the only one who felt this way, but I wasn’t and I’m not. And if you feel this way too, neither are you. Okay, so my story is not honestly very dramatic or unusual.

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (02:47.352)

think it’s actually pretty mundane and it’s pretty common. And I only realized this after talking with people and working with people. I realized how common that feeling of dissatisfaction is and how the feeling of and how feeling alone or how alone we can feel in that dissatisfaction. Because so many of us checked all the boxes we saw them, we tried to get there. And then we got there and it didn’t feel very good. So for me, this cycle went on for a while.

as it does in life, right? You’ve probably been there too if you’re listening to this and you’re any place in the middle of life, right? From your 20s to your 60s. And eventually I realized that something, I’ve realized something that changes everything. That happiness, peace, and a grounded sense of self don’t live outside of me. They can’t be handed to me. I couldn’t buy them. They couldn’t be awarded to me. It was from no external validation. They had to be practiced and they had to come from within.

Now, this is not a new concept, right? There are whole traditions built around this idea. I even had read a lot of books explaining this, but it was new to me because I finally knew it in my life. It was no longer an intellectual concept. It was something that I really knew deep in my bones that actually what I wanted and how I wanted to feel couldn’t come from outside of me. I had to create them myself. So when I saw that, I really knew it within me.

I also saw how much of my life had been shaped by stories I didn’t even choose. So stories about success and what goodness is for my family, for my culture, from society, even endless scrolling on social media and what they told me I was supposed to have and want. Stories about who I was supposed to be, what I should look like, how I should show up, what a good life looks like. And if you’re still listening, I’m guessing you’ve had those too, right? You have these stories from people and places around you about how you’re supposed to be.

I also had this idea and I’m guessing you also probably have this idea that if I fulfilled those roles, I would feel happy, content and satisfied. I would feel accomplished. I would have a good life and I would feel good in it. And honestly, I think this is what the middle of life crisis is all about. I say middle of life because mine happened at the end of my 20s and I work with women from their 20s to their 60s. So it’s not that it’s just in the midlife, right? It’s the whole middle part of life.

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (05:08.416)

And this crisis, think, is about recognizing that we don’t feel like us in our own lives. We are everything to everyone, and yet we no show on ourselves over and over again. Often we get to a place where we no longer know ourselves or know what we want or know how to have fun or even rest, right? We feel like we try and lie down on the couch and just do nothing and our brain starts rolling with everything that we haven’t accomplished or everything we need to do and we feel like we have to jump up and do it.

And then we procrastinate doing those things too. And we get to this place not because we’re broken or because we did a really

We don’t get to this place because we’re broken. We get to this place because we actually do a really good job of becoming conditioned. Your human brain did exactly what it is trained to do, which is to absorb ideas and make inferences to help you survive. The really amazing news for me and also for you is that you can actually break free from this conditioning. And honestly, life might not look that different on the other side of this, but it feels really different.

breaking free from this condition. Sometimes it’s messy conditioning. Sometimes it’s messy. It’s not often very glamorous and it’s usually not very quick, but it works. And that’s why I created this podcast because I know so many women are waking up saying, I wish life felt different. I wish I felt different. When does it change? When do I get to feel free, happy and love with life? When do I actually get to feel okay with myself? That’s why I started Millennial Midlife.

because I actually believe that our generation is a bridge, the millennials. And I know that there are people who are older than millennials and younger than millennials listening, and I’m so happy to have you here. But I think the work that we are doing, women in the middle part of life, we’re the ones who get to stop doing it the old way, burning out, proving, striving, and start creating a new way, leading with compassion, presence, and wholeness. And like it or not,

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (07:05.198)

Most of us millennials are entering middle age. turned 40 last year. I’m turning 41 just before this podcast relaunches. But we’re the leaders now and we’re making the rules for ourselves in the next generation. And let’s make them intentionally, right? And to make them intentionally, first we have to figure out the rules that we have in our own brains. We have to learn and practice compassion, presence, grounded confidence so that we can steer our own boats and then we can steer the entire big boat around.

right? Degree by degree. So yes, we’re the DIY generation, but here’s the truth, you don’t have to do this alone. There are skills, there are tools, there are practices. I’ve learned them, I teach them, and they’ve changed my life, and they’ve changed my clients’ lives, and they can change yours too. So here’s what you’re going to find in this podcast. Think of this as an honest, up-leveled conversation with a girlfriend, somewhere between therapy and coaching, with science-backed tools and time-tested practices that actually help you feel different.

Right? I know that there are so many books, there’s so many podcasts that talk about these practices, but I think one of my skill sets is actually helping you implement them in your life. And that’s what we’re doing here. You can also think of this as a safe place and a place that you’ll be invited to see your own stuff and work with it so that you can actually be and feel different because seeing it, seeing yourself honestly is actually so important to making changes. And that’s where the tools come in.

science, ancient wisdom, side by side. Some weeks I’ll do short solo episodes, stories, practices, things you can use right away. Other weeks I’m going to bring in thoughtful guests for real conversations about this stage of life and what we’re going through. Down the road I’ll also be answering your questions, coaching you through what the middle of life is throwing your way. Every episode will give you one thing to take away into your real messy beautiful life, a practice or a reframe or an aha moment that sticks with you.

And my hope is actually quite simple, that a year from now, if you keep listening and curiously looking inwards, you’ll be softer with yourself, kinder with others, steadier when life gets hard, more joyful, more present, more open to life when it is good. So if you’ve ever asked, is this all there is? The answer is no, there’s so much more and together we can find it. Welcome to Millennial Midlife. I’m so glad you’re here and I’m so ready to dive in with you.

About Your Host

I’m Cecelia, and I am passionate about helping people live the life they want to live and feel how they want to feel in their life. We do this together using mindset tools, nervous system regulation, and curious inquiry. I know that enjoying your life, feeling calm and even joyful is available to you.

If you’re ready to start right now, grab a recent workshop replay here on creating momentum.

Personally, I manifest in many ways- partner, mother, coach, sister, friend, daughter, citizen, feminist. I live with my husband and children way downeast Maine on a little bridge-connected island (after spending my first 35 years in cities). It’s beautiful here with the ocean and the wind.

I help my clients make big and small changes in life one step at a time.

No matter what’s happening in your life right now, I know you can feel different. I know that by working with your brain and nervous system, you can feel calm, content, joyful, AND you can still go after the big and small goals in your life (getting there will just feel different).

This process is simple and approachable.

You’re probably thinking- but it won’t work for me. I’ve tried it all or I was recently diagnosed with ADHD or I’m too old. But I promise, if you’re open to it, this work is not only transformative but suited for so many different kinds of people and brains.