WOMEN ARE NOT OKAY – There, I said it
Once upon a time, I started a blog called The Middle Years Journey to document life after 40. But life got overwhelming, and I had to step back.
Now, a few years later, guess what?
Midlife women are still deep in the WTH-is-happening?! phase. Why are women are not okay?
We’re still evolving. Still searching. Still trying to figure sh*t out.
After many insomnia-fueled, brain-fogged nights, I decided to launch a new blog: Midlife Women Are Not Okay. It was going to be my place to write about the craziness of aging, change, and identity. I was ready.
Then life hit again. Hard.
Not only did I step back from the blog—I stepped back from life.
I finally had to face what I was going through mentally, and I started down the road to healing (aka “The Mental Health Recovery Tour”—coming soon to a parking lot near you).
My Unexpected Realization
As I opened up to friends—old and new—I realized something powerful:
It’s not just midlife women.
Women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond are all struggling.
We’re dealing with self-doubt, lost friendships, family and marriage stress, burnout, comparison traps, chronic anxiety, and a deep, bone-level exhaustion that can’t be solved with bubble baths or green juice.
This isn’t just a midlife thing.
It’s an epidemic.
Hormones My Ass
So many of us speak up and say, “I’m not feeling like myself” or “I think I’m depressed” and what do we hear?
“Have you checked your hormones?”
Really? That’s your answer?
Look—I get it. Hormones matter. But menopause is not the catch-all explanation for every mental, emotional, and existential crisis a woman goes through.
What about the hystersisters like me?
I had a total hysterectomy at age 29. So don’t talk to me about ovaries. I don’t have any. (Cue Whitney: “I Have Nothing.” 🎤)
I’m just a sweaty, weepy, ragey, water-retaining woman trying to survive in a society that keeps gaslighting us into thinking we’re just “moody.”
My Apple Watch just told me to stand up and breathe. I think I’ll pass.
So Who Am I Exactly?
I’m Crystal, 52 years old, trying to piece it all together.
I work from home for a health plan in utilization management (aka the people who decide if your authorization gets approved or denied—you’re welcome and/or I’m sorry).
I’ve been married 27 years (which these days feels like a world record), I have a 25-year-old daughter who’s already crushing it way harder than I did at her age, and I drive an 11-year-old Ford Fusion that I still genuinely love.
I look around and see women building empires—launching brands, writing books, hosting podcasts.
And I think:
I’ve had the big ideas. I’ve had the passion.
But I’ve also had life punch me in the face a few times.
A lot of those women had careers and money before they built their platforms.
That’s not my story.
I’m not rich. I’m not famous. I’m not even caught up on laundry.
I’m just a regular-ass woman trying to find her way and help others do the same.
Because Women Are Not Okay—and pretending?
Is exhausting AF.
So welcome to the WANO Collective.
Let’s figure this sh*t out together.