The February Good Batch
Some things to look forward to
Welcome to the February Good Batch!
Each month, I gather up the best conversations with women over 40 doing remarkable things, the ideas fueling our courage, and what I can’t get enough of right now.
It’s the 60th day of the year. There are only 21 days until spring.
When my grandma passed away last spring, Sarah Krasley (from episode 65, author of the delightful Bug Soup) shared with me the best lesson in grief she received: always have something to look forward to.
This has been the coldest winter in my memory, marked by ICE raids and snowstorms and record lows (both moods and temperatures). But it’s also been a time to practice the question I’ve built my life around: what is this moment perfect for?
This winter hasn’t been perfect for running. I’m not keen to slip on the ice and break my noggin. In fact, there are lots of things this hasn’t been perfect for. But since it’s so unprecedented, the cold has been a chance to play in new ways.
I got to go to a sauna festival with Sarah and my husband Andy. I went cross-country skiing for the first time with Karly, the record-holding joggler from episode 129. I got a double yolk in my egg for the first time in my life on the first day of the month and then another on the last day of the month, which surely means something, and then we watched the historic Van Nostrand Cup ice boat race return to New Jersey’s frozen Navesink River for only the fourth time in nearly 140 years. I spent half a day with our local police and some neighbors directing traffic around a swan who had lost his swimming hole to the freeze. And when our power went out for 8 hours after another record snowfall, we got a good workout shoveling our driveway and an excuse to meet more of our new neighbors by walking around with our shovels and pitching in to help. I worked on my book undistracted in offline mode, and then we spent the evening playing board games (I lost).
Oh, and we celebrated 150 episodes of the podcast!
Maybe this month wasn’t so bleak after all. Or maybe my mood is perky because the days are getting longer and at this very moment the sun is shining.
But I also have lots to look forward to.
What I’m Looking Forward To Most
My birthday. March 13th.
Not coincidentally, it’s also the day I get to gather with 80 inspiring women in one room for a day of uplifting generosity and community at Uplifters Live.
I designed this day to be what I want in the world: joyful giving and receiving. We will share our knowledge and experience. We will remind ourselves that we have needs and that we don’t have to do everything on our own. People who enter as strangers will be friends by the end.
It’s a whole day centered around the most powerful (and often underestimated) segment of women in this country: midlife women.
There’s so much out there that tells us to shrink and play small, to expect to disappear. No wonder we start dreading midlife.
But a new meta-analysis by Australian researchers points to many of the key reasons why midlife is actually our peak time. And this day, the podcast, the women in my life are absolute irrefutable proof that it’s horse shit to think we are anything other than complete and total badasses who are full of potential.
We have so many superpowers, but the most powerful is our people. By midlife our BS detectors are primed, our guts are strong, we’ve collected people who know how to get things done, who aren’t threatened by lifting others up. This day is a real celebration and amplification of that. Something to look forward to.
February on The Uplifters Podcast: LOVE
In February, we explored love in all its forms:
💓 Mother love with Ruthie Ackerman (author of The Mother Code) on understanding the women who raised us, reconciling feminism and mothering, and reimagining this path in a way that feels right and true for ourselves. Listen HERE
💓 Friend love with Patina with Dina Aronson + Dina Alvarez on how later-life friendships and collaborations can unexpectedly change our creative paths. Listen HERE
💓 Self-love with Wendy Harrop, who said a giant yes to herself even though it meant courageously ending her marriage, moving across the country, and upending all the personal and professional structures she built in the first half of her life. Listen HERE
💓 Human love in the age of AI with Susan Ruth, host of the Hey Human podcast. Listen HERE
💓 Romantic love with Alyssa Dineen, a midlife dating coach who helps us rethink the stories we’re telling ourselves about navigating the mysterious and messy world of modern dating. Stay tuned!
Up next: Women Making History
Women’s history isn’t just something that happened. It’s something we’re making right now.
In March, four women show us exactly how.
How daily consistency builds community
For 22 years, Brooklyn crossing guard Tanya Thomas (known as “Miss T”), featured in the Corinne van der Borch/Edwina White documentary I Got You, has held a diverse Bed-Stuy community together through one simple practice: showing up every single day. She’ll show you how small, repeated acts create lasting impact.
How to bridge divides in your own backyard
Rebecca Wells and Carolyn Broullon ran against each other for mayor in a tiny New Jersey town. They’ll show you how proximity and face-to-face engagement can transform political opponents into allies - and why your local community is where real change happens.
How you can become an agent for democracy
Kerri Kennedy spent two decades challenging authoritarianism worldwide. She’ll teach you the specific actions ordinary people (especially midlife women) can take right now to protect democracy - no political experience required.
How to turn compassion into action
After seeing a young mother and toddler sleeping in a cardboard box, former model Deborah Koenigsberger started Hearts of Gold, which has helped over 45,000 homeless mothers and children since 1994. She’ll show you how to move from witnessing suffering to creating solutions.
Keep Looking Forward
Sarah was right. Always have something to look forward to.
Spring is 21 days away. My birthday is 13 days away. Uplifters Live is 13 days away. The sun is shining right now.
What are you looking forward to? Comment and tell us.
With love and courage,
Aransas