Do you know what it’s like to release 50 pounds off your body one year and put all that weight back on the next year? That’s been the story of my life for the last decade. If you’ve ever let a healthy habit slide like I have, you’ll want to listen to this episode. I’ll share how you can rebuild those habits without shame – one doable day at at time.
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This one is for the woman over 50 who’s felt the gap between who you know you’re meant to be and the daily patterns that keep pulling you back. Here’s the good news. You’re not broken. You’re human. You’ll learn why starting small matters when it comes to making a change, and how consistency becomes your secret superpower. You’ll hear real-life examples from my own training goals – to run a 10K and a half marathon this fall – and how I’m using structure, reminders, and accountability to make the habit “stick.” Plus, I’ll share a light language transmission to support your nervous system and your spirit.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why women in midlife are actually wired to build habits successfully — and why that’s a scientific fact, not just a pep talk
- The truth about “starting over” — why you can reset at 2pm on a Tuesday, and why that grace is a spiritual practice, not an excuse
- How to use habit stacking and simple visual cues to anchor new behaviors into the routines you already have
- Why big lifestyle transitions (grief, divorce, empty nesting) are the wrong time to launch new habits — and what to do instead to care for yourself in those seasons
- The power of accountability — and how to find the right kind of support that feels like love, not pressure
Whether your “habit” is about your health, your business, your spiritual practice, or simply giving yourself the care you’ve spent decades giving everyone else — this one is for you.
Resources & links mentioned:
Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear
Book: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Google Voice-to-Text: alternative to written journaling if writing is a barrier.
Support STEM education by sponsoring my 10K run at DisneyWorld: https://runsignup.com/gloriarand
Design Your Life, Your Way – next steps:
Learn more about working with Gloria Grace Rand: gloriarand.com/offerings
Explore upcoming retreats for women over 50: goodgriefretreat.net
Try a free 15-minute introductory Light Language session: tidycal.com/gloria3/lightlanguageintro
If this episode spoke to you:
Leave us a review.
Follow/subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode.
Share this with a friend who’s navigating transition, reinvention, or a fresh start after 50.
Connect with me on LinkedIn @GloriaGraceRand and tell me: What’s the one small habit you’re ready to begin again… today?
TRANSCRIPT
Midlife Habits That Stick: Start Small, Stay Consistent
Welcome: Your Midlife Empowerment Guide Introduces Today’s Topic
Namaste. I am Gloria Grace Rand, your midlife empowerment guide. And today’s episode is all about habits and how you can make change really stick. And it came about the way I was inspired to talk about this this week is because I am endeavoring to get back to doing a new habit. I’m really going to be starting seriously on it in the summer, later this summer.
Setting Bold Goals After 50: Training for a Disney World 10K
As I’m recording this, it is the middle of February, but I have a goal. I have a goal right now and that is a goal that my son and daughter in law are going to be doing a 10k race in Disney World in the fall. And so mom used to do half marathons many years ago. It’s I, and I think I was looking at the last time I did one was about eight years ago, as a matter of fact. And I decided that it’s time for me to lace up my shoes and get out there and, and go out and run, walk.
That’s just probably what I’m going to be doing with, with my son and daughter law in Orlando at Disney World because I live in Florida. They’re going to be coming all the way from another state. But since I live right here in the Sunshine State, it makes perfect sense for me to go ahead and do it with them. So I decided, so I signed up for that. And I’m actually, I’m going to include the link in the description below because I’m actually running for a good cause.
Running for a Purpose: Supporting STEM Education
I am doing it for, to support STEM education, which I think is really good. And if you’re listening to this podcast or watching it and you’re not in the United States and you’re like, what the heck is STEM education? It’s basically science and technology education. So helping young people to be able to learn and be able to then get careers in technology, engineering, science. And both of my, well, my son and my daughter in law are both, they’re involved with cyber security.
So this is right in their wheelhouse especially I’m very proud of them that they’re both involved in technology. So yeah, I want to be able to help other young people do that. So I’m going to do that. And not only that, I decided since it has been eight years since my last half marathon where I live here in Florida on the Space coast, they have a Space coast half marathon in the fall, which I have done before. And I decided that, what the heck, I’m going to do the half marathon as well.
And it just so happens that it works out to be a month after the Disney one. So it’s right in my training and that’s what I wanted.
Why Building Up Slowly Is the Secret to Half Marathon Success
That’s what got me thinking because I started looking through my, my old papers and, and training guides and things about how to do a half marathon. And if you’ve never done running or, or even walking a, a long race, especially like a half marathon or a full marathon, I’ve even done two of those. Never again.
It’s too long for me. But you have to start small. You’ve got to build up your stamina. You, you don’t just go out and say, especially if you’re over 50. And I, and the first time I did a marathon I was over 40.
So you don’t just decide if, especially if you’re not a regular runner, which I was not. If you’re not a regular runner, you don’t just sign up for a race and then just go ahead and don’t do any preparation. Then you just go out and expect to run 26.2 miles. If you’re doing a full or 13.1, if you’re doing the half, you’ve got to build up. You have to get conditioned.
Your legs, your whole body, frankly, needs to get in condition for that. And as part of that, since I do have this really good goal now in the fall, so I’ve got several months before I have to do that. I am determined that this year I want to be in the best possible shape that I’ve ever been in to do one of these races.
Embracing Self-Care and Healthy Habits: Getting Your Body Race-Ready
Releasing Weight and Giving Yourself Grace
Because in the past that was not the case. I was definitely overweight. Attempting to do these races. I’ve. I would. Would have been at least always 20 or 30 pounds heavier than would have been ideal to really be at my best and to have a race take less time than it has done for me. So just to give you context here, so I mentioned I did do two full marathons in the past.
It took me well over seven hours. Not a good, not a good pace, people.
Even the half marathon, I think my best time was maybe 3 hours and 15 minutes or so. That could still be a little bit better if I was in better shape and so get back to these habits. So what I’m going to do, I’m not going to start actively run walking until probably June. But in the meantime, since I have several months between now and then, I am going to start doing like a long walk every weekend and just, you know, so I did like two miles this past weekend and I will probably do the same again this weekend. And, and just at Least do some walks.
Toning, Core Work, and Starting Small with Exercise
And I’m also going to start working on two things. Number one is doing more toning of my body and doing, you know, doing. Lifting some light weights and doing some core work and start getting in the habit. I haven’t. I’ve done a little bit, but I. What I’m going to be doing is start really coming up with a schedule for myself and figuring out which of the best exercises that I could do and do something like at least one or two exercises every day to help me to start getting in shape for when I get ready to be seriously training for the race.
Getting Back to a Consistent, Healthy Diet
The other thing I wanted to start working on again is being more consistent with my, with my diet. I did. And I. And I don’t say diet as in dieting to lose weight. I’m talking about diet of what I’m eating every day, the food that I eat. Not necessarily, yes, I would like to release a few more pounds, but more of just getting back to eating a consistent healthy diet day in and day out, because I did indulge over the holidays and even into. In January because it was, I don’t know, whatever.
Whatever the reason, you know, I, I’ve. I did a really good job over the past year, year and a half of releasing a lot of weight. And so I gave myself grace and said, okay, yes, you put a few, few of those pounds back on, but not. I didn’t go all the way. I haven’t put all of them back on. And that is a significant thing. And, and I patting myself on the back for that.
And, and if you’ve ever done something like that, it’s really good to recognize that, number one, I have, I’ve. I’ve had to deal with. I’ve had weight issues all of my life, basically. I mean, I. Even when I was a little kid, in my diary, I wrote down how much I weighed. So, I mean, when I was like nine years old, even so, I was conscious that I wasn’t as thin as some of the other kids in my neighborhood, let’s say.
So my highest point I reached in, I think about 2003, and it was a lot, and I was shocked to see how much I weighed at that time. So I vowed to never hit that milestone again. And I haven’t now, over the past 10 years, I have bumped up against another lower level, but still way too high for what I’m comfortable with. And so now, now that I’ve been able to get stay off of that for over a year, well over a year, even getting into two years now, I’ve, I’ve developed a new set point so that now that is my top weight that I’m never going to get to. And so now I’m working on making the weight I’m at now to be the next set point so that I never want to be heavier than I am right now.
I, I, because it’s still, I’m okay, but I, I felt better when I was a little bit lighter like I was last fall. So I’m going to get there. I will get there again. And the way that I’m going to do that is by, number one, taking it one day at a time, especially with the, with the food and, you know, that’s really important.
It’s Never Too Late to Start: Resetting Healthy Habits in Midlife
And, and just starting small with, with doable things that I can stay committed to. And, and if you’ve, you know, ever, you know, considered whether you want to do a new habit, maybe it is, you want to start a new exercise program. And, you know, especially this time of year, we’re into February. If a lot of people who set New Year’s resolutions in January by the, by now that it’s six months or six months, six weeks into the year, they’re letting those slide. So you can start today.
Even, even if you did set a New Year’s resolution to do something and maybe healthier for yourself and you’ve kind of given up on it, you know what? It’s okay. Forgive yourself. Start today. Start right now, right now and just say, okay, I’m going to do something different now. I’m gonna, I’m gonna go back to what I wanted to do, because that’s, that’s the important thing is that you can always start over.
Taking It One Day at a Time: A Real-World Habit Reset Story
You can always start over midday. You know, let’s say you, let’s say it’s, it’s the afternoon, and in the morning we’re gonna take food because that’s my, my thing. So let’s say you indulged in the morning. Well, you’re like, okay, yeah, that wasn’t the greatest. All right, so let me do the rest of the day eating well, and then that helps you to carry momentum into the next day so that you can say, well, okay, so I finished out the day. Good. Let’s see if I can continue that on today.
And, and frankly that’s what I was doing last week because I had again, I had indulged in sugar a bit too much and buying cookies even though I trying to find healthiest per se cookies, but still, who am I kidding, they had sugar in them. So instead I said, okay, let me just get through one day today, one day, surely you can do one day. And so that’s my goal was to get through one day.
And, and I did. I managed to get through the day. It wasn’t necessarily easy, but I did it. And so day two came around and it’s like, okay, I’m not even going to think about what I did yesterday. Let me just get through today. I’m going to pretend today is even just day one. And so let me just get through today. And by day three it was getting easier.
Women Over 50 Are Actually Better at Building New Habits — Here’s Why
And that is the wonderful thing about habits is that when you are consistent and you keep doing it day after day, they really do get easier to do. And I was doing some research before I got on today to record this and here’s some really good news for us women in midlife is that studies have shown that we’re actually better at adopting new habits because we often have strong self regulation and ability to delay gratification like I was able to do.
An Important Caveat: Don’t Start New Habits During Big Life Transitions
So now there’s a little caveat though, because habits can be harder to sustain if you’re trying to establish one while also going through some big disruptive lifestyle overhaul. So let’s say you are in the middle of, maybe you’re going through a relationship change and maybe, you know, either you or your spouse decided to, you know, split up and that you’re going to go and you’re getting a divorce. This is not the time necessarily to start a new habit.
And I will also say you might be tempted to use it as an excuse to overindulge. And I’ve been there, I’ve been there. I, when my sister passed, I gave myself permission to eat my feelings. The problem is I kept eating my feelings even as my grief got better and eased up. So be careful, be careful about using a big lifestyle change. You don’t necessarily want to use that. You don’t want to necessarily try to do something new to start a new habit while you’re going through that.
But also be mindful that this is a time where you need to take care of yourself even more. You need to practice self care, whatever that looks like for you. Maybe it’s getting an extra massage, maybe it’s just taking a bath once in a while and just locking, you know, well, not locking the door, but, you know, closing the door, putting, lighting some candles and just giving yourself some me time.
It’s so important, you know, and get plenty of sleep. Do your best to do that. Do whatever it takes. I’m, I’m a big meditation proponent. If you’re a regular subscriber to the podcast, you know, I am, I’m a big fan of that. But maybe for you that means just going for a walk or just listening to your favorite music, maybe putting on, putting on, you know, a CD or something, or streaming, you know, music that makes you feel good. Just be kind to yourself when you’re going through that.
Practical Strategies for Making a New Habit Stick
Habit Stacking: Tying New Habits to What You Already Do
So there’s some other ways that you can do too, to be able to, if you do decide, okay, I’m not going through a big change right now. Yes, I want to start a new habit. And maybe it’s something related to your business. It could be, or, or, and, and maybe it’s wanting to start, maybe having a better social media presence, let’s say.
So start small and you can. One way to do this is to tie the habit to something you already do reliably, like eating a meal, brushing your teeth, you know, something that you already doing. You already got a regular routine and so it, it helps you to keep that going. So for me, for instance is I, you know, my, my non negotiable in the morning is meditating, but I also will endeavor to go out for a walk in the morning to, to make sure that I get my exercise in for that day.
Using Reminders, Alarms, and Visual Prompts to Stay on Track
Now sometimes I won’t. Like even today I got up a little late, so my meditation lasted longer. So I am going to go out this afternoon and to make sure I did. And I’m going to do something else too. Now that I think about it, is I put it on my calendar because I, I’m sitting at my desk all day and so I will see that reminder to go out for a walk this afternoon.
But I’m thinking also I’m going to use my phone and I’m going to put a reminder on my phone as soon as I get done recording this podcast so that I will make sure that I do it later because sometimes you get sidetracked and then those, you know, that, that good intention of setting that habit goes by the wayside.
So I don’t want to let that happen. And which, which gives me to my next point of how to set a new habit is, is doing things like this, you know, setting an alarm on your Phone or using some kind of other visual prompt, maybe post it notes. Post it notes everywhere that, you know, that remind you to do something.
Atomic Habits: Start with One Small Habit and Build from There
And, and. Oh, and what’s that? I actually have this book somewhere. Oh yeah, that’s right. It’s called Atomic Habits. It’s a, It’s a very good book. I forget who the author is. I’ll see if I can, you know, I’ll put that in the show notes.
But he talks about, you know, starting, starting with like one thing, you know, building, building it up with, with when you’re doing a habit to just start with one thing first. Start with one small habit and then you can build on it as you, as you get consistent with doing that one thing, then you can add another one on top of it.
Reducing Decision Fatigue: Plan Your Days, Times, and Tools in Advance
And then the other thing is to help you with reducing, let’s say, decision fatigue, you know, is, is decide ahead of time what days and times and tools you’re going to use so that way you don’t have to reinvent the script. So for me, for instance, as I. When for training for this race that’s coming up, like I said, I went through and I, I had a folder with a whole bunch of race stuff in there and, and I found my old training schedule for doing a half marathon.
And so what I did is I took copied over onto a new calendar that I had the days for, you know, because there’s days for resting, there’s days for just short workouts and then cross training and then the long workout days. And so I went ahead and, you know, started from like race day and then worked my way backwards.
And that’s why I discovered that the Disney race actually is perfect. It’s, it’s the exact length that I need to, needed to be doing that weekend. So it’s like it was divinely intended, I guess, that I needed that I’m going to do both races and that the one serves as training for the other. So it’s perfect.
Designing Your Life Your Way: Habits That Align With Your Purpose
Yeah. So I hope this is helpful for you today because it’s, you know, habits are important. They really do help us with accomplishing our goals, whatever they are. And, and especially, you know, when it comes to designing your life your way, if you can come up with, you know, come up with a plan of like, okay, this is what I want my life to look like. And maybe part of it is doing changing, you know, developing more healthier habits for your body and whether that is exercise or diet or making sure that you’re getting enough sleep at night or developing a spiritual practice.
The Power of Daily Journaling for Women in Midlife
You know you want to start journaling every day. That’s, that’s another one that I, I was doing. I, I, I like to journal and I will do it consistently for a while and then I slough off. So I’ve been committing myself to getting back to doing some journaling every single day. And so far I think I’ve been doing that for about a week now maybe.
So it’s a good start for me. And, and originally I just started with doing one page, and now I’m up to two pages a day. And it’s that consistency that helps and, and, and starting small. I didn’t just say, you know, okay, I’m going to do three pages because sometimes I’m doing that even can be too much, even though I know that I love. That’s what Julia Cameron recommends in her book the Artist’s Way.
But sometimes three pages can seem like a lot. And especially when you’ve gotten out of the habit of journaling or you’ve never done the habit of journaling at all, it can seem like a lot and so figure out a way to do it.
Don’t Like Writing? Try Voice Journaling Instead
And in fact, I was actually, I was interviewed the other day for a podcast on, I forget exactly the name of it now, but it’s by the, the, the founder of New Reality tv, which, which my, the video of this podcast is actually streaming on now. And he doesn’t like writing, he doesn’t like journaling. He knows it’s a good practice, but he doesn’t like writing.
And so I suggested, well, there’s other ways to do this. You could talk, you could just get a, get a recorder or do you know, Google has this way where you can, you know, speak, speak to text and you can just journal that way, but at least get your, get your thoughts out, you know, and then they, you know, will come out on paper.
How to Write Your Book 15 Minutes at a Time
And in fact, now that I think of it, if you wanted to start writing a book, oh, that’s a good one. If you have that burning desire to write a book, there are some people who will just sit down and spend hours writing at one fell swoop. There’s other people who, the idea of doing that is just overwhelming and, and, and, but yet you still want to be able to tell your story.
So I was working with a coach when I was writing my own book, and he advocated just spending 15 minutes a day. And then the same thing is if you don’t like to actually write, you could speak it. And so just spend 15 minutes a day talking. And I guarantee you Within a very short time, you will have a book.
Light Language Healing: An Energy Practice to Help You Get Unstuck
So. All right, I, I think what I want to do right now, and, oh, I was working the other day and, and, and coming up with some ideas of how to introduce this and now I forgot to put it in my notes for today. So whatever, I’m just going to wing it as I usually do.
Well, not really winging it. I want to share with you something that is near and dear to my heart, which in the context of what we’re talking about today, I, I think will be useful in helping you to be able to not stress over building a habit or starting a new habit, but to help you to just relax and maybe get clear on how you can start this habit. Maybe help you to come up with the idea of like, what’s one small step I can do today that will move me closer to my goal.
So I want to share with you light language, which is a form of communication that is something that. It’s a sound, sound type of communication that resonates with your heart and your soul. And it’s not necessarily something that you are able to understand linguistically, let’s say.
And I would encourage you to have an open mind when listening to it and an open heart also, and just set aside the next few minutes of just relaxing into what you hear me speak. I may speak, I may sing. I might do both. It’s sort of up to my higher self and my, my connection with the, with angels and, and other multi dimensional beings that are so wonderful to share this with me and with you.
So what I would encourage you to do right now is if you are listening to this podcast and you are driving a car to pause and come back when you have a few minutes where you can just sit down and even close your eyes, just have an opportunity to just relax and, and yeah, and just, just be, be open to whatever comes through and set an intention that whatever you do here will be for your soul’s highest good.
And that’s what I always ask for, and the highest good of all concerned. So, yeah, so sit back, take breath, and hope you will receive What I’m about to share with you with, with the, with the love that isn’t intended for,
(audio only)
What to Expect After a Light Language Session
I hope you, hope that landed with you. And just know that and this is something that I, I, I tell my clients when, when they come in and do a, a one on one with is that it might be something that you might feel, you might feel something different later today or where you may, you may not have felt anything today and that’s okay too. And, but maybe in the next day or so you might suddenly have a new inspiration and if you do, please share it with me. If something like that happens, I would love to know.
Yeah. How that worked out for you. That would be so good. And, and I’m, I’m put up on the, on the screen for, on the video here, but I’ll include this in my show notes today that if you ever would like to experience a little bit more of this personally one on one with me, I do offer a free introductory session. It’s a free 15 minute session and I’ll have the link to that in the show notes so you can, you can check that out.
Accountability: The Missing Ingredient in Lasting Habit Change
So see, I think, I think that’s going to probably wrap it up for me today. And I would encourage you to remember that you can absolutely succeed at forming new habits. Whatever you want to be able to do when you, you know, design them with a structure and some cues, you know, have those reminders, maybe on your phone and just take small, consistent actions.
And one thing I neglected to mention at the beginning, accountability. Accountability is really helpful when you’re trying to start a new habit. So I’ve made myself accountable to you because I’ve declared it on this podcast today. So hold me to it.
Find Your Accountability Partner — Someone Who Offers Tough Love with Kindness
And also the, you know, it could be enrolling a good friend or maybe if you’re working with a coach already or a family member, let someone know this is what I’m trying to do and, and ask them to keep you accountable in a loving way. So make sure that you use some discernment with the person you’re going to pick for this because especially if this is something you’ve never done before.
Let’s say you want someone, you want someone who can give you some tough love with love. Okay. Not be, I mean, unless you’re the type of person that really responds to, you know, someone being like a drill sergeant in your face. No judgment here. If not, maybe you need someone who can just lovingly kick you in the butt a little bit. And if you want me to be that person, you know, let Me know, I’m. I’m willing and able to. To help you with that as well.
The Power of Group Training and Community Support
Maybe join a group. You know, there are groups out there for different things. When, when I did my first marathon, I actually, I did it as a fundraiser, and it was for the. At the time, the very first one I did was for the American Heart association, and then the second one I did was for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And what’s great about that is that we.
I was training with a group of people, and so we helped to keep each other accountable, and we all showed up for the long runs together and we had different activities, you know, during the few months that it. That we took to train. And so being with a group of people. So whether it is a running group or maybe it is a support group for your. For food, whatever it is, get accountability.
Get support. Because trying to start a new habit on your own can be daunting. And I apologize for not mentioning this at the beginning of the episode, but hopefully if you’ve stuck through and you’re listening to me now, you got it. So, yeah, get accountability. Get somebody, get a buddy at the very least to help you, and it will make your journey to accomplishing your goals so much easier to accomplish.
Closing: You Are Never Too Old to Start a New Chapter
Yeah, well, you know what I mean. Okay. All right. Thank you for being here and for listening and watching. And I will be back next week with some more ideas on how you can embrace this incredible season of life.
And be sure to check out the description of this video for all the links that I was talking about today. And if you would be so kind as to share this with a friend on social media if you did enjoy it and let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I really love hearing from you, and it also helps me to figure out how I can best serve and support you going forward. So remember, you are never too old to start a new chapter.
