Midlife Is a Second Adolescence
Midlife gets talked about like it’s a crisis—something to fear, something to brace for, something that hits you out of nowhere and flips your world upside down.
But what if midlife isn’t a breakdown…
What if it’s a breakthrough?
In a recent Women on the Rise conversation on the BFF Empowerment Podcast, I sat down with Dr. Sue McCreadie—a holistic pediatrician and transformational midlife expert—to talk about exactly that. And y’all… this conversation was one of those that makes you pause and reflect on your whole life.
Because what Dr. Sue shared wasn’t just “tips.” It was a whole perspective shift.
Meet Dr. Sue: Holistic Pediatrics + Midlife Transformation
Dr. Sue is a holistic pediatric physician with over 30 years of experience specializing in nutritional medicine for kids. She’s also a mom of three girls—two teens and one young adult—which means she’s not just teaching transformation… she’s living it in real time.
Over the years, she realized that while her first calling was supporting children and families, there was another group she felt pulled to serve: women, especially women navigating midlife transitions.
And what I loved most is that she didn’t pretend it was a perfectly mapped-out plan.
She described it as a journey—one that involved trying different paths, learning what fit (and what didn’t), and eventually surrendering to what kept calling her forward.
Midlife as “Second Adolescence”
The moment that stuck with me most was when Dr. Sue said:
“I think of midlife as second adolescence.”
That analogy hit hard—because it’s true.
Think about adolescence:
- You’re discovering who you are
- Your emotions are everywhere
- Your body is changing
- Your relationships shift
- Your confidence sometimes disappears
- You’re asking, “Who am I… really?”
Dr. Sue explained that midlife can bring up those same themes—just in a different way.
It’s a season of rediscovery.
You start questioning:
- Am I still the same person I was at 30?
- Do I still like what I used to like?
- What do I want now?
- What parts of me have I outgrown?
- What do I want the next chapter to look like?
And honestly… that’s not a crisis. That’s evolution.
The Coaching Journey: Sometimes Your Calling Finds You
Dr. Sue shared that she began coaching around 2022, but she didn’t wake up one day and decide, “I’m going to be a coach.”
In fact, she resisted it.
She tried different ways to serve women and none of them felt fully aligned—either it worked for the women but not for her, or it worked for her but didn’t feel right for them.
So she did something powerful:
She surrendered.
She said she basically told God, “I give up. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to serve women.”
And then—just like that—life started dropping breadcrumbs:
An email… led to a video… led to a 3-day seminar… led to a year-long program.
And suddenly she realized: coaching was the lane.
That part of her story resonated with me deeply, because I shared my own journey too.
At one point, I thought about becoming a life coach. Then I talked myself out of it. But later, my manager—who is also a life coach—read my memoir Stolen Innocence: A Survivor’s Journey to Freedom and told me straight up:
“You need to be a life coach.”
And she was right.
Because people have always come to me for encouragement, perspective, and truth. Becoming a certified women’s empowerment coach wasn’t me becoming someone new.
It was me making it official.
Therapy vs. Coaching: How We Described the Difference
One of the most valuable parts of the conversation was breaking down the difference between therapy and life coaching—because a lot of people confuse the two.
From my perspective, therapy often involves someone giving you tools or guidance in a more structured way. Coaching feels more like supporting the client in discovering their own answers—through guidance, reflection, and powerful questions.
Dr. Sue added another layer:
She explained that therapy can sometimes be more diagnosis-focused (anxiety, depression, PTSD), and often involves deep exploration of the past, while coaching is more life-focused—helping you shift perspective, create new patterns, and move forward with intention.
Different lanes. Both valuable. Both needed. Just dependent on where you are and what support you need.
The Framework That Changes Everything: How We Create Emotions
Dr. Sue shared a coaching exercise she’s even used with patients (yes—she sees patients up to age 23). It’s one of those teachings that makes you realize how much power you actually have.
She broke it down like this:
We create our emotions based on:
- What we focus on
- The meaning/story we attach to it
- How we use our body
She gave an example of a joyful memory—being at a Taylor Swift concert with her family—where everything was expansive because her focus, meaning, and body language were aligned with joy.
Then she contrasted that with anxiety: focusing on what you can’t control, what you don’t have, worrying about the future, creating disempowering stories, and holding the body in a closed, collapsed posture.
And the empowerment in that is this:
If you can recognize what you’re doing…
You can interrupt it.
You can shift it.
You can choose differently.
That’s not toxic positivity. That’s conscious living.
Tarot + Numerology: Tools for Self-Discovery, Not Fortune-Telling
Yes, we went there—and I loved how grounded Dr. Sue kept it.
She explained that her interest in tarot started the way so many of our transformations do: curiosity.
She walked into a store in Asheville, North Carolina, felt completely drawn to a deck of cards, bought it… then went home like, “Now what do I do with these?” 😂
That curiosity led her into learning tarot, and later numerology—especially because she had already been noticing recurring numbers (hello, 111 and 555!) for years, especially during a difficult season of miscarriages.
But here’s the key:
Dr. Sue does not use tarot as fortune-telling.
She uses it like a reflective tool—similar to an inkblot test—where the card helps reveal what’s already in your subconscious. What you notice, what stands out, what you interpret… can uncover beliefs, patterns, and inner blocks.
It becomes a conversation, not a prediction.
And I appreciated how she honored that not everyone wants to use these tools. Some clients love them, some are curious, and some prefer faith-based approaches—and she supports all of it.
Because healing has many pathways.
How This Work Impacts Parenting, Marriage, and Life
One question I asked her was how all this inner work influences her personal life—especially as a wife and a mom.
Her answer was real and refreshing.
She said she feels like she’s basically a life coach to her teens right now—because adolescence and young adulthood come with so much to navigate. But what makes her parenting different now is that she does her own inner work so she can be less reactive.
And she said something I loved:
She hasn’t read parenting books. She just keeps working on herself.
Now me? I have read the parenting books—because as a first-time mom, I was trying to figure everything out. But even with all the books, you still learn the truth:
You can only prepare so much.
The rest is trial and error, growth, and grace.
She also shared that doing the inner work has strengthened her marriage—because relationships shift when you shift. And entrepreneurship? She called it a spiritual ride. Because when you are the business, your growth determines how far the business can go.
Whew.
Final Thoughts: Your Next Chapter Can Be Your Best Chapter
This conversation with Dr. Sue reminded me that growth is always available.
Midlife doesn’t have to be something you dread. It can be the season where you finally come home to yourself.
Where you stop living on autopilot.
Where you start choosing—on purpose—what you want your life to look like.
And whether your tools are therapy, coaching, journaling, faith, tarot, numerology, or something else entirely…
The goal is the same:
Heal. Grow. Expand. Evolve.
Because you deserve sustainable happiness. Not perfection—just alignment.
Connect with Dr. Sue McCready
If you want to continue the conversation with Dr. Sue, you can find her at:
drsuemccreadie.com
And if you’d like to be featured as a Women on the Rise guest on the BFF Empowerment Podcast, email me at:
Until next time… keep rising, sis. 💎✨
