Ep. 11 - Why Your Midlife Exhaustion Is Not Just Hormones with Sheri Johnson

Rachel sits down with her friend Sheri Johnson, co-founder of Midlife Women Rising, for one of those conversations that starts with matching outfits and ends with you rethinking everything you believe about aging, exhaustion, and why you still can't say no. Sheri spent 20 years in corporate, hit 45, and decided there had to be another way. What she found was that the symptoms every midlife woman is blaming on hormones? Go a lot deeper than that. This one is personal, funny, a little uncomfortable, and completely necessary. **In this episode:** - Why 40 can be the year everything happens at once (new house, new marriage, a miscarriage, a cancer diagnosis, a job that expects you to be on 24/7) and why so many of us just... push through anyway. - The decision Sheri and her husband made to stop fertility treatments, and the grief, the relief, and the self-worth unraveling that came after. - The belief Sheri had to untangle: that mothers are more worthy. And why it is not just a childless-women thing. - Why the symptoms you are blaming on perimenopause (the exhaustion, the sleep issues, the constant overwhelm) are actually connected to cortisol, blood sugar, and the subconscious beliefs you have been carrying since before you knew to question them. - The three-pronged approach Sheri and her sister Jen use with clients: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Because you cannot supplement your way out of a self-worth problem. - What Thomas Edison has to do with why women feel guilty for taking a nap. (No, really.) - Why the "I don't care what people think anymore" energy on social media is real for embarrassment, but shame is still running the show underneath. - People pleasing as a stress response: why it is not a willpower problem, it is fawning, and your nervous system is in it with you. - The quiz that will show you which midlife coping strategy is costing you the most, and what belief is underneath it. - Rachel's very honest feelings about her period getting irregular, Sheri's equally honest response, and why "it feels like an ending" is also the beginning of something. - The Spanx incident. The stage. The pantsuit. Sheri brought it up and honestly, it needed to be said. - Why the word "midlife" makes some women cringe, and what that reaction is actually telling you about what you believe. - Sheri's eight-day retreat to Peru and Machu Picchu in November, because some midlife decisions deserve to be made at altitude. **Mentioned in this episode:** - Sheri Johnson and Jen: Midlife Women Rising - Midlife Women Rising podcast - Sheri's quiz, which midlife coping strategy is costing you the most: midlifewomenrising.com/quiz - Peru retreat to Machu Picchu, November (limited spots): find Sheri @midliferising **Connect with Rachel:** - Website: rachelaperry.com - Instagram: @rachelaperry - TikTok: @rachelaperry If there is a woman in your life who has been blaming everything on her hormones, share this episode with her. There is more going on. She deserves to know that. She is not done yet either.