Women Wiser Than I: Amy Poehler
Crisis schmisis
“I’m just digging this time. There should be another term besides “midlife crisis,” everyone likes to say she/he is having a midlife crisis. I’d love to rebrand some version of that where you start having a midlife discovery or breakthrough.” – Amy Poehler
I gotta say, even though my life is currently in upheaval, I’m digging this time too. It’s like I woke up on my 40th birthday clean out of f*cks, replaced instead by eyerolls, heavy sighs, raised eyebrows and pursed lips. Overnight, I had morphed into Cillian Murphy in interview mode.
Some of my own personal midlife discoveries and breakthroughs:
· My bs threshold has lowered significantly. I no longer care about being polite to rude people. I have less patience for stupidity/arrogance/rudeness/hypocrisy or any other undesirable traits.
· Instead of speaking my mind more I let my silence and disengagement speak for itself. I no longer waste my time or sanity trying to reason with unreasonable people.
· Makeup is an elective, not a requirement.
· I work out to be strong and feel good rather than to obtain some ideal body. I like cake too much to have abs.
· Rage can be a good thing—if you listen instead of repressing it, it can inform and guide you.
· My face has elevens and parentheses. Instead of powerfully proclaiming that this too is beautiful, I accept that it just IS. In fact, the furrows may actually work in my favor and give off a “don’t mess with me” vibe.
· I’d rather be in my own company than have relationships of convenience.
· Caring about what other people think of me has fallen off my to-do list.
· While not quite in my crone era yet, being much less in the male gaze has been liberating and has led to a greater comfort in my body.
· Socrates was right—”all I know is that I know nothing.”
🎧 Listen
Listen to Poehler chat with other wise women like Michelle Obama, Olivia Colman, and Regina Hall on her Good Hang Podcast.
📖Read
Check out her debut memoir Yes Please for more on creative reinvention, aging with humor, and unapologetically being yourself.
💭Reflections / Journal Prompts
-What are some of your midlife discoveries and breakthroughs? (I’d love to read them in the comments!)





Amen sister! All spot on… plus I’ll add, ‘if it costs you your peace, it’s too expensive’.