How to Create Your Midlife Self-Care Menu
How to Create Your Midlife Self-Care Menu
Sleep is such a critical element when it comes to good overall health. Unfortunately, consistent lack of sleep can put our safety at risk, affect our mental health, and it can weaken our immune system. The best way to stay healthy during this time is by focusing on your 3 pillars of health – staying active, eating well, and getting the right amount of sleep.
This post is sponsored by CanPrev. All opinions are my own and based on my personal experience with the product.
One of the hardest times of my life was living with my ex during our separation. It wasn’t easy. It was necessary. We were still in the process of selling our home and working through all the financial and legal details. I could have left, but I couldn’t afford to until everything was settled.
I convinced myself I was handling it all pretty well. I was staying calm, staying focused, and doing what needed to be done. But my body had other plans.
When Stress Speaks Through the Body
The day after my 46th birthday, my back went out, completely. I’d dealt with the occasional back flare-up since having twins, but those usually lasted only a day. This time, it lasted five.
Five days of pain, sleepless nights, and frustration. I couldn’t move, eat, or rest. My body was screaming at me to slow down.
That’s when it hit me, I wasn’t handling the stress of divorce as well as I thought. I wasn’t taking care of myself the way I needed to. I had been surviving, not replenishing. I was prioritizing everyone else, my kids, my work, my family, and ignoring my own needs in the process.
This experience reminded me that self-care isn’t just about pampering; it’s about creating consistent, intentional habits that support your body, mind, and spirit, especially in midlife, when we are transitioning through physical, emotional, and hormonal changes.
What Self-Care Really Means
Self-care is more than a bubble bath or a weekend getaway (though those were necessary during my divorce.) It’s about the daily actions and decisions that contribute to your overall well-being. It’s how you feed yourself, how you move, how you rest, how you manage your thoughts, and how you connect with others.
Self-care can look like:
- Eating balanced meals with plenty of vegetables and protein
- Drinking enough water
- Getting quality sleep
- Going for walks or moving regularly
- Scheduling annual check-ups and taking prescribed medications
- Talking to a therapist or coach
- Doing resistance training or yoga
- Meditating or journaling
- Spending time with loved ones
- Engaging in personal growth or creative projects
- Setting boundaries and saying “no” when needed
It’s any behaviour that supports your overall health and happiness. And for women in midlife, this is more necessary than ever.
Why Midlife Women Need Self-Care
By the time many of us reach our 40s and 50s, we’ve spent decades being the caretaker, the problem-solver, the default parent, and the one who “just gets it done.” We juggle careers, households, children, aging parents, and community obligations, often without stopping to ask ourselves what we need.
Society tells us we should be able to do it all, and when we can’t, we feel guilty. But the truth is, no one can run on empty forever. The result? Burnout, resentment, sleep issues, and declining health.
For many, it’s also a time of major life changes: divorce, empty nests, or career shifts. It’s easy to feel invisible or unworthy of the same care we give others.
But this is exactly when self-care becomes most important.
Supporting Your Body’s Stress Response
Chronic stress doesn’t just make you tired, it affects everything from your mood to your immune system. When we live in a constant state of fight-or-flight, our bodies produce excess cortisol, a stress hormone that, over time, can lead to fatigue, sleep disturbances, weight changes, and muscle tension.
That’s why managing your nervous system is such an important part of self-care. Activating your parasympathetic nervous system, your “rest and digest” mode, helps the body relax and recover. You can do this through deep breathing, gentle movement, mindfulness, and prioritizing rest.
For additional support, I’ve also turned to natural supplements that help the body adapt to stress. One I personally love is CanPrev’s Adrenal Chill.
This formula combines ashwagandha, an adaptogenic herb that helps regulate cortisol and improve stress resilience, with L-theanine, an amino acid known to promote calm focus. Together, they help reduce anxiety, support relaxation, and improve sleep, all without drowsiness. It’s one of my favourite tools for restoring balance when life feels overwhelming.
Supporting your adrenal health with nutrients like these can make a huge difference in your ability to manage stress and recover from it.
Creating a Self-Care Menu
Once I realized I needed to take better care of myself, I started building what I now call my divorce self-care menu. You may call it your midlife self-care menu. It’s a personal toolkit of daily practices and rituals to support your overall health and wellness.
Think of your self-care menu like a meal plan for your well-being. You don’t have to do everything every day, but you have a list of supportive options to choose from depending on what you need.
Here’s how to create one for yourself.
Step 1: Reflect on What You Need
Start by checking in with yourself. What areas of your life feel exhausted? Where do you feel out of balance, physically, emotionally, or spiritually?
Maybe you’re drained and need more rest. Maybe you’re craving connection or creativity. Your self-care needs will shift depending on your life stage and stress levels.
Step 2: Choose Your Self-Care Categories
To keep your self-care menu balanced, choose activities from several different areas of wellness. These are my go-to categories:
- Movement
- Go for a morning walk at least five days a week
- Try yoga, Pilates, or strength training
- Stretch for 10 minutes before bed
- Dance in your kitchen to your favourite song
- Nutrition
- Add more protein to breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Eat plenty of colorful vegetables
- Stay hydrated throughout the day
- Limit caffeine or alcohol if they affect your sleep
- General Health and Wellness
- Book your annual physical or dental check-up
- Schedule a massage or physiotherapy appointment
- Take prescribed medications as directed
- Support your stress response with Adrenal Chill or other adaptogenic supplements
- Social Connections
- Schedule a coffee or lunch date with a friend
- Plan a girls’ weekend or family outing
- Join a class or community group
- Reach out to someone you’ve lost touch with
These categories are just a starting point — tailor them to your lifestyle and what you actually enjoy.
Step 3: Make It Visible and Accessible
Write down your self-care menu and keep it somewhere visible, on your fridge, bathroom mirror, or phone notes. When stress hits, it’s easy to forget what helps you feel grounded. Having a list ready makes it easier to take action.
Step 4: Practice Consistency with Compassion
The goal of a self-care menu isn’t to add more pressure, it’s to create more ease. You don’t have to do everything perfectly. You just have to show up for yourself regularly.
Some days, that might mean getting in a workout and cooking a healthy dinner. Other days, it might mean doing the bare minimum, taking your supplements, resting, and letting yourself off the hook. Both count.
Self-Care as a Lifeline, Not a Luxury
When my back went out, I saw clearly how much I’d been pushing myself past my limits. It was my body’s way of demanding that I slow down and listen.
We all go through periods that test us, divorce, menopause, career changes, caregiving. These transitions can drain us emotionally and physically. Self-care isn’t about escaping them; it’s about building the strength to move through them with grace.
Creating your self-care menu is committing to caring for yourself, through movement, nutrition, meaningful connection, rest, and a little support from tools like CanPrev’s Adrenal Chill, you start to rebuild from the inside out.
Because self-care isn’t selfish. It’s self-preservation.
And you are absolutely worth it.
