Blind Plea - Introducing: My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

We’re excited to introduce My So-Called Midlife, a new podcast by Reshma Saujani and Lemonada Media. “Is this it?” That’s the question our host Reshma Saujani asks herself daily. She’s the founder of two successful nonprofits, she’s married to a great guy, and she’s raising two beautiful children. She’s gotten everything she’s ever wanted, so why does she feel so unsatisfied? Is this a woman’s version of a midlife crisis?  She’s determined to figure it out, and with the strength of her group chat behind her, she’s calling in reinforcements. From conversations with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Emily Oster, Cheryl Strayed, and more, Reshma’s going to help us all figure out how we stop trying to just get through this time of life… and actually start living it. Here’s a sneak peek of episode one of My So-Called Midlife. Listen as Reshma chats with Julia Louis-Dreyfus about why her 50s have been the best decade of her life. My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani– listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts or head to https://lemonada.lnk.to/mysocalledmidlifefdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, listeners. We're dropping into your feed today to play you a clip of the first episode of My So-Called Midlife, a new podcast by Reshma Sajjani and Lemonada Media. Reshma Sajjani, founder of Girls Who Code, is a successful adult woman. She's written books, founded a successful nonprofit, and is raising two beautiful children. And even with all that, she still wakes up some days wondering when the best is yet to come kicks in, or if this is all life has to offer.

So Reshma has created my so-called midlife with Lemonade Media to rewrite the playbook for Navigating Midlife, one episode at a time. Each week, she will chat with extraordinary guests like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chelsea Clinton, Margaret Cho, Alanis Morissette, and more who transformed their own midlives into opportunities for growth and newfound purpose. After you listen to this episode clip, search for My So-Called Midlife in your podcast app to hear the rest of the episode. You can also find a link in the show notes to take you there. Midlife is a clusterfuck, if I'm going to be really honest. At 51 years old,

I'm starting to navigate the ebbs and flows of the unknown. What it looks like for me now is kissing my husband of 25 years goodnight at about eight o'clock at night, heading to my separate bedroom where I need to have the AC set at 61 degrees due to my hot flashes. It's not knowing what Priscilla is going to show up today. It is being seen as an expert in your field because you've worked so hard in your career and raising these amazing human beings that are out doing what they want to do, but at the same time finding peace in being alone and knowing that everything is going to kind of be okay. Welcome to My So-Called Midlife, a podcast where we figure out how to stop just getting through it and start actually living it.

I'm Reshma Sajjani. Okay, I'm what they call a high achieving woman, but what woman isn't? What it looks like for me is I'm the founder of two nonprofits, Girls Who Coded Moms First, I Got a Great Guy, Two Incredible Kids, A Cute Dog, I've Written Best Selling Books, but, and yes, best-selling books, but… And yes, there is a but.

I wake up every day wondering, is this it? This is something my girlfriends and I talk about all the time. Enduring the midlife. The kids, the deadlines, the waistlines, the schedules, the aging pairs, and the husbands. I feel like all of us midlifers are either dead inside because there's no room for our thoughts or feelings, or we're pressing the nuclear button. We're just blowing shit up because we want to escape it. I mean, you've read all fours, right? Where's my hotel room? For me, midlife hit me like a ton of bricks. I turned 42. My soul

dog died. My hormones went wild. There was no third baby. My body was changing and nobody was buying me drinks at the bar. Meanwhile, my husband and I are fighting over who's taking out the trash and it's me. It's always me. I found myself mourning this whole era of my life that I had totally taken for granted. So look, this podcast is my attempt at turning it all around. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna figure this out together. Week over week, I'm collecting tips and tricks to make us

not just get through this part of our life, but actually live it. From how I love my body to how I find out what I really want in life, because I'm determined to make midlife the best fucking time of my life. So for today's very first episode, I'm going to the source. We're going to talk to a woman who's done exactly what we're looking to do, take midlife by the reins. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, let me tell you all, during her midlife she experienced some shit, loss, cancer, and she still says it was the best time of her life. Not to mention,

that's also when she crushed her career in Veep. And this year, get this, she's in the Marvel universe in a bodysuit for fuck's sake, at 63. Julia sets a different tone for midlife, one of possibility, of thriving, of joy. Plus, she's just the Yoda of aging. For the last year and some change, she's been talking to women over 70 on her award-winning podcast, Wiser Than Me. Women like Jane Goodall and Amy Tan are telling her

what it feels like to have lived 70, 80, 90 years of life. And you know what? They're all so calm, relaxed, and just fucking happy. So today, I'm gonna figure out how we get to that centered, easy place sooner, and how to get the most out of our mid-lives. Hello. Hi, Julia. Nice to meet you. Hi, nice to meet you too. This is going to be fun. I'm so fucking excited.

Let's do it. Let's do it. All right. So I want to talk about getting to know your body again. I know, super fun way to start. But truthfully, midlife is like a second adolescence. I want to show you your iconic 2014 Rolling Stone cover. Okay.

I'm going to describe it for people. I'm going to show you the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of the cover of But truthfully, midlife is like a second adolescence. I want to show you your iconic 2014 Rolling Stone cover. Okay. I'm going to describe it for people. You're 53. Yep.

You're not wearing any clothes. Yeah. We see your back tatted up with the Constitution. Your hair's down. It's flowy. You're looking over your shoulder. I mean, it's just incredible. Well, thank you.

You're exuding a confidence that I don't feel right now. Were you nervous? Very. It's funny because Mark Seliger, the wonderful, extraordinary photographer, Mark Seliger, with whom I've worked a number of times, as a matter of fact, took this. And there have been more than one occasion that I'm in a photo studio with him and the next thing you know, I'm taking my clothes off.

And that is not by the way who I am personally, I'm just not. And I also didn't realize that so much of my ass was gonna be in this. But anyway, I trusted him to do me okay and it was, I mean, I liked the concept. Was this your idea for the cover or did someone have to convince you to do it? I want to say it was my idea.

I think I was trying to come up with concept. I think it was my idea. Mark Seliger would have to confirm that. Anyway, so it was either his or mine. But we conferred prior to this because we had to get somebody to do this pretend tattoo on my back, which took a lot of time to get that right, by the way. I can't imagine. And I feel like this cover just shifted the conversation

about aging and sexiness because you are undeniably hot. Oh, God, thank you so much. I'm not sure it really shifted the conversation. Do you really think that? I'm not sure. I do think it shifted the conversation. I think it started a trend of older women accepting their bodies, feeling more comfortable, feeling sexy in their middle age. Did they have to convince you to do this cover or were you just game? You know, if there's a really good concept for a photo shoot, often there is not.

Often there is no concept or there is an incredibly shitty concept. That's when I lose my mind. That's when I am very anxious. But if there's a solid idea, and I think this was a solid idea, I'm game. And that's how I felt that day. I was game. You're game. So that kind of brings me to um

to the last fuckable day. So this is a sketch right that airs in 2015 one year after this cover. Is it someone's birthday or? Oh kind of the opposite. We're celebrating Julia's last fuckable day. Yes. Salud. What is that? In every actress's life, the media decides when you finally reach the point where you're not believably fuckable anymore. You're in your early 50s and this skit is like one year after the Rolling Stone cover. And listen, I'm almost there. And I'm often thinking like, I'm just not as sexy or fuckable as I once was. Was this the kind of stuff that was on your mind? Actually, it wasn't on my mind. This was all Amy Schumer's idea.

Amy Schumer wrote the sketch. And Nicole Hollisenter, who's an incredible film director and writer, with whom I've worked a number of times now, was directing this particular sketch. And she called me and she said, would you do it? And I said, it sounded hilarious, absolutely. But what was so weird was that halfway through, I started to think, wait, what's going on here?

Are we making fun of this because it's true? And I had this sort of weird crisis of confidence. Like, am I not relevant anymore? That's really what it was. It wasn't so much fuckability, although fuckability, unfortunately, is very much linked to relevancy for women. So all of a sudden, I did have this weird sort of out of body experience of sort of having a weird lack of confidence. But you know, other, other, but we got through, I got through it. I mean, is this the first time you felt a lack of confidence?

Yeah, yeah. It was weird. I'd never felt that before. I still don't feel that way. I feel relevant and ready for action, Jackson. I mean, and I don't mean, I'm not talking about it, I don't mean it like sexually, I just mean as a human being. I've got a lot more to do and I've got a lot more to say and I wanna be a part of a lot more. And I feel that very profoundly.