"Must be nice." Three little words. Nothing too notable about them. But it was the way they were delivered that has me replaying a conversation. I recently ran into someone I've known for a while now at a summer party. She follows me on social, and was aware of my upcoming trip to France. (Honestly, I need to start calling it a “sabbatical” or a “longer-term stay” or something weightier than a “trip” because nearly eight weeks in another country is unlike any other “trip” I’ve taken.) In...
17 days ago • 3 min read
"You don't have to feel ready. You just have to show up for that first day. And then keep showing up after that." Just two weeks after he retired and moved back to Boise, I was picking Dad up for his first day of class. Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in his early-40s, and twenty years later, it was obvious that the disease was progressing. He barely lifted his feet and shuffled as he walked. His posture was stooped forward, and his left hand tremored involuntarily and...
24 days ago • 5 min read
Hey there, Reader! Surprised to see me on a Monday? I'll bet! It's by design. Let me explain. I want you to treat your life as the most important thing you do -- the same way you treat your kids, your family, your career. You wouldn't shoe-horn time in for them over the weekend; right? You also wouldn't relegate them to Sunday morning, in between everything else. Which is why the BEST LIFE List is no longer dropping on Sundays. A little backstory: when I started the Sunday newsletter,...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hey there, Reader! Have you listened to today's new episode of The School of Midlife? I recorded this one with Brooke Amidei, founder of Babble, a free weekly newsletter that's basically the group chat every midlife woman wishes she had. I loved this conversation! About forty minutes in, we ended up somewhere I did not expect. We started talking about basic doctor stuff -- bone density scans, mammograms, that list -- and I told her about my own recent breast MRI. High risk, dense breasts, the...
2 months ago • 1 min read
I want to share something with you today, Reader. 💛 This is from a woman who attended a BEST LIFE Retreat in Sun Valley. She came not knowing exactly what to expect. She left with something she hadn't anticipated. I'll let her tell you: "Attending Laurie's BEST LIFE Retreat in Sun Valley was truly life-changing. I had never done anything like it before, and it exceeded every expectation. The experience gave me the opportunity to pause, reflect, and really think intentionally about how I want...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey there, Reader! Honest question for you on this Tuesday: did you choose your life? Think about it. The job you took. The city you live in. The path you went down right out of school. The partner you chose. The priorities that have organized your days for the last two or three decades. Did you choose those things? Or did you do what was expected of you? I recorded this week's episode of the School of Midlife on a whim. I was out on a hike, and this idea arrived that I had never quite heard...
2 months ago • 1 min read
It's hard to believe that it's already the end of the day on another Monday. Just like always, it feels like the summer is flying by. I mean, I'm looking at the calendar and there are just six (!) weeks left until September. What?! And when I think September, of course I'm thinking about the BEST LIFE™ Mastermind. There is a reason the retreats are not on weekends, Reader. Not because we couldn't do them on weekends. But because I made a deliberate decision years ago to stop relegating the...
2 months ago • 2 min read
It's the first week of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, so naturally I have shopping on the mind. (Although — and I say this as someone who genuinely loves a good sale — I've come to realize that buying something just because it's on sale doesn't actually make it a bargain. Especially if I don't need it in the first place.) And that has me thinking about auctions. Stay with me here, Reader. I promise I have a point. Do you get a little paddle-happy at a charity auction? Me too! I love the...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hey there, Reader! Have you listened to this week's new episode on the School of Midlife podcast? I have been waiting to share this conversation with you. Tammy Hadfield has been a hormone specialist for 25 years. She was in the field in 2001 when the Women’s Health Initiative scared an entire generation of women away from hormone therapy. Instead of backing down, she leaned in...and spent years being called one of the “crazy gals” giving hormones to women when most of the medical community...
3 months ago • 1 min read