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Erin O'Connor's avatar

I am a sucker for the midlife female coming-of-age story. I think Liz Gilbert put it on the map with Eat, Pray, Love, and there's a healthy, growing genre emerging now. I really love this reframing of the Breakfast Club archetypes into powerful and mature midlife heroines. That resonates a lot – the Breakfast Club is one of my favorite movies, also, and I have also written about John Hughes' magical intuition about coming-of-age on my own substack. So, synergy! Signed, A former brain, princess, criminal, basketcase, and athlete, now a wildly creative sovereign strategist breaking rules for good reasons, while reclaiming health for a body that has needed so much more care than it has gotten, for so long.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

He does have a magical intuition doesn't he? Wow, you lived through every teenage archetype! Which was your most prominent?

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Erin O'Connor's avatar

Brain, for sure. With artist in retrograde.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Reverse for me!

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Jill Carlyle, MFA's avatar

Ahhhh, yes! I write middle aged female protagonists and coming-into-age journeys starring midlife heroines not as secondary or tertiary characters, but as the main event! My novel Her Story So Far is launching May 1st and I think you might really love it! You can find it wherever you love to buy books!

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Sally Doran's avatar

I love that the cast just reunited for the first time to discuss “The Breakfast Club” and its enduring meaning to each generation. I also love that a song can just transport us back decades and conjure up emotion !

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

I saw that they just reunited. I must watch it!

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Yarn Over Needles's avatar

I love the thought that hot flashes are surges of energy.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Trying to trick myself into enjoying them. Lol

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Kristin Noland's avatar

Fantastic! This hit me right in my soul.

Thank you. I really needed to read this.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Kristin. It was so fun to write!

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Kristin Noland's avatar

I bet it was.

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Stacey Nalean-Carlson's avatar

I am reading this with energy and awe, because I am so ready to write myself into a new future. I turn 49 tomorrow. I’ve left a 20-year career in an attempt to “solve for joy.” I feel stuck now in the identity crisis. What actually matters to me? Thank you for shining a light on the road ahead.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Oh, Stacey I know exactly where you're at. Been there, done that. You are hearing the Call to Adventure and are about to have a fabulous journey. 🤗

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Leslie Senevey's avatar

Yes! I wrote a piece about this way of thinking where I likened it to "giving birth during menopause" where we are actually "rebirthing" ourselves. I believe our generation is rewiring the thinking about this time of life.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

I like it, Leslie. Our generation is the first to even talk about it publicly, so it will be fascinating to see how things change.

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EHRich's avatar

I was/am The Brain. And I have performed well all these years. But menopause has given me brain fog and diminished recall. I’m exhausted by 5pm after thinking all day. I even blasted a co-worker this week for not using his own brain, “I can’t think for everyone!” I’m trying to figure out how to be value added if I can’t always be the one who has all the answers. I’ve considered retiring early to try something new, but the security and stability of a job I’ve done, and done well, for 30+ years is hard to give up.

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