Midlife Redesigned: Women Reshaping Their Future by Leveraging the Power of Their Heart

By Desiree Leigh Thompson

In Midlife Redesigned: Women Reshaping Their Future by Leveraging the Power of Their Heart, Desiree Leigh Thompson urges women to re-examine their lives before it is too late. Thompson encourages women to deeply reflect on the life they have chosen and the one they may wish to have moving forward. Thompson outlines the many obstacles’ women face in achieving their goals and how to overcome them and encourages women to slow down and take time to heal and unclutter the mind so that they can intentionally and with integrity lead the second stage of their life from the heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jun 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9798765229477

Desiree Leigh Thompson

Desiree Leigh Thompson, BSN, MSN is an author, coach, mentor, and the CEO of Desiree Leigh Coaching, a Personal Leadership and Lifestyle Redesign Coaching and Woman’s Wellness Educational Company. Her vision is to coach and educate women to liberate themselves and take back ownership to improve the quality of their lives.

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Copyright © 2022 Desiree Leigh Thompson, BSN MSN.

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of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical

problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The

intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help

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ISBN: 979-8-7652-2948-4 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-2947-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022910202

Balboa Press rev. date:   06/22/2022

Contents

The Purpose of the Book

Part 1: The Battle Within—

Where Are You Right Now?

1     Compelled to Examine Life

2     Suppressing Our Emotions

3     The Deceptive Self

4     The Product of Our Environment

Part 2: The Disorganized State

5     Stress Response System

6     Brain of a Trauma Survivor

7     Effects of Trauma

8     The Connection of Type A Personalities with Survivors of Unresolved Trauma

Part 3: What’s Holding You Back

9     Denial of Self

10   Where You Are Isn’t Limited to Who You Are

11   Willingness to Change

12   Facing Everyday Fears

13   Spiritual Bypassing

14   Your Comfort Zone Will Turn into Regret

Part 4: The Agreement—Where You Need to Go

15   Why We Are Constantly Short on Time

16   Commitment

17   Negative Self-Talk

18   Developing New Patterns of Behavior

19   The Power of Self-Reflection

20   Overcome Obstacles and Triggers

21   Healing the Spirit

Closing

Bibliography

About the Author

The Purpose of the Book

Changing our behavior is challenging, especially long-term sustainable change. Many of us start off well. We get motivated by social media posts, attending a motivational lecture or distant retreat, a new year, or even when we fall head-over-heels in love. We feel as though we are on top of the world or invincible and that we can do anything. Then... we go back home to that all-too-familiar environment, and sooner or later, we end up going back to our old patterns of habit. A few months go by, and we start to wonder what happened, or worse, we don’t even think about it at all. We are no longer on the dopamine high and feeling euphoric from being motivated. Reality sets in with daily responsibilities, a regular work schedule, monthly bills, and unexpected challenges. Another year passes. At some point, we get reinspired, and we repeat this cycle without really reaching our dreams or living the lifestyle we thought was easy enough to create.

We may also think that we are changing when, in fact, nothing of significance has changed. We slowly plug away month after month and year after year, making some concerted effort to attain our goals, but when we look back over time, we see that little has changed. We have the same unimaginative or cynical friends set in their ways, always talking about the old days, the same weekend gatherings or events that don’t inspire or challenge one’s thinking or behavior, and the same dull activities that aren’t even on our bucket lists.

At this point, we may ask ourselves, How could this be? Why does everything still look the same? Have I really been making a difference to change what I don’t want into what I do want? It’s as though time has stood still, but it hasn’t, because one thing is for certain: every time you look at the face staring back at you in the mirror, your reflection says it all. "I have changed. Time has passed. There is no doubt about it." My skin vividly reveals the age spots. The cute and once sexy fine laugh lines are now deep wrinkles, and much more evident. Whenever I rub moisturizers that promise endless beauty and subtle skin over my body, my skin continues to grow rough, bumpy, and loose. Rather than feeling like soft velvet, as it once did, my skin now feels like rough linen.

Looking at your self-reflection and acknowledging these changes is not about judgment. This is reality. You can see clearly by your reflection that you are aging, and that is the realism of life. The realism that your time is limited here on Earth.

If we are consciously awake to life and how quickly things change, we will see that there is an end period, for me, for you, for everyone. We all die at some point. Looking at our reflection in the mirror is not only about recognizing that our time is limited here on Earth, though. What we typically forget about as we age is that our bodies break down, our reflexes become slower, and our senses diminish. We may acquire chronic health conditions such as heart or kidney disease and diabetes as we age. We have wonderful technology to help keep our youthfulness with stem cell regenerative surgery, plastic surgery for mini- or full-face lifts, and, of course, all the wonderful treatments we can get done at a medi spa using various light therapies to improve skin color and texture. But the fact is, even though we may add a few years to our lives, and we may look a little bit younger, our bodies are still going to tell us that we are getting old. We will no longer feel like we did when we were twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years old. Our energy levels will change and diminish. We will be forced to slow down. With that in mind, we won’t be able to accomplish as much as we used to.

Life is not about trying to outlive everyone. I suppose there are a few of us that may believe this, but I am more about achieving a good quality of life—a quality of life that has substance, meaning, healthy relationships, and peace of mind. What we must remember as well, when we are considering change, is that change is a process that takes time, and as we move into midlife, our time is more precious and limited.

If you are the type of person who likes to put things off for another day, week, month, or year and thinks that life will last forever, you’ve got a huge surprise coming to you: death. If you are living in your head telling yourself that One day, I will do it, you are living in a fantasy. It’s not going to happen. Not concretely measuring your changes, your goals, and your pursuits means that