Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women by Ann Douglas
From bestselling author Ann Douglas: a fiercely honest and wildly encouraging guide for midlife women
Navigating the Messy Middle:
A Fiercely Honest and
Wildly Encouraging Guide
for Midlife Women
by Ann Douglas
It’s hard to imagine a life stage that’s more misunderstood than midlife—or about which there is more misinformation. Not only is there no roadmap: you should consider yourself lucky if you actually manage to spot a road sign announcing that you’ve arrived.
Ann Douglas, trusted author of The Mother of All® series of parenting books, explores the messy and misunderstood midlife years in this big-hearted and encouraging guide for women.
Navigating the Messy Middle offers practical, evidence-based strategies for thriving at midlife, coupled with the compelling stories of more than one hundred midlife women. These women share their hard-won wisdom on everything from managing worries and regrets to chasing after long-held hopes and dreams. Their advice spans all aspects of midlife: from health and relationships to career and finances, while addressing other big-picture issues that get at the heart of why midlife can be a particularly challenging life stage for women.
Navigating the Messy Middle looks beyond the easy self-help answers and simple negative stereotypes, celebrating midlife’s unique messiness and giving readers the tools to imagine a new and better path forward.
Ann Douglas is an award-winning writer and bestselling author. She is the creator of The Mother of All Books® series, which has sold over half a million copies in North America to date. She lives in Hastings Highlands, Ontario.
What people are
saying about the book
“Navigating the Messy Middle will be well-loved, dog-eared, underlined, and passed from friend to friend. It will encourage continued conversations between women who, after reading this book, will know for sure that they aren't alone.”
— Sara Smeaton, midlife coach
“Empowering”
“The best thing about Ann Douglas's perspective, as always, is her understanding that one-size-fits-all advice fits no one. Instead, in Navigating the Messy Middle, readers will discover an empowering guide to finding one's own way through the ups and downs of midlife, a time when seeking strength in connection, embracing the changeability of the physical self, and focusing on one’s real values and priorities can create a powerful moment of (finally!) becoming.”
- Kerry Clare, author of Waiting for a Star to Fall
“Eye-opening”
“If you’re a woman facing the beautiful, messy, occasionally harsh realities of mid-life, this compelling new book from bestselling author Ann Douglas is for you. It offers a candid exploration of what it means to be a middle-aged woman in modern western society, a role which sees us at once indispensable and empowered, yet often invisible and ignored. It’s an eye-opening read, and well worth your precious time.”
- Catherine Clark, Co-Founder, The Honest Talk
“A cornucopia of women’s stories”
“This book tackles the complex and often misunderstood topic of women’s lived experience of mid-life, with insights from interviews with more than one hundred women. Written in a style that is both accessible and informative, Ann Douglas brings us a book which delivers on her intentions ‘to shine a spotlight on the radical, transformative potential of midlife.’ In these pages, the reader is invited into a cornucopia of women’s stories, challenging the invisibility often associated with this stage of life, and ultimately drawing us towards a collective reimagining of the female life cycle.”
- Molly Andrews, co-director Association for Narrative Research and Practice
“Written clearly and compellingly with a mix of science-backed information and real-life stories, Navigating the Messy Middle will inevitably find a wide, appreciative audience. Reading it made me feel seen, understood and empowered, and my anxiety about this period in my life has been replaced by curiosity and optimism. If you buy one book about midlife, make it this one.”
— Kim Shiffman, Editor-in-Chief, TODAY’S PARENT
“Midlife requires a radical imagination: a willingness to tell ourselves new and better stories about our lives.”
Ann Douglas, author of NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE: A FIERCELY HONEST AND WILDLY ENCOURAGING GUIDE FOR MIDLIFE WOMEN