Forty Drinks

About Forty Drinks

Sometime around age 40 (+/-) you might start feeling like some part of your life no longer fits and you don't know what to do about it. It could be at work or at home - or simply inside of you. You might be asking questions like, "How did I get here?" Or, "Is this all there is?" "Is this what I've been working so hard for?" Or, "Why aren't I happier?" Growing out of her own experience turning 40, Stephanie McLaughlin became captivated by the big “four oh,” and how people handle the milestone birthday. On The Big Four Oh Podcast, Stephanie has conversations with people about their life experience around turning 40. This birthday often comes wrapped in larger life changes, whether it’s a newfound search for meaning, accepting your mortality, or shedding all those things you did because some external authority said you “should.” Her mission is to make it common cultural knowledge that there IS a transition most of us face around age 40, and then showcase so many versions of that transition that every single person approaching, or recently turned, 40 with dread in their heart, knows that they are not alone. I know you don't want to call it a midlife crisis, so I won't, but "if the glove fits, you must acquit." 😉

Publisher

Stephanie McLaughlin

Category

society & culture · society & culture · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

5 Apr 2022

Latest episode

9 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 159 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   9 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Turning 40 and rethinking the Millennial midlife crisis

   Host Stephanie McLaughlin interviews journalist Rachel Lobdell about millennials' unique midlife transition, revealing how continuous change fosters relief over crisis.

2. 

   13 May 2026

   Turning 40 and Rewriting Your Origin Story

   At 45, MJ Rod discovered that the man she'd believed was her birth father biologically couldn't have been. What followed was a years-long investigation: cold calls, DNA tests, dead ends, and a mother who went silent rather than tell the truth. MJ eventually cracked the case. But the real story isn't about who her father turned out to be. It's about what MJ discovered about herself in the process of finding him, and why it took until 45 for any of it to be possible. Guest Bio Melissa Jean Rod helps women heal from the pain of absent fathers and discover God as the loving Father who never leaves. A proud Texan raised in the little town of Cut and Shoot (yes, it’s real), Melissa writes with warmth, wit, and a deep sense of purpose. Married, a mom of six (a mix of step, birth and adopted), and Honey to five wild and wonderful grandsons, she’s also a sunset-chasing, chocolate-sneaking, Jesus-loving storyteller. Her debut self-help/memoir, The Daddy Files: A Story of Secrets, Forgiveness, and the Search for Identity is all about healing through honesty, faith, and a little laughter. Turning 40 and Rewriting Your Origin Story MJ Rod spent most of her life filling in a blank she didn't realize was there. Raised in a warm, loud, loving extended family in Texas, she grew up without her birth father, and built her whole sense of self around pleasing the people who were there. Then, at 45, while tracing her family tree, a blood type on an old military document stopped her cold. The man she had been told and believed was her biological father couldn't have been. What followed was a years-long investigation into her own origins, one that would crack open not just the mystery of where she came from, but everything she thought she knew about who she was. Episode Highlights MJ discovered at 45 that her birth father wasn't who she'd always believed, not from a confession or a DNA test, but from a blood type she had looked at dozens of times without registering what it meant. With no background in investigation but a lifelong dream of working in law enforcement, MJ built her own case from scratch, tracking down military Facebook groups, cold-calling strangers, and eventually hiring a professional genealogist through Ancestry.com to get her across the finish line. The search led her to her birth father's sister, who welcomed MJ without hesitation and even insisted on doing a DNA test, not because she doubted her, but so MJ would never have to doubt herself again. Finding her biological family didn't just answer a question. It answered a feeling. MJ discovered she shared her father's speech patterns, his curiosity about other cultures, his habit of pausing before he spoke, connection she had been searching for her whole life, arriving through a sister rather than a father. The discovery briefly cracked open every old insecurity MJ had worked to outgrow. But unlike her younger self, she moved through it, and came out the other side with a clarity about her own worth she hadn't had before. MJ also had to reckon with her mother's silence. For a year during MJ’s search, her mom stopped returning her calls entirely. What MJ eventually understood was that her mother wasn't angry, she was protecting herself, at MJ's expense. By the time her forties finished with her, MJ had written a book, started a nonprofit, raised money for kids in foster care, learned to love public speaking, and stopped calling herself "just a mom" - for good. Midlife has a way of surfacing what we spent decades avoiding, and MJ's story is proof that the thing you were most afraid to find out might be what finally sets you free. She came into her forties thinking the question was where she came from. She left knowing the more important answer was who she already was. If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to rate and follow the show and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Guest Resources Connect with MJ on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MelissaJeanRod/) Connect with MJ on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/melissajeanrod/) Melissa’s website (https://www.melissajeanrod.com) Are you stuck in people-pleasing mode? Download Stephanie’s People Pleasing Playbook to understand where it comes from, how it’s showing up, and what it’s costing you. www.thebigfouroh.com/peoplepleaser (http://www.thebigfouroh.com/peoplepleaser) Connect TheBigFourOh.com (http://thebigfouroh.com) TBFO on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thebigfouroh/) TBFO on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Thebigfouroh/) Get the Email Digest (https://thebigfouroh.com/subscribe) Listen, Rate & Subscribe YouTube Podcasts (https://www.youtube.com/@TheBigFourOh/podcasts) Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-four-oh-the-podcast-about-turning-40/id1618969891) Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/6F4Q75i4Url6Af5iOAVlA0) Amazon Podcasts (https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3b9e6982-f894-4343-9fa8-fedf2ae50943/the-big-four-oh-the-podcast-about-turning-40) Sponsor The Big Four Oh Podcast is produced and presented by Savoir Faire Marketing/Communications (https://savoirfaire-us.com/)

3. 

   30 Apr 2026

   Turning 40 and becoming the doctor your mother deserved

   Dr. Polly Watson did everything right. Medical school, residency, a thriving OB-GYN practice, two kids. And yet somewhere in her mid-thirties she looked up and realized the career she built felt nothing like the one she intended. What followed was a decade of discomfort, reckoning, and a slow, scary pivot to something that felt much better. In this episode, Polly talks about why women's perimenopause symptoms get dismissed, what conventional medicine gets wrong about menopause, and the fear she hid behind a mortgage payment for longer than she’d like. If you've ever had a life that looked fine from the outside but felt wrong on the inside, this one is for you. Guest Bio Dr. Polly Watson is a board-certified OB-GYN with over 20 years of experience, specializing in menopausal, sexual, and functional medicine. She is an expert in addressing a wide range of hormonal concerns, including PCOS, PMS, perimenopause, menopause, low libido, and sexual pain. As a certified practitioner with the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), Dr. Watson integrates holistic care approaches that go beyond traditional medicine through her North Carolina-based practice, Hormone Wellness MD. Her specialized training includes menopausal medicine through The Menopause Society, and sexual medicine through the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health. Dr. Watson partners closely with her patients, utilizing a combination of lifestyle modifications, nutrition, mindfulness, bio-identical hormones, and supplements to optimize hormonal balance and overall well-being. Turning 40 and becoming the doctor your mother deserved Dr. Polly Watson spent nearly a decade doing everything right. Eight years of postgraduate training, a full OB-GYN practice, two kids, and a schedule that looked successful from every angle. But somewhere in her mid-thirties, she picked her head up and realized she felt more like an insurance clerk than a physician. What followed wasn't a quick pivot. It was a slow, sometimes terrifying, decade-long journey from conventional medicine into functional gynecology, from following the path to building her own. Along the way she navigated early menopause, a failed first business, a fear she wasn't quite ready to name, and the hard work of becoming the kind of doctor she always intended to be. She got there. And this conversation is about how. Episode Highlights Polly traces her original drive to become a doctor back to watching her mother go through early menopause at 38 and receive what she describes as abysmal care, a pattern of women not being heard that she would spend her entire career pushing back against. The arrival of electronic health records transformed medicine in ways that left many physicians feeling like they were working for insurance companies rather than patients. Polly felt it acutely, and it became one of the early signals that something needed to change. When patients started arriving with garbage bags full of supplements and questions conventional medicine couldn't answer, Polly followed her curiosity into integrative and functional medicine spaces and found a world of doctors who were actually happy. At 39, sweating through the sheets and struggling to remember the names of drugs she prescribed daily, Polly experienced her own early perimenopause. She breaks down the outdated science behind hormone replacement therapy, debunking the Women's Health Initiative study clearly and accessibly, and makes a compelling case for why the conversation needs to shift from fear to informed decision-making. Polly founded Hormone Wellness MD in January 2019, in her mid-forties, with no formal business training and a previous failed business in her rearview mirror. She reflects honestly on the fear that kept her in the wrong place longer than she needed to be. Her take on menopause as a second adolescence, a chance to separate from old identities and show up with more intention, reframes a transition most women dread into something genuinely worth getting curious about. Polly's story is ultimately about learning to trust the discomfort, even when everything on the outside looks completely fine. She didn't leave conventional medicine because it stopped working. She left because she was finally honest about the fact that it stopped working for her, and that fear, not logistics, was the thing standing in the way. What she found on the other side is a practice she's proud of, patients she actually has time for, and a Tuesday night pottery class where she's learning to stop forcing the clay. Not bad for a decade's worth of slow, scary work. If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to rate the show, follow wherever you listen, and share it with someone who might need to hear it. It genuinely helps more people find these conversations. Guest Resources Listen to the Menopause Rescue Podcast (https://hormonewellnessmd.com/podcast) Connect with Polly on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/hormonewellnessmd) Connect with Polly on Instagram (https://instagram.com/hormonewellnessmd) Are you stuck in people-pleasing mode? Download Stephanie’s People Pleasing Playbook to understand where it comes from, how it’s showing up, and what it’s costing you. www.thebigfouroh.com/peoplepleaser (http://www.thebigfouroh.com/peoplepleaser) Connect TheBigFourOh.com (http://thebigfouroh.com) TBFO on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thebigfouroh/) TBFO on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Thebigfouroh/) Get the Email Digest (https://thebigfouroh.com/subscribe) Listen, Rate & Subscribe YouTube Podcasts (https://www.youtube.com/@TheBigFourOh/podcasts) Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-four-oh-the-podcast-about-turning-40/id1618969891) Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/6F4Q75i4Url6Af5iOAVlA0) Amazon Podcasts (https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3b9e6982-f894-4343-9fa8-fedf2ae50943/the-big-four-oh-the-podcast-about-turning-40) Sponsor The Big Four Oh Podcast is produced and presented by Savoir Faire Marketing/Communications (https://savoirfaire-us.com/)

Inside a recent episode

Turning 40 and rethinking the Millennial midlife crisis

Published 9 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] We see that with postpartum. We see that with perimenopause. We're in this moment for people. what with decades, a lot of people were contemplating it from a very personal perspective. What am I doing wrong? Why do I feel like this? It seems like no one else is experiencing this. And we've learned, and social media always helps with this, that More experiences are universal than we give them credit. For sure. And I agree with you. This is one of the positives of social media. And not that I would suggest that there are many anymore, but the creation of the global village where we can see that things are, like you said, more universal than we give them credit for. […]

Who has been a guest on Forty Drinks

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Rachel Lobdell
• Anne Butler Montgomery
• Anna Brooke
• Stephanie McLaughlin

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

22 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 53 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

78

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

71

Contact Forty Drinks

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.