You Don’t Have to Be Everything This Week

The Nudge You Can't Explain

Hi Friend, What do you do when your gut is telling you to leave a job you love and absolutely nothing about that makes logical sense? That’s exactly where my guest this week, Melanie Stevens, found herself. Melanie spent years in human resources at a charity in the UK, in a role she genuinely enjoyed, with great colleagues and a steady, well-paid, secure position. By every practical measure, life was good. And then came what she calls “the nudge”…a quiet, persistent feeling that it was time to go, even though she had a mortgage, a career she’d worked hard to build, and every reason to stay put. In our conversation, Melanie shares how she wrestled with that pull for about eighteen months — trying to bargain with it, reduce her hours, talk herself out of it — before she finally trusted it and left to build a spiritual teaching practice. Today, she teaches online courses to students in 94 countries. What struck me most wasn’t the leap itself. It was what she said about what happens after you leap, and it doesn’t immediately work. When her new path didn’t bring in enough income at first, she never once thought about going back. Instead, she asked a better question: not “did I make a mistake?” but “what adjustment is being asked of me here?” That reframe — that a roadblock isn’t proof you chose wrong, but a sign something else is needed — is something I think a lot of us in transition need to hear. We also talk about why our minds and our intuition so often pull in opposite directions, how to redefine what “abundance” actually means when you’re weighing a change, and why the scariest decisions are often the ones our whole body is quietly saying yes to. I share a bit of my own story too — leaving teaching, the guilt of “wasting” a degree, and the strange relief of finally trusting the decision even when it didn’t add up on paper. If you’re standing at the edge of a change you can feel but can’t quite justify, this conversation is for you. 🎧 Listen to the full episode above. You can find Melanie and her free resources at melanie-stevens.com. I’d love to hear from you! Hit reply and tell me: have you ever felt a “nudge” you couldn’t explain? Did you follow it? — Jenny Get full access to Reinvention by Design at jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe [https://jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Reinvention Behind Reinvention By Design

Hey Friend, If you’ve been here a while, you’ve probably noticed I disappeared for a bit. And if you’re new — welcome, I’m so glad you’re here! Either way, I owe you the real story, and that’s exactly what this episode is. The truth is, I’ve started and stopped my business more times than I’d like to admit. Different names, different directions, a lot of beginning again. From the outside, it probably looked like I just couldn’t make up my mind. But something else was going on underneath, and it took me a long time to see it. In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on all of it…fifteen years in the classroom, the burnout that finally pushed me out, the long string of businesses I started and walked away from, and the thing I eventually understood about why I kept quitting right when something started to work. Here’s the short version of what I learned: the stopping was never really about the work. It was about getting scared and reaching for something that felt safer…which, ironically, was the very thing that kept anything from ever growing. Once I saw that pattern clearly, I couldn’t unsee it. And it changed how I’m doing things this time. So this is me, drawing a line. This is Reinvention by Design, and it’s not changing. It’s a show about the big transitions of the second half of life — the career exits, the empty nests, the new chapters, the “who am I now?” seasons — and how women figure out what to actually do next. I’m not here as someone who has it all figured out, believe me…I haven’t. I’m here as someone walking it alongside you, who happens to be pretty good at seeing the whole picture when you’re standing too close to it. If you’ve ever felt scattered, like you can’t stick with anything, or like you’ve reinvented yourself a dozen times and still aren’t “there” yet, then this one’s for you. 🎧 Listen to the episode above. New episodes every week (yes, seriously every week!) And I’d genuinely love to hear from you: hit reply, or leave a comment, and tell me what transition you’re walking through right now. I read every one of them. — Jenny Get full access to Reinvention by Design at jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe [https://jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Ache You Can’t Explain: Why Midlife Isn’t the End, it’s the Invitation

There was a time in my life when I loved my job. I was genuinely excited to show up every day and pour my heart and soul into the young children I taught. It felt like a calling, and I was lucky enough to have found it. But something wild started to happen as I approached my 40th birthday.I began to feel… different. At first, I blamed the changes in public education (which is a valid conversation for another day). I thought it was the school, so I transferred. I chased solutions, trying to “fix” my loss of passion. Reinvention By Design with Jenny Cotten is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I’m a 5/1 in Human Design, so I love solving problems. I did everything that made sense in my mind: * Transferred schools * Got my master’s in curriculum and instruction * Tried to reinvent my role from the outside in But something really interesting happened. The doors that used to open for me… didn’t.Things got harder, not easier.The resentment and exhaustion crept in. It was slow at first, then all at once. I developed health issues.My body was inflamed. My thyroid spiraled (even with medication).I could barely walk some days.And one summer, I was so mentally and physically exhausted that I could barely get out of bed to play with my own children. It was awful and, to be honest, embarrassing. So when I tell you I get it — I really, truly do. It took me eight years to finally realize:The problem wasn’t my job. It was me. I had changed. I was trying to be an old version of myself in a time when she no longer fit.It’s like changing the lock on your front door and still trying to use the old key to get in. That’s what midlife is. 🗝️ The lock has changed.You can’t expect the same key to work anymore. Midlife Isn’t a Crisis — It’s an Awakening This isn’t about a crisis.It’s about awakening. A beautiful, sometimes disorienting, invitation to remember who you’re here to be, do, and become. How do you figure that out? That’s the deep work of midlife.And Human Design can help. It reconnects you to the truth of who you were — before the expectations, the conditioning, the “mind-trash”.For some women, it’s a gradual process. For others, it’s instant. For me, it took eight years.But once I said yes to what was true, things started to open. Ready to Explore Yours? If you’re curious what your Human Design says about your path and potential, start by downloading your free chart here:👉 www.jennycotten.com/blueprint [http://www.jennycotten.com/blueprint] Then send me a DM or email.Tell me what you’re noticing, what you’re longing for, and what gifts are starting to stir. I’d love to walk beside you. In love & light,Jenny ✍️ About the Author Hi, I’m Jenny — the voice behind Reinvention by Design. I’m a Midlife Reinvention Mentor, Human Design guide, and former educator turned second-act entrepreneur. After years of trying to make an old version of myself fit into a life that no longer felt like mine, I finally answered the ache I couldn’t explain and began again. Now, I help women in midlife rediscover who they are, what they’re here to create, and how to rise into a next chapter that finally feels true. This space is where I share stories, tools, and truth for the women who know they’re meant for more and are brave enough to become her. 🌿 Let’s Connect 📍 Curious what your Human Design says about your next chapter?→ Get your free chart here [http://www.jennycotten.com/blueprint] 💬 Come say hi on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/reinventionbydesign] or Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/groups/reinventionbydesign] 💌 Have a question or want to share your story? Send me a note here [jenny@reinventionbydesign.com] 🫶 If this post spoke to you, I’d love it if you liked, shared, or left a comment — your words help this message reach more women who need it. Thanks for reading Reinvention By Design with Jenny Cotten! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Reinvention by Design at jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe [https://jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

When Your Body Doesn’t Work Like It Used To

Hey Friend, It’s the beginning of a new year, and everywhere you look, someone is talking about goals, resets, and becoming a “better version” of yourself. And while there’s nothing wrong with wanting a fresh start, I’ve been noticing something quieter and heavier underneath all of that both in myself and in so many other women: “My body doesn’t work like it used to.” I feel more tired. More stressed. Slower to recover. Things that used to work… just don’t anymore. And there’s this confusing, sometimes scary feeling of, Why does everything feel so much harder than it used to? For me, this didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual realization. Little things started feeling harder. My energy wasn’t the same. My resilience wasn’t the same. And no matter how much I tried to “get back on track,” it never quite worked the way I expected it to. And honestly? The hardest part wasn’t even the physical changes. It was the emotional part. That quiet, nagging voice that says, Why can’t you just get it together? Why can’t you do what you used to do? So I did what most of us do. I tried harder. I looked for better plans, better routines, better strategies. I told myself I just needed to be more disciplined. But all that did was make me more tired and, frankly, frustrated. At some point, I had to admit something that was both uncomfortable and incredibly freeing: It wasn’t that I was doing everything wrong.My body has changed and I was still trying to live like it hadn’t. You can’t use a 35-year-old operating system in a 50-year-old body. Midlife is a real physiological and nervous system shift. Hormones change. Stress load changes. Your body’s tolerance and recovery change. And yet most of us keep trying to solve this season of life with the same old “try harder” mindset. This isn’t a willpower problem.It’s not a motivation problem.And it’s not because you’re broken. It’s because the rules have changed. Over the past year, I’ve been doing a lot of exploring in my work and on this podcast. If you’ve been here a while, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve had a wide range of conversations and guests. That was part of my own process of searching and refining. What’s become really clear to me is this: I’m not interested in living in the abstract. I’m not interested in ideas that sound good but don’t actually help you live in your body and your real life. I care about grounded, practical, body-based support. I care about what actually helps women feel better in their energy, their health, and their day-to-day lives. That’s the direction I’m taking this work and this podcast. Less forcing.Less fixing.More listening to the body.More understanding of how your energy and nervous system actually work. If you’ve been feeling like you don’t recognize your body anymore… you’re not alone. We’re not failing.We’re not behind.And we’re not broken. We don’t need to fix ourselves. We need a different approach. I talk about all of this more personally in this week’s podcast episode, and I hope it feels like someone finally put words to something you’ve been carrying quietly. xo,Jenny P.S. Let’s connect in the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reinventionbydesign [https://www.facebook.com/groups/reinventionbydesign] Get full access to Reinvention by Design at jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe [https://jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

You Don’t Have to Be Everything This Week

Hey friend, Can we just… pause for a second?Because this week is A LOT. And nobody really says that out loud. We all sort of walk around pretending we’re fine. We’re cooking, hosting, cleaning, planning, showing up for everybody…but on the inside? We’re exhausted. Or overwhelmed. Or just trying not to cry in the grocery store aisle because that was the wrong brand of whipped cream. You know what I mean. Christmas week has this special mix of magic + pressure that hits women especially hard.We’re expected to be joyful, present, emotionally available, organized, calm, generous, thoughtful, and somehow still look like a supermodel in pictures. And maybe you’re really trying, but you’re also really tired. I know I am. So here’s what I want to say to you, from one woman to another: You don’t have to be everything this week.You really, truly don’t. If you’re not overflowing with cheer — that’s okay.If you’re overstimulated — also okay.If you wish the whole holiday came with a “pause” button — totally normal.If you’re carrying more mental load than anyone realizes — I see you. You’re human.And this week asks a lot of humans, especially women. So before you push yourself into another round of “let me make everything perfect,” I want you to ask yourself one simple question: “What do I need this week?” Not what the family needs.Not what people expect.Not what you always do because “that’s just your role.” What do you need? A nap?Some quiet?Help with cooking?A minute alone in your bedroom where nobody is allowed to knock?Permission to not hold everything together? Whatever your answer is, it’s valid.And honestly… it might be overdue. And while we’re here, let me take another weight off your shoulders: You do not have to figure out your life before the new year. Seriously.You don’t need a color-coded plan for 2026. Well, maybe you don’t NEED one, but you WANT one and that’s totally okay. You don’t need a list of goals or a word of the year or any of that.You don’t have to “finish strong.”You’re allowed to finish… gently. Clarity comes when you’re rested, not when you pressure yourself into it. So let this week be soft.Let it be enough.Let it be imperfect but honest.Let it be whatever your energy can hold. And before I go, I want to tell you something we don’t hear enough: I’m proud of you.For how you’ve carried yourself this year.For the things nobody knows about.For showing up when you didn’t feel like it.For trying — even when it felt like too much. I’m grateful you’re here with me.And I’m excited to walk into 2026 with you. We can walk slow, steady, aligned, and on your terms. Or if you get rested and want to run into 2026 screaming, “Hell Yes!”. I’m here for that too. Take care of yourself this week, okay?You deserve that.Happy Holidays! With love,Jenny Get full access to Reinvention by Design at jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe [https://jennycotten.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]