Midlife Unfiltered is a podcast for honest conversations about the second half of life. Hosted by Margit Cruice, it explores the realities of midlife — the questions, the changes, the quiet wisdom and the unexpected opportunities that come with age.
These conversations are reflective, human and deeply grounded, touching on surrender, strength, purpose, relationships and what it really means to live well as we grow older. No fixing. No filters. Just real conversations that meet you where you are.
You know the thing. The one that keeps quietly sitting there, waiting. You haven't forgotten it - you just haven't done it yet. This episode is for that.
In the final episode of season one of Midlife Unfiltered, Margit and Clarkie unpack one of the most human habits of all — procrastination. Not because we're lazy. Not because we don't care. But for reasons that are often more interesting, and more human, than we give ourselves credit for.
Together, they explore the emotional undercurrent beneath putting things off: fear, overwhelm, self-talk, perfectionism, and the strange comfort of staying exactly where we are. It’s a conversation that moves between humour and honesty, touching on relationships, work, identity and the quiet mental load many people carry every day.
This episode doesn’t try to “fix” procrastination with productivity hacks. Instead, it invites listeners to look at what happens when we delay the things that matter most — and why beginning is often the hardest part of all.
And somewhere inside the conversation is a simple reminder: sometimes momentum starts with one small step.
In this episode, we explore:
Why knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things
The way our brains and our gender might shape how we hold (or avoid) the things on our list
What fear has to do with the steps we keep skipping
Why the hardest part is almost never the task itself
A surprisingly simple technique for breaking the stall and building momentum
What it means when we start to identify as someone who procrastinates and why that matters
2:10 – Gunna, procrastination, and the difference between the two
3:45 – Do men and women experience procrastination differently? An honest look at how we're wired
6:30 – Fear, business, and the step that keeps getting skipped
8:00 – What's actually happening in the brain when we stall and why starting changes everything
9:15 – The five-second technique that cuts through avoidance (it's simpler than you think)
11:00 – When procrastination becomes an identity and what to do about it
Margit Cruice is a midlife and leadership coach who believes this chapter of life can be one of the most expansive and liberating we’ll ever live. Drawing on decades of experience, sport, travel and deep personal inquiry, she creates spaces for honest conversations about identity, ageing and becoming.
Connect with Margit:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margitcruice/ (https://www.instagram.com/margitcruice/)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margitcruice (https://www.facebook.com/margitcruice)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margitcruice/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/margitcruice/)
Website: https://www.margitcruice.com/ (https://www.margitcruice.com/)
For all enquiries:
Email: info@margitcruice.com (mailto:info@margitcruice.com)
Join The Joy Rebellion: https://ecc3-margit.systeme.io/joyrebel (https://ecc3-margit.systeme.io/joyrebel)
18 May 2026
You Don't Need Permission to Want More: Trish Mallabar on Choosing a Different Kind of Life
What if the life you've been quietly craving has been waiting for you to simply say yes? This episode is for anyone who's ever stood at the edge of something unfamiliar and wondered whether it was too late to step through.
Trish Mallabar spent more than three decades as a teacher — and like so many women who pour themselves into a vocation, she arrived at midlife not quite sure who she was without it. This conversation begins there, in that tender and disorienting space between a life well-lived and one still unfolding.
What follows is a rich, unhurried conversation about burnout, the slow erosion of identity, and what it actually feels like to walk away from something that defined you. Trish speaks with honesty about perimenopause, the weight of a system that asked too much, and the moment she realised she needed to choose herself.
But this episode isn't about loss. It's about what opens up when you create enough space to let life surprise you — strangers who appear at just the right moment, the pull of ancestry, the unexpected comfort of aged care work, and the quiet joy of birdwatching at Lake Weyba on Mother's Day.
Trish and Margit share a warmth and history that makes this conversation feel less like an interview and more like two women sitting together with a cup of tea, being honest about the things that matter most.
In this episode, we explore:
What it costs to build your identity around a vocation and what it takes to let it go
The relationship between burnout, perimenopause and finally saying enough
How slowing down on the road opened something up that rushing never could
The strangers who appeared at exactly the right moment
What ancestral connection feels like in your body, even across a language barrier
Why midlife might actually be the best time to discover something completely new
9:40 – When your identity is 95% your job and then the job changes
11:42 – Perimenopause, teaching and the slow unravelling of something that once felt solid
16:21 – Why they said yes to six months in North America and what came home with them
24:22 – What travel teaches you that no classroom ever could
27:02 – The boy in Sarajevo, the waiter in Amsterdam and the gentleman in Slovenia when the universe shows up in human form
39:19 – Standing in Denmark, feeling the pull of ancestry and the people who came before
Trish Malabar is a former teacher of 32 years who now works in aged care, bringing the same curiosity and warmth to both chapters of her working life. She has lived and worked across Australia, from the Northern Territory to the Sunshine Coast, and has spent extended periods travelling through North America and Europe with her husband Dave. Trish belongs in this conversation because she knows what it means to rebuild a sense of self in midlife — thoughtfully, honestly and without rushing toward easy answers.
11 May 2026
The Small Promises: How Keeping Your Word to Yourself Changes Everything
How many times today have you said you'd do something — and quietly let yourself off the hook? This episode is for anyone who finds it easier to keep promises to others than to keep them to themselves.
In this episode of Midlife Unfiltered, Margit and Clarkie turn their attention inward — to the small, often invisible agreements we make with ourselves every single day. The ones we break before breakfast. The ones we dress up in excuses.
The conversation begins with a deceptively simple idea from the book The Four Agreements — be impeccable with your word — and quickly moves somewhere more personal. Because it's one thing to show up reliably for others. It's quite another to show up reliably for yourself.
What unfolds is an honest, warm and at times uncomfortably relatable conversation about the difference between big dreams and small actions. About how the gap between what we say and what we do quietly chips away at our confidence — and how closing that gap, even slightly, changes the way we feel about ourselves in midlife.
This isn't about perfection or productivity. It's about learning to trust yourself again, one small commitment at a time.
In this episode, we explore:
Why breaking promises to yourself might cost more than you realise
The quiet relationship between self-trust and confidence in midlife
What being a "gunna" is really doing to your sense of self
Why smaller, honest commitments can carry more power than grand resolutions
The difference between starting something and finishing it — and why both matter
How the way we speak to ourselves shapes what we believe we're capable of
3:29 – When you let yourself down vs. letting someone else down are they really that different?
5:04 – What happens when we distrust ourselves
8:40 – What smokers, lawn mowing and television have in common the power of the small step
10:30 – From self-sabotage to self-respect: how trust in yourself is actually built
11:40 – The invitation: start noticing where you're not being impeccable with yourself
Margit Cruice is a midlife and leadership coach who believes this chapter of life can be one of the most expansive and liberating we’ll ever live. Drawing on decades of experience, sport, travel and deep personal inquiry, she creates spaces for honest conversations about identity, ageing and becoming.
Connect with Margit:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margitcruice/ (https://www.instagram.com/margitcruice/)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margitcruice (https://www.facebook.com/margitcruice)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margitcruice/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/margitcruice/)
Website: https://www.margitcruice.com/ (https://www.margitcruice.com/)
For all enquiries:
Email: margit@margitcruice.com (mailto:margit@margitcruice.com)
Join The Joy Rebellion: https://ecc3-margit.systeme.io/joyrebel (https://ecc3-margit.systeme.io/joyrebel)
Contact Midlife Unfiltered with Margit Cruice
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Midlife Unfiltered with Margit Cruice?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
