Why do midlife women stop trying things? Not the big rebellious things — the small ones. The new café, the different route home, the conversation with the woman next to you on the plane.

This episode is the final part of the SPACE method — a five-step framework Monique developed for midlife women drowning in everyone else's needs. E is for Explore: how to put novelty back into a brain that has stopped expecting it.

You'll hear:

• Why life satisfaction follows a U-shaped curve through your forties and fifties (and why the curve rises again) • Neuroscientist Dr David Eagleman's Novelty Rule and how it changes the way your brain experiences time • The 52 Yes List — one new thing a week for a year — and how to actually start

Plus a Dear Blokes note for the men who love us, and what listeners wrote in when asked: where do you escape when you need a moment?

If this is your first episode, welcome. Start anywhere. Stay for the conversation about what comes next.

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.

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