Claim OwnershipScenic Route through Midlife — Society, Self & Shifting Gears
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© 2026 Scenic Route by Jennifer Walter, MASoc UCC
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We think deeply, feel a lot, and we're done pretending mental load, exhaustion and burnout are personal failures. This is Scenic Route through Midlife, a mental health and personal growth podcast for women navigating burnout, rage, and perimenopause while still making space for wonder and whimsy.
Hosted by sociologist and mental health advocate Jennifer Walter — a half-rebel, half-marshmallow perimenopausal millennial with ADHD — we explore where society meets the self: perfectionism, overthinking, and the pursuit of well-being collide with power, gender, capitalism, and social change.
Here we believe healing isn't just personal, it's collective.
New episodes every Tuesday.
New affirmations every Friday.
The longest way round is the shortest way home. That’s why we’re taking the Scenic Route.
129 Episodes
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This is your Friday affirmation. Take a breath you didn't know you were holding. Exhale. This week's affirmation is for the woman who has been asking for something — quietly, persistently, longer than she'd like to admit — and is starting to wonder why it hasn't arrived yet. Today's affirmation: "What I've been calling in recognises me because I recognise myself." This week's episode with Bronx Witch Aly Kravetz cracked something open for me. Spellwork, she says, isn't primarily about what yo...
Are you happy? It sounds simple. But for Aly Kravetz — Bronx-born witch, tarot reader, Reiki practitioner and spiritual entrepreneur — that three-word question from her mum became the pivot point for everything: leaving law school, ending a marriage, and building something entirely her own from the ground up during a pandemic. In this episode of The Scenic Route, Aly breaks down Spellwork 101 in a way that makes complete sense even if you've never touched a crystal in your life. Because spell...
This is your Friday affirmation. Let's pause for a breath you didn't know you were holding. Exhale. This week's Soft Landings affirmation is for the woman who's been spring-cleaning everything except her exhaustion. Today's affirmation: "My body knows what's good for me." Every Spring, you're told to declutter your wardrobe, your habits, your goals, your mindset, and if you don't feel the urge, something's wrong with you. But what if the constant push to optimise is exactly what's keeping you...
Every spring, you're told to declutter your wardrobe, your goals, your relationships, and your mindset. And if you don't feel the urge? There's a low hum of guilt that says something's wrong with you. This week on The Scenic Route, we're asking: what if that impulse isn't wisdom, and who actually benefits from the story that your whole life needs a seasonal audit? For many women in midlife, spring-cleaning pressure hits differently. You're already navigating a season of your own — one that do...
It's Friday. Pause for a breath you didn't know you were holding. Exhale. This week's Soft Landings affirmation is for the woman who keeps mistaking her patterns for her personality. For every midlife woman who's been fighting the thing she does instead of getting curious about why she does it. Today's Affirmation: "My patterns kept me safe. I get to thank them and want something different." The thing you keep doing – the overfunctioning, the over-explaining, the keeping yourself small, the w...
You've done the therapy. You've journalled. You can explain your patterns with real precision — where they came from, what they're protecting, why they formed. And yet. There you are. Doing it again. This episode is about the gap between knowing something and actually being free of it. Insight is a beginning. It's not the destination. And once you really accept that — not as a defeat, but as genuinely useful information — it completely changes where you look. What we cover: Why self-awareness...
It's Friday. Pause for a breath you didn't know you were holding. Exhale. This week's Soft Landings affirmation is for the woman who's tired of measuring herself against someone else's yardstick. For midlife women exhausted from the endless performance of worth. Today's Affirmation: "I release the belief that my worth is defined by what I've been taught to buy, do, or become." You don't need the right house, the right body, the right title to matter. You don't need to achieve enough, accumul...
You've been propagandised today. Probably in the last hour. And I'm not talking about political ads or conspiracy theories—I'm talking about ideas that feel so obvious, so natural, so true that you'd never think to question them. In this episode, we explore what propaganda actually is, how it works in modern society, and why the most effective propaganda doesn't look like propaganda at all. Here's what surprised me most while researching this episode: The best propaganda isn't loud. It's not ...
Exhale. TGIF This weekly affirmation is for you if you've been told that you need a five-year plan when you can barely figure out what you want for lunch. This week's affirmation: "I release the belief that I have to earn my rest." New Soft Landings every Friday. Save this. Share it. Come back to it when you need the reminder. 🤍 About Soft Landings: Every Friday on The Scenic Route, one grounded affirmation to help you rest, reset, and remember you're way back home to yourself. Se...
"Everyone has ADHD now." You've heard it. Maybe someone said it to you — with a half-joke, half-accusation edge. Like, neurodivergence is just the trend of the season. But what if that reaction tells us less about ADHD and more about the systems we're living in? In this conversation with Kristina Kyser — psychotherapist, educator, and creator of the Neurodivergent Rising course — we pull apart the "ADHD superpower" narrative that's everywhere right now. Because yes, there are gifts: innovatio...
Exhale. TGIF This weekly affirmation is for you if you've been told that you need a five-year plan when you can barely figure out what you want for lunch. This week's affirmation: "I release the pressure to figure out my purpose. I start with listening inward what I need in this moment." You don't have to have it all mapped out. What you need right now matters more than what you think you should want five years from now. New Soft Landings every Friday. Save this. Share it. Come back...
Here's the thing nobody tells you: the way you order at a restaurant says A LOT about how you move through life. Are you the person who waits to hear what everyone else is getting before you decide? Do you need everyone's opinion before you can choose? Are you picking what you want, and it feels weirdly vulnerable? Yeah. We need to talk. In this episode, I sit down with Jillian Reilly, author of Ten Permissions: How to Stop Waiting and Start Living, to talk about why so many of us can't make ...
There's a particular moment many of us know well — when everything feels like too much. Not dramatically, but quietly, heavily, relentlessly. You're still functioning, still showing up, but inside, something is fraying. And the most painful part? The story you tell yourself about it: I should be able to handle this. In this episode, we explore why overwhelm isn't a personal failure — it's a predictable outcome when multiple vulnerabilities align. Using insights from the Swiss Cheese Model and...
Pause for a breath you didn't know you were holding. This soft landing is for the woman who's been holding it together so well that no one thinks to ask if she's okay. This week's affirmation: "The strategies, steps, decisions that got me here served their purpose — I release them with grace." You don't have to carry what no longer fits. You don't have to make letting go mean you failed. What got you here won't always get you where you're going. And that's okay. This weekend, ask yourself: Wh...
You've done the vision boards. Set the goals. Showed up with discipline. And still – something feels off. If you're a high achiever who's done all the things and still doesn't feel like you've arrived, this one's for you. Jessica Eley breaks down why smart, driven women stay stuck even when they know what they want. Spoiler: it's not your vision, your strategy, or your discipline. It's your capacity – your ability to handle not just what you want, but everything that comes with it. We talk ab...
Pause for a breath you didn't know you were holding. This soft landing is for the woman who's been holding it together so well that no one thinks to ask if she's okay. The affirmation: "I am allowed to disappoint people and still be good." Goodness isn't measured by how much access others have to you, but by how honestly you honour your limits. We examine why performance – the relentless yes, the full calendar, the reflex to fix – feels like safety, yet slowly erases our needs. And why bound...
Tired of entering a new year already depleted? This 35-minute conversation is your invitation to something slower, softer, yet powerful. Nadia Gabrielle returns to The Scenic Route to talk about the 12 Nights of Magic – her annual program that guides hundreds of participants worldwide through the liminal space between December 25th and January 6th. Rooted in the European Rauhnächte tradition, these nights create a portal where each day reveals the energetic theme of a month in the year ahead....
Three years, 111 episodes, and countless conversations later — host Jennifer Walter sits down for a full-circle moment with Lauren Best to celebrate The Scenic Route’s third birthday. They flip the mic to talk about what really happens when you stop hustling and start listening: to your body, your luck, your burnout, and your joy. From viral posts to creative dry spells, from slow living to self-trust, this episode explores how to create — and live — at your own pace in a world that keeps sho...
The Words You Need to Hear When Perfectionism Is Running Your Life Ever find yourself thinking: “I should be further along by now”? Our society is so OBSESSED with finishing things… what if strength lives in what’s still taking shape? I’ve been taking an adult learning programme on resilience at my old university, University College Cork, and spending more time in my friend Juli’s clay studio. There, I noticed: the clay pieces I tried to make perfect felt lifeless. The ones with flaws...
We inherit shame like an unspoken family heirloom — stitched into our bodies, our ambition, our idea of enough. It’s the quiet undertone behind so many brilliant women asking, “Why do I still feel like I’m not enough?” In this conversation, Jennifer Walter sits down with therapist and facilitator Kyira Wackett to unpack the hidden ways shame shapes our lives — from body image and burnout to perfectionism and belonging. Together, they explore how shame isn’t just a feeling — it’s a lear...
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