Menopause, Middle Life, and the Power of Coaching: Why the Best Is Still Yet to Come

By Dr. Tomi Mitchell

Let’s clear something up immediately: menopause is not the beginning of your decline. It’s not your expiration date, nor the point at which your voice, value, or vision fades into irrelevance.

It’s a transition—a powerful, sometimes turbulent one—but a transition nonetheless. It’s not an ending. It’s a recalibration.

For too long, society has pushed the narrative that a woman’s worth is directly tied to her youth and reproductive status. That once the menstrual cycle ends, so does our relevance. Hot flashes, mood swings, and hormonal shifts are signs of emotional instability or professional unreliability.

We’re taught to whisper about menopause. To hide the symptoms. To push through without support or even acknowledgment. But that silence? That shame? That’s what’s outdated—not us.

Because here’s the truth: menopause is a biological milestone. But the power it unlocks? That’s spiritual, emotional, and deeply personal. For many women, this stage of life brings a clarity and a fire they’ve never felt before.

It’s time we start treating it as the portal to our most empowered, authentic version.

The Silent Career Killer? Unmanaged Menopause

Let’s discuss what often goes unsaid in professional spaces: menopause can sabotage careers, not because of incompetence but because of a lack of support and understanding.

Brain fog during presentations. Sleepless nights before big meetings. A sudden surge of anxiety or irritability when you’ve always been the calm one in the room. These symptoms aren’t imaginary—they’re physiological. And they can be destabilizing.

The Fawcett Society’s 2022 study found that 1 in 10 women in the UK left their jobs due to menopause symptoms. In the U.S., a 2023 survey by the Mayo Clinic found that 13% of midlife women reduced their hours or changed roles due to menopause.

That’s not burnout. That’s biology being ignored.

And then there’s the bias. The kind that lingers in performance reviews or promotion decisions. Research published in the Harvard Business Review found that menopausal women were viewed as less competent and less emotionally stable than their younger counterparts.

Imagine giving your all to your career for two decades, only to be subtly edged out when your body begins an entirely normal, natural transformation.

This is why coaching during this stage of life isn’t just helpful—it’s essential.

Coaching Through the Menopause Transition

As a physician and coach, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside thousands of women through the various stages of life. But there is something uniquely transformative about the midlife window.

This is the moment when the filter comes off. You stop trying to be all things to all people. You feel a rising urge to claim your time, truth, and energy.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

The Power of Coaching for Midlife Women

Coaching helps women:

• Reframe menopause as a natural life transition, not a decline.

• Build self-awareness around emotional and physical changes.

• Design sustainable habits that support energy, clarity, and confidence.

• Create boundaries in relationships and at work.

• Prioritize themselves—finally.

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Because here’s what many people don’t realize: Menopause is a massive identity shift.

You’re not who you were at 25. But you’re not done growing either. Coaching gives you the space, structure, and support to evolve with grace and grit.

Invest in Yourself (Like You Do in Everyone Else)

Let me be blunt for a second (menopause made me even less tolerant of fluff): You are the most important investment you’ll ever make.

I’m all for the designer bags and the girls’ trips to Tulum. But it might be time to rebalance the portfolio if you’re spending thousands on things that don’t feed your mind, body, or soul.

Here’s where to put your energy:

1. Invest in Your Health

• Get your hormone levels checked.

• Advocate for full blood panels, thyroid assessments, and nutritional support.

• Work with providers who don’t dismiss your symptoms as “just stress.” (That includes me, by the way.)

  
  

2. Invest in a Coach

A great coach will help you:

• Clarify your goals in this next stage.

• Identify limiting beliefs and shift them.

• Implement strategies that fit your real life (not Pinterest-perfect schedules).

• Stay accountable.

  
  

3. Invest in Your Skin and Body

Let’s be real: how you feel when you look in the mirror matters. Confidence isn’t vanity—it’s vitality. At Bonsai Medical Aesthetics, we tailor treatments that support your hormonal skin, busy schedule, and unique beauty.

Because you deserve to feel radiant, not in a past-tense way, but right now.

Hormones, Confidence & Visibility in Leadership

Now let’s get into visibility.

Many women entering perimenopause begin shrinking—not in talent or experience, but in presence. They stop speaking up. They decline leadership opportunities. They apologize more and ask for less.

Why? Because their bodies are changing. Their confidence takes a hit. The brain fog messes with memory, and the scale seems stuck, no matter what they try.

But this is precisely when the world needs your voice most.

We talk about “the glass ceiling,” but rarely about the “foggy floor”—that invisible space where brilliant women slip through because no one bothered to understand their biology.

Leadership doesn’t require perfection. It requires presence. And when you show up fully—in all your midlife magic—you change the culture. You open doors. You make space for other women to rise.

Coaching helps you reclaim that visibility. Health advocacy reinforces it. And inner work cements it.

My Truth: The Best Is Still Coming

I’ll share something personal. I’ve been through some things. I’ve experienced career shifts, personal heartbreak, burnout, and betrayal. I’ve carried the weight of expectation, of silence, of survival. 

But I can honestly say I’ve never been more excited about the future because I’m living in alignment. I’ve invested in therapy, mentorship, skin health, body movement, and nourishing food. I’ve invested in myself.

And no, that didn’t mean neglecting my kids, business, or responsibilities. It meant showing up better for them because I finally started showing up for myself.

That’s what I want for every woman reading this.

Action Steps for a Midlife Reboot

If you’re in your 40s, 50s, or even early 60s, and you feel like:

• You’ve plateaued at work

• You’re constantly exhausted

• You don’t feel “like yourself” anymore

• You’ve been tolerating relationships that don’t nourish you

  
  

It’s time for a reset.

Try These Right Now:

1. Schedule a physical and hormone review. Know where you stand.

2. Start journaling about what you want, not just what you tolerate.

3. Hire a coach. Yes, I mean me. (Or someone who gets this stage of life.)

4. Create a “midlife power list.” What lights you up? What are you curious about? Where are you still hungry to grow?

5. Let go of the myth that your best years are behind you.

   
   

Reframing Menopause as an Evolution, Not an End

Let’s retire the doomsday language.

Menopause isn’t the death of femininity—it’s the evolution of it. It’s your body shifting from creation to curation, from reproduction to leadership, from people-pleasing to purpose.

You’re not broken. You’re becoming.

Menopause is not a sentence. It’s a signal to rise, reset, and reclaim your right to live fully and freely.

And when you answer that call with courage and support? That’s when you stop surviving and start thriving.

At Holistic Wellness Strategies, We Get It

This isn’t just a coaching brand.

This is a sanctuary for high-performing women who want to:

• Reclaim their energy.

• Redesign their goals.

• Realign their purpose.

  
  

Whether you’re a CEO, a teacher, a caregiver, or a creative powerhouse, I see you. I support you. And I believe your next chapter could be your best.

Not despite menopause. Because of it.

Final Word: You Are Allowed to Rise

Let this article be your permission slip.

You are allowed to:

• Slow down to recalibrate.

• Invest in your healing.

• Speak openly about menopause.

• Say no to roles that don’t align.

• Ask for more.

  
  

Because you’ve earned it.

And here’s what I want you to remember, with all the conviction of a woman who’s lived it: The best is still yet to come.

Now let’s meet her.

With empowerment and purpose,

Dr. Tomi Mitchell

Physician | Certified Coach | Founder, Holistic Wellness Strategies

Speaker | Advocate for Women's Empowerment