Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships

Why does exercise feel harder in midlife—even when you know it matters?
You’re not failing or falling behind; your body and stress load have genuinely changed.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
1.    Why midlife anxiety, stress, and self-comparison quietly derail exercise
2.    How fatigue and shame create predictable obstacles that aren’t personal failures
3.    Doable coping skills to help you keep moving without pressure or burnout
 Take 15 minutes to reduce anxiety and stress around exercise and learn a calmer way to keep moving—you’re worth it.

Send us a text



****
About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 48,000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching her Mental Wellness curriculum, Inner Challenge. Four years ago she overcame her fear of technology to create a podcast that integrated her vast clinical experience and practical wisdom of cultivating mental wellness using the latest information from neuroscience. MJ was Social Worker of the Year in 2011 for Region 2/IN.

Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.

Why does exercise start to feel harder, more exhausting, or more discouraging in midlife?
You’re not imagining it, and you’re not alone—your body and nervous system are responding to real changes.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
1.    Why your  exercise mindset can increase anxiety and make movement feel harder in midlife
2.    How new science helps explain what’s changing in your body—and why intensity and pressure often backfire
3.    How simple coping skills and an updated mindset can support your health while helping you feel calmer and more motivated
 Take 11 minutes to understand your midlife body, reduce exercise-related anxiety, and learn a more supportive way to move—you’re worth it.

Send us a text



****
About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 48,000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching her Mental Wellness curriculum, Inner Challenge. Four years ago she overcame her fear of technology to create a podcast that integrated her vast clinical experience and practical wisdom of cultivating mental wellness using the latest information from neuroscience. MJ was Social Worker of the Year in 2011 for Region 2/IN.

Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.

Do you keep setting weight-loss goals in midlife only to feel derailed by self-criticism, slipups, or emotional eating?
You’re not alone—these struggles are common in midlife and say nothing about your motivation or worth.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
1.     How common internal saboteurs quietly undermine midlife weight loss
2.     Why shifting from pressure and perfection to a more compassionate, abundant mindset helps you stay consistent and resilient
3.     Practical coping skills that support midlife weight loss while also decreasing anxiety and stress along the way
🎧 Take 12 minutes to learn coping skills that help you overcome midlife weight-loss obstacles and feel calmer and more supported—you’re worth it.
 
Send us a text



****
About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 48,000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching her Mental Wellness curriculum, Inner Challenge. Four years ago she overcame her fear of technology to create a podcast that integrated her vast clinical experience and practical wisdom of cultivating mental wellness using the latest information from neuroscience. MJ was Social Worker of the Year in 2011 for Region 2/IN.

Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.

Are you trying to lose weight in midlife without increasing anxiety, stress, or shame along the way?
You’re not alone—many capable, motivated midlife adults feel discouraged by approaches that rely on pressure, urgency, and self-criticism.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
1.    How shifting away from pressure, urgency, and self-judgment toward a calmer, more supportive approach creates sustainable midlife weight loss
2.     Why anxiety and stress interfere with weight loss in midlife—and how nervous-system-friendly coping skills help your body cooperate instead of resist
3.     Practical coping skills that support weight loss while reducing overwhelm, burnout, and emotional exhaustion
🎧 Take 12 minutes to approach midlife weight loss with coping skills that reduce anxiety and stress—so change can finally last—you’re worth it.
Send us a text



****
About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 48,000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching her Mental Wellness curriculum, Inner Challenge. Four years ago she overcame her fear of technology to create a podcast that integrated her vast clinical experience and practical wisdom of cultivating mental wellness using the latest information from neuroscience. MJ was Social Worker of the Year in 2011 for Region 2/IN.

Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.

What if your resolutions could feel doable instead of draining?
You deserve goals that support you, not stress you out.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
How creating resolutions that align with your demanding life reduces midlife anxiety and creates meaningful motivation
Why allowing discomfort — instead of resisting it — builds stronger coping skills for lasting change
How to set resolutions that honor your worth, your values, and the real life you’re living
🎧 Take 8 minutes to build calm, supportive goals this year—you’re worth it.
Send us a text



****
About the Host:
MJ Murray Vachon LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 48,000 hours of therapy sessions and 31 years of experience teaching her Mental Wellness curriculum, Inner Challenge. Four years ago she overcame her fear of technology to create a podcast that integrated her vast clinical experience and practical wisdom of cultivating mental wellness using the latest information from neuroscience. MJ was Social Worker of the Year in 2011 for Region 2/IN.

Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.