Middling Along

By: Emma Thomas
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  • Summary

  • Middling Along is the podcast for ‘midults‘ who want to spend their middle years thriving, not just surviving. Voted as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause at https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/ - Emma speaks to a wide range of guests who entertain, inform, and inspire in equal measure!
    Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
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Personal Development Personal Success
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Episodes
  • Elizabeth Dalziel on capturing menopause through the camera lens

    Elizabeth Dalziel on capturing menopause through the camera lens
    Mar 12 2025

    My guest this time is Elizabeth Dalziel - a photographer with an illustrious string of assignments under her belt. She’s lived and worked in more countries than most of us will visit in our lifetimes! She has won awards for her work covering the Iraq war, the 2004 Tsunami in Asia, and - closer to home - documenting the homeschooling of her children during the pandemic.

    After being diagnosed with breast cancer aged 48, she was put into a chemically-induced menopause and plunged immediately into a maelstrom of hot flashes, mood swings, brain fog, depression and more.

    She felt like she was falling apart….but Elizabeth has used her experience to fuel her creativity and created a brilliant photojournalism project that includes self-portraits, images of friends (depicting their own symptoms and struggles), images from different cultures around the world, and images of prominent activists and medics working in he menopause space.

    Tune in to find out more about Elizabeth’s personal experience of menopause, her creative processes, and the insights she has gained from her work with women in other cultures and countries.

    You can find the series at https://www.elizabethdalziel.com/index

    If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

    You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org and connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/

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    33 mins
  • Christine Armstrong on workplace trends, getting visible, and why indecision is expensive!

    Christine Armstrong on workplace trends, getting visible, and why indecision is expensive!
    Feb 25 2025
    My guest today is Christine Armstrong, a keynote speaker, researcher, and author focused on the world of work. Over the past four and a half years, she has produced more than 200 videos in her weekly vlog, addressing major work-related topics such as hybrid working models and the role of AI in productivity. Each Friday morning, over 6,000 viewers from more than 20 countries tune in to gain insights into the future of work. Christine is also the author of The Mother of All Jobs: How to Have Children and a Career and Stay Sane(ish), published in 2018. This book is based on six years of interviews with working parents, employers, leadership experts, and caregivers. We begin our discussion by exploring the recent trend of larger companies implementing Return to Office (RTO) policies and the public’s reactions to these changes. Christine references U.S. research indicating that 43% of Americans would prefer to divorce their partner rather than return to the office full-time! She highlights that flexibility is often sacrificed for what she terms “endless contactability,” where employees feel compelled to check emails late into the evening. Unfortunately, many older male leaders, who have benefited from traditional work models, struggle to understand this shift. Christine also cites research by Nick Bloom, which shows that since the pandemic, companies have begun hiring from broader geographical areas, resulting in doubled commute times and making full-time office work less appealing. She predicts that we will see a variety of working arrangements tailored to each company's brand and talent pool. In terms of making the most of time spent in the office, Chistine’s advice is to be strategic about using that time: use it to build strong networks, figure out ‘who do I want a relationship with?’, ‘how do I build that?’ We hear a lot now about the importance of personal branding and I ask Christine for her advice on how to do this when we have been socialised not to brag about our achievements and doing it gives us the ick? First of all, she suggests we initially have to accept and get comfortable with the fact that some people just won’t be ‘our people.’ Her second piece of advice is to imagine talking about ourselves to our friends - if what we’re saying feels uncomfortable it’s probably too showy, but if you talk about what you’re good at and it’s objectively true, then go for it! If you can, use humour, and vulnerability always tends to endear your audience to you. I ask Christine about AI in the workplace and where she sees this having the most impact on the workplace in the next 5 years. Her response was that some jobs will require people who can manage the AI in combination with very strong technical skills (using AI to enhance what they are doing already), many other roles will require strong communication skills, ability to make ethical decisions, and to be able to strategize. I was interested late last year when I saw Christine talking about how she and her husband use an adapted version of the ‘Workshop your life’ methodology to plan out their year ahead. As Christine advises, we need to stop seeing work and life as separate and start to view it as one system and think about the whole and how it all fits together. Doing this exercise once a year helps them to tackle tricky issues but not in the heat of the moment and get aligned so that they are not constantly bumping up against negotiating those difficult conversations when flashpoints occur. I’ve included a few links below in case you feel like giving it a try yourself! We conclude by discussing the current trends Christine and her team are exploring, particularly the rising unpredictability, polarization, and stress levels in today’s world. In uncertain times, people tend to adopt black-and-white thinking, become more anxious, and prioritize immediate concerns. Therefore, the role of leaders is crucial; they must provide reassurance, clarity, and effective communication. You can find more on Christine and her work at https://www.armstrongpartners.co.uk/ and if you fancy watching her weekly vlogs, sign up to her newsletter, or watch via her LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thechristinearmstrong/ Find out more about how to Workshop your Life here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/relationships-are-the-source-of-results_workshop-your-life-9-exercises-for-high-quality-activity-7271839576732712960-LkXo/ The Year Compass (https://yearcompass.com/) is another good option. If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review. You can find me at www.thetripleshift.org and connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/
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    30 mins
  • Dr Nicky Keay banishes the Myths of Menopause

    Dr Nicky Keay banishes the Myths of Menopause
    Feb 12 2025

    My guest this time is Dr Nicky Keay: Nicky is a medical doctor with expertise in the field of exercise endocrinology and a lecturer at University College London. Her clinical and research work is focused on women experiencing peri/menopause and with exercisers, dancers and athletes.

    Her book Myths of Menopause was published at the end of 2024 and Nicky has taken a novel approach to the subject, using the theme of Greek mythology, with Athena, goddess of wisdom as the cover star!

    The book itself brings together chapters from a wide range of experts in their individual fields, from brain health to bone health to exercise. Nicky and I discuss some of the most prevalent myths of menopause in this episode, not least the negativity around menopause and the ‘narrative of decline’ that links in to the pervasive gendered ageism in society (or Western society at least!). We discuss lifestyle changes and the temptation to believe in (and spend money on) ‘quick fixes’ that are out there.

    We also touch on myths around HRT, risks relating to breast cancer, and the under-emphasis on cardiovascular disease, which ultimately causes the deaths of many more women each year. Nicky also offers advice for those who are under 45 and struggling with symptoms but not being listened to by their doctor.

    You can find out more about Nicky at https://nickykeayfitness.com/ and Myths of Menopause is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Myths-Menopause-Increasing-Wisdom-Sequoia/dp/1914110404

    If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a short review online!

    If your workplace wants to become more ‘menopause friendly’ then please let them know about the work I do at http://www.managingthemenopause.com

    You can also find me over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause

    Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share

    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/
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    37 mins

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