The Wobbly Middle: Women's Careers In Midlife

After over a decade in the family business, Heather took the painful decision to close its doors and change careers. The decision was long in the making but the relief was quick in flooding her senses. Now in her 40s, Heather retrained as a hypnotherapist, starting from scratch with zero clients and, in her words, imposter syndrome through the roof.
Propelled by her purpose-led approach, Heather now works with everyone from burnt-out professionals to Comrades ultramarathon runners.
In this episode Heather and Patsy talk about what hypnotherapy actually is (nothing to do with being made to cluck like a chicken); they pop the lid on confidence issues; and discuss how a purpose-led life gives you something to navigate by when you're at a career crossroads or the imposter voice starts up.
Links
You can find Heather at https://mindofpeacehypno.com/
Heather's Book recommendation for practical tools to work out your own purpose: There Is a Reason You Are Here by Gavin Lund.
If You Enjoyed This Episode
You might also love The Wobbly Middle Episode with investigative wellness journalist, Rebecca Newman, on the neuroscience of action boards (Season 3).
We've also been lucky enough to have other remarkable South African women on the show, like Carri Simmons, who left teaching to retrain as a clinical psychologist. and Donna Crous — a stay-at-home mum and self-taught photographer who became Nikon's first-ever food photography ambassador. Both conversations are well worth going back for. Until next time.
Help Us Grow
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Leave a review here. It only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
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Thank you for listening and for supporting independent podcasts.

“From the very earliest point of your career, you're building a wonderful mental Rolodex of people who might roll into any future part of your life, and I could've been more confident with that.” Dolly Jones, former editor of vogue.com, now an author building a portfolio career, reassures and encourages those of us at a career crossroads to get in touch with old friends and colleagues for encouragement and guidance.
For twelve years Dolly Jones ran vogue.com, at exactly the moment the fashion world looked most like The Devil Wears Prada. When she returned to work after her first baby, she was ready to go but could not find a roadmap to help her navigate the way forward.
That experience became Leaving the Ladder Down: How to Combine Career and Motherhood, from the Women Who’ve Done It, a book built on the voices of women who’ve made it work, and on the euphoria of working parenthood that needs to be celebrated.
In this episode Dolly and Patsy talk about returning to work; the confidence to say “this is my livelihood” when it comes to money; women’s professional networks and why building your network in midlife is less daunting than it sounds; and the bedtime trick a therapist gave Dolly for quietening the voices in your head.
About Dolly Jones
Dolly Jones is a journalist and digital strategist who edited British Vogue’s digital platforms running vogue.com before being promoted to Content & Strategy Director across Condé Nast’s wider portfolio. She left Condé Nast in 2018 after two decades to set up her own consultancy. Her debut book, Leaving the Ladder Down: How to Combine Career and Motherhood, from the Women Who’ve Done It, was published by 4th Estate. She is a trustee of Advance, a charity supporting women and young people affected by domestic abuse, and a primary school governor.
Links
Leaving the Ladder Down: https://www.4thestate.co.uk/products/leaving-the-ladder-down-dolly-jones-9780008431402/ — Dolly’s book, published by 4th Estate
Also mentioned: Julia Samuel, psychotherapist; June Angelides, venture capitalist
Dolly’s summer read: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Where to Follow Dolly Jones
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dolly-jones/
Instagram: @dolly_jones

If You Enjoyed This Episode
You might also love our episode Books and Chocolate with Georgina Atwell (Season 4). Georgina was made redundant while on maternity leave and built two book businesses from her kitchen table.
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes are released every other Tuesday.
You can find out more on our Substack page: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep34-dolly-jones
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep34-dolly-jones
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend— if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Share Your Story
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
About The Host
Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been having was returning ambition, and she began actively questioning her direction. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.

Values-led and commercially minded Georgina Atwell turned a career crossroads moment and her knowledge of the publishing industry into two book businesses that give back.
Georgina grew up with chocolate and books running through her veins — a family chocolate business on one side, a lifelong love of reading on the other. She spent eight happy years at Penguin, then was made redundant while on maternity leave.
From her kitchen table she built Toppsta, a platform where children recommend books to each other, now home to more than 160,000 reviews. She did it on a shoestring: starting on Facebook, teaching herself newsletters, social media and the "dark art" of SEO from an online course.
Now Georgina has launched Readerama, a second-hand books marketplace that channels funds back into authors, festivals and schools. Listen for her advice on starting something new, building businesses on a shoestring, the power of SEO and, of course, our best 2026 summer reads.
If you enjoyed his episode:
Make sure you follow us so you don't miss our episode with Wendy Welpton who tells us how she used social media to build her Reclaim Movement Programme.
You might also love The Accidental Influencer: Hut-to-Hut Hikes, Night Trains and Going Viral with Bea Searle (Season 4). Like Georgina, travel blogger Bea built an online business from scratch around something she genuinely loved.
Links
Toppsta: https://toppsta.com/
Readerama: https://readerama.com/
Georgina Atwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginaatwell/
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes are released every other Tuesday.
You can find out more on our Substack page: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
The Wobbly Middle on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YhwsBch8Q9vAOUBBfusIv
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend— if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Share Your Story
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
About The Host
Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been having was returning ambition, and she began actively questioning her direction. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.

Travel blog income, going viral on Instagram and hut-to-hut hiking with kids - Bea Searle turned school holiday travel into a midlife career.
Bea Searle has never quite known what she wanted to do but she is totally at ease with that. A part-qualified accountant who escaped the Big Four, she worked in top-end travel until her second child made the five-week India trips impossible. In lockdown, she started a travel blog, Wild Bee Outdoors, for the joy of it but as the world opened up so she left it go.
Eighteen months ago she restarted it properly - an SEO course, a rebuilt website, a focus on train travel in Europe and the adventures she and her kids actually do. Then one post about an independent trip to Finland went viral, and 1,000 Instagram followers became 54,000 in a week.
This is about travel as joy rather than logistics, hut-to-hut hiking in the Dolomites, cycling Austria's river paths on a Haribo economy and how an "accidental influencer" is now replacing her old salary by virtue of the freedom of her blog.
If you know a lot about something, Bea's advice is simple: just start.
BONUS EPISODE WITH BEA: For members of The Wobbly Middle Club over on Substack, there's a bonus episode (release date: 8 July 2026) where Bea gets into the nuts and bolts of blogging: why she chose WordPress as her blog building platform, engagement differs from Facebook to Insta to Pinterest, and how ad income actually works on a blog.
Bea also shares the details of that SEO course that changed things for her.
More about Bea Searle
Bea Searle of Wild Bee Outdoors is a family travel blogger specialising in active, sensible-budget European adventures — hut-to-hut hiking, multi-day cycle routes and train travel with kids. A former Deloitte accountant and luxury tour operator, she restarted her lockdown blog eighteen months ago, went viral on Instagram in January, and is now replacing her former part-time salary with income from her blog and brand partnerships.
Key Topics
From Deloitte to the departures board— scraping the accountancy exams, the Big Four's "half day" culture at 6:30pm, and why Bea has never regretted leaving a job
The lockdown blog that became a business — restarting with an SEO course, affiliate links and brand partnerships, and what travel blog income really looks like (one kids' hiking backpack sold a day)
Going viral on Instagram — 1,000 to 54,000 followers in a week, the freak-out about her kids' faces, and her husband's billboard advice
School holiday travel her kids can actually do — hut-to-hut hiking at the Tre Cime in the Dolomites, Austria's traffic-free Radweg cycle paths, and a snack-per-kilometre ratio powered by Haribo

Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes are released every other Tuesday.
You can find out more on our Substack page: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
The Wobbly Middle on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YhwsBch8Q9vAOUBBfusIv
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend— if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Share Your Story
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
About The Host
Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been having was returning ambition, and she began actively questioning her direction. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.

Rita King is a Legendary Siren - a mermaid at Florida's Weeki Wachee Springs - who returned to the water after a whole working life away. She first performed in the famous mermaid shows as a teenager in the late 1960s, then raised a family, taking the sensible route to pay the bills. But the pull to the water never faded.
When she retired from the US Postal Service at 60, Rita retrained at mermaid school and waited four years for a place among the Legendary Sirens to open up. Now she runs adult mermaid camps for women who come from all over.
This Season 4 opener is about intrinsic motivation and reclaiming the part of yourself you set aside. Have you drifted from something you once loved?
THE WOBBLY MIDDLE is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
New episodes every other Tuesday.
ABOUT THE HOST: Patsy Day is a recovering lawyer navigating her own midlife career crossroads. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been feeling was returning ambition. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE:
You might also love our episode on how to make an action board: Pin It To Win It: The Neuroscience of Action Boards with Rebecca Newman (Season 3, Episode 2). If Rita's story is about honouring a wish or a dream you've held inside you and finally going for it; the Rebecca's is about the science of holding that wish in front of you and acting on it.
It's an opportunity to be playful, to cut and stick and to start.
Links
Where to find out about mermaid camps at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida — :https://weekiwachee.com/
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep31-rita-king
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep31-rita-king
TIME STAMPS
- 02:30 — Becoming a mermaid in the late '60s and the magnetic pull to the water
- 03:30 — Mermaid myths: custodians of the springs, manatees, and Columbus
- 04:30 — Inside Weeki Wachee: the aquifer, the current, the underwater caverns
- 06:00 — What it's really like to swim in a mermaid tail
- 07:00 — "It spoiled me for any other job" and the rural swamp mail route
- 07:50 — Going back to mermaid school: the four-year wait to become a Legendary Siren
- 09:00 — The performance schedule and underwater safety for the young swimmers
- 09:40 — Conservation: algae blooms, chemicals, and 17 springs that dried up
- 10:00 — Adult mermaid camps: who comes, and how the women transform
- 13:50 — The bond between the mermaids, across every age
- 15:00 — Inspiring women of every age and size from the theatre
- 17:40 — "How do I find the water baby in me again?"
- 18:30 — Soul-searching, determination, and how badly you want it
- 22:30 — What the little girl driven to Weeki Wachee would think now
- 23:50 — Advice to her younger self: "Be more patient"
- 24:00 — Season 4 preview: the women who bring us the sunshine
HELP US GROW
If this episode resonated with you, there are two simple things that make a real difference:
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend — if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, send them this one. Sometimes knowing you're not alone is all it takes.

SHARE YOUR STORY
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.