The Truth About Midlife (That No One Told You)

What is it about midlife that makes you question things you never used to think twice about: your purpose, your energy, your priorities?  There are the challenges: changing energy, menopause, body shifts, changing roles, and even moments where you barely recognize yourself. BUT there’s also something unexpectedly meaningful happening beneath the surface.

In this conversation, we talk about rediscovering parts of yourself that may have gotten buried under years of responsibility, learning to let go of other people’s expectations, and recognizing that God may still be leading you into new things.

Honest, practical, encouraging, and deeply relatable, this episode speaks to anyone navigating this season of life. From fatigue and identity shifts to confidence, peace, and rediscovering joy, Lanee and Sandy explore what it looks like to move through midlife with openness instead of fear—while sharing plenty of helpful tips and insight along the way.

If you’ve ever wondered whether this season could hold more than just clichés and survival mode, this episode is for you. Press play, join the conversation, and maybe even begin to see midlife in a completely new light.

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 "Imagine Yourself" is hosted by Lanée Blaise and Sandy Kovach—two dynamic voices with a passion for inspiring and uplifting others. Lanée, a TV writer, producer, motivational speaker, and podcaster, brings powerful storytelling and insight. Sandy, a radio personality, voiceover artist, and podcaster, delivers warmth and wisdom with every conversation. Broadcasting from the Detroit Metro area, they welcome guests from around the world to share valuable perspectives on health, career growth, faith, and personal transformation. Tune in and imagine the possibilities for your life!

Transcript

Lanée Blaise [00:00:00]:
Well, hello, everybody. I am Linnae here with Sandy, and we want to welcome you to our eighth season, our eighth year of Imagine Yourself podcast. Sandy, how do you like this ride so far?

Sandy Kovach [00:00:17]:
It's been good. It's had its huge moments and its medium moments and its difficult moments, kind of like life. And we're kind of sweeping into a new season ourselves.

Lanée Blaise [00:00:30]:
Exactly. That's why we wanted to dedicate this episode to all of you out there who feel like in some way, shape or form, you are entering a new season just like we are. In fact, to be fair, a lot of us out here are find ourselves tiptoeing into or through midlife season. And it. I mean, gosh, whenever people talk about midlife crisis or stuff like that, there's so many bad jokes or negative connotations about it. But it can really be so real. I mean, like, for women, menopause is real. And I guess for men, I don't know, they go buy a, I don't know, sports car or something.

Sandy Kovach [00:01:14]:
A Corvette. Is that the. No. Or a Mustang or something?

Lanée Blaise [00:01:17]:
Yeah. Which is way better than menopause. But that's just my take. But, you know, really and truly, we wanted to kind of bring some light to all of it, because different seasons, when you enter, no matter what they are, take a little getting used to, and midlife can really be surprising. New. New things pop up on your body and in your mind and brain fog every day. But it also can be an age where sometimes you start to care less and less about what those folks out there in the atmosphere are thinking about, and you start to really care about how you feel and how God feels and you. How you want to move that next chapter of your life.

Lanée Blaise [00:02:00]:
There are so many people who start new businesses or do things that were on their bucket list, things that they never got a chance to do before. You start experimenting with what works, what doesn't work. And so we just want to get into this episode with a special component of midlife or any season is where small changes that we decide to make can open the door for big discoveries. We have examples, we have scripture, we have quotes. We have all kind of things in our. In our hat today. But, you know, we're going to organize it into different ways of change. But how about Sandy, just tell us a little bit about the small changes in the way we see our bodies and move our bodies, because that's one facet.

Lanée Blaise [00:02:47]:
We're going to do bodies, we're going to do mind, we're going to do relationships. All that. But our body, bodies, that's the one that sometimes can really hit the forefront.

Sandy Kovach [00:02:55]:
It does. And I think all we feel and see out there, I shouldn't say all, but a lot of what we feel and see is the negativity. You mentioned menopause, perimenopause, going through it, after it, whatever. Obviously you're gonna go through some changes. But I will say this about now. Back in the day, I feel like, you know, I don't remember my mom talking about menopause. I mean, you just never talked about things like that.

Lanée Blaise [00:03:23]:
Now that's a shame.

Sandy Kovach [00:03:24]:
Yeah, it is. And now it's put us at a disadvantage, but yeah, it's like, now people are out there. Our friend Elizabeth Sherman does a health podcast and health coaching, especially for women who are going through it. Because we used to try to just do like we did back in the 80s and just cut our fats and think, okay, why am I not losing weight or exercise at the gym every day? And it's not working for us. Things are different. So our information is out there and things get a little bit achy and we get a little bit more fatigued as we get older. And this carries on throughout the years. And one thing, one little change that I made was because I get up very early to do a morning show and I was literally falling asleep during the show, or wanting to fall asleep.

Sandy Kovach [00:04:13]:
This is after I've had coffee and I go to bed at least an hour. I couldn't figure out what was happening. And this never happened to me when I was younger. It's like I hit some coffee and, you know, I could get through the day and maybe crash two or three o', clock, but so what I did. And I asked ChatGPT for a suggestion. Oh, no. And Mr. G told me, get your butt moving in the morning.

Sandy Kovach [00:04:35]:
Well, I didn't want to get up any earlier because I'm already getting up. So he gave me a routine that's like, ChatGPT doesn't have a gender, but okay. It gave me a routine that was like seven minutes long. That was what I needed to do. That still gave me time to sit down and do devotions. Spend time with my kitty. She sits on my lap while I read devotions, as I've talked about here before. And then still at 5:30, be in my studio, ready to go.

Sandy Kovach [00:05:03]:
So it had to be short. But I will tell you this. I don't fall asleep anymore because your body needs it. And our bodies, as we get older, really need a jolt, natural jolt.

Lanée Blaise [00:05:15]:
I think that actually gives a lot of hope because some people are thinking that they have to make some big, huge change, go to some nutritionist or do some huge routine. But yours is like seven minutes long, which seven is. I always think. I love that number. It's a divine number. But, you know, seven minutes, you know, of getting things working for your body. And it's. It's not rocket science.

Lanée Blaise [00:05:39]:
I just. I love it. I love it. And it has made you more productive. It helps you in your life and in your work and that you don't have those droopy eyelids, like falling asleep during.

Sandy Kovach [00:05:49]:
No, I would. So I have a little couch in my studio, and I would set an alarm and literally go lay on my couch for 10 minutes and 15. And I don't have to do that. I mean, nothing's wrong with it if you have to take a little nap. I'm not saying there is, but it's a lot easier to just get seven minutes of little exercise. And it's like marching in place and doing all those. Stretching.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:09]:
Yeah, that's like, what exactly are you doing?

Sandy Kovach [00:06:10]:
Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:11]:
I'm just curious.

Sandy Kovach [00:06:12]:
The cardio is just the marching in place for literally 90 seconds. And then it gives me a series of stretching that stretch my arms and my calves and my neck and just little things. I can't describe them exactly, but I'm sure if you Googled or used ChatGPT, you could find somebody.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:32]:
I love it.

Sandy Kovach [00:06:33]:
So.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:33]:
Because, like, now let me tell everybody out here, if you don't want to listen to Sandy and you don't want to listen to me, listen to Halle Berry. Because Halle Berry has always been known for her wonderful looks and acting and everything. And she is on Instagram every time I pull up my phone. And she's talking about some of the things that she's dealing with in her midlife and with menopause and with her body. And so just understand that there are little tweaks you can do. Because you mentioned stretching, Sandy, the one that I was going to talk about, since we're talking still about bodies, is ever since my foot surgeries, I had two of them. So far, my podiatrist said, you must stretch the hamstrings, the calf muscles, the ankles, all this stuff, every single day. And it has made my back feel better.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:17]:
It's made everything better. So I, too. I do. It's a. About five minutes of stretching. I didn't incorporate the cardio like you did. But the other thing that happened is, how about Sandy? I just one day Realized like, my left shoulder just didn't work anymore. Like I couldn't, you know, raise my arm, brush my hair.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:35]:
And my daughter's like, she's in med school. She's like, you have got to go get this checked out because your range of motion is terrible. And I went to an orthopedic physician's assistant. He's like, yeah, you almost have frozen shoulder. You need to take care of this right away. So he did a few things there in the office, but then he sent me to this wonderful physical therapy place. It only took four weeks, which I was very happy. My insurance covered it.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:58]:
I was very grateful to God for that. But I came away with all these new tricks up my sleeve to do, to add to this because I was always stretching for my legs and for my back and such. But now for my shoulders and stuff. We need it. My mother told me she goes online on YouTube and she does this chair yoga for seniors. She says AARP has this wonderful array of free exercises that you can do all these different things. And she's got my aunt doing it now. There are free, fun, wonderful things that can make your life great.

Lanée Blaise [00:08:32]:
I don't know, Sandy. One day we're gonna have to have an actual deep talk about menopause. Cause I have all kinds of tricks up my sleeve for that too. Yeah, I really do. It's talking to nutrition, wellness coaches, talking to doctors, talk, talking to nurse practitioners. I've got a whole lot of stuff up my sleeve for that that are very doable. So we talk about that a different time. But.

Lanée Blaise [00:08:51]:
But no, just it feels like we've got to talk about these things more, especially among women. It will help us get through the next season of life gracefully and prepared, not get blindsided. And so there's one more part I just want to say about the body. Unless there's something else. You have Sandy for the body.

Sandy Kovach [00:09:10]:
Oh, no. I'm waiting on you because you got all the tips and tricks I've been

Lanée Blaise [00:09:14]:
trying to implement these ticks and tricks.

Sandy Kovach [00:09:16]:
Tips. No ticks.

Lanée Blaise [00:09:17]:
These no ticks. Tricks and tips. But one thing that I have been doing lately, and it's because I saw an Oil of Olay commercial.

Sandy Kovach [00:09:27]:
Oh, my goodness, cannot wait for this. Okay, go ahead.

Lanée Blaise [00:09:30]:
Yeah. You ready? Okay. So I saw an Oil of Olay commercial for this brand new lotion that they have this lotion serum. And the lady on the commercial just looked so vibrant and wonderful. So what I'm doing now, I bought the dang on lotion and you know, I'm not spokesperson, but I simply rub the lotion on my hands and my feet, especially because I have foot problems. And I just say, I love you, feet. I know that you have been through some tough times and you don't look as great as the as you used to, but I love you. You get me where I need to go.

Lanée Blaise [00:10:06]:
You know, my hands also thank you, Hands for carrying my babies through life, for helping me cook foods, helping me write, because I'm a writer. All of these things. Just thank your body, whatever body parts that you feel might be feeling neglected, and just say, I love you. I thank you. I am not here to judge you. I understand. We are not 20 years old anymore, and we don't look 20 years. My.

Lanée Blaise [00:10:30]:
My husband's like, you got Grandma Susie Hands. I'm like, that's not a compliment.

Sandy Kovach [00:10:35]:
But oh, my goodness,

Lanée Blaise [00:10:38]:
put that lotion on there. You know, they look back like, I was in college. No, but really and truly, to just take time and thank your body, thank God for giving you this body, for giving you flaws and all what helps us to get through this life.

Sandy Kovach [00:10:57]:
Yeah. And Grandma Susie hands. Okay, so it's true. Our hands do age probably faster than most parts of us, but that's the way they're supposed to look. We're supposed to get older. I mean, I don't disparage anyone who wants to have anything done cosmetically. If that makes you feel better, that's awesome. I'm not out here doing that.

Sandy Kovach [00:11:20]:
But I'm also saying we're aging. We are going to look older, but we're also. And this kind of pivots on a point that you made earlier. We're a lot wiser, and we don't give a crap as much about what other people think or say. We've been through it, and I think the older that we get, the less what other folks think bothers us. And sometimes I think I wish that back in the day, like back in high school or college, I could have known. Because now you kind of see through people and you see their motivations and you see your own motivations. Sometimes you're like, sandy, I know.

Sandy Kovach [00:11:57]:
Or name whatever your name is. I say sandy. I know why you're thinking that. And it's because you just want people to pay attention or, you know what? You know, I just have to get real honest with myself. And like, before, I would never say that to myself, but there's so much that people have to add and so much more that people have to experience, and not just in midlife, but on in through the years. Now I have a part time retail job where the demographic is probably, I would say 50 plus. And we have a lot of beautiful women who are not only customers but work in this store in their 50s, 60s, 70s. We have one lady who's about to turn 80 and they're beautiful, elegant women.

Sandy Kovach [00:12:45]:
This is a nice retail store and they take great care of themselves. And I'm not saying you have to dress up all the time, but do it if you want to. Don't let society tell you to disappear.

Lanée Blaise [00:12:56]:
You need to bottle that whole statement that you just set up like for a TED talk or something. Because we must, we must remember, like you said, that we are not invisible. And it happens to people who are older in general, but especially women. We are not invisible. We should not be taken for granted. We have so much to offer this world and can be so enriching. And there's still this grace and beauty that resides within us and shines out of us. Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:13:26]:
Oh, yes. Everything you said, Sandy, check mark.

Sandy Kovach [00:13:30]:
You're putting an exclamation point on it.

Lanée Blaise [00:13:32]:
Exclamation point on it. Yes, society can tell us some incorrect things, things that we learned even back from the past. And we are here at Imagine Yourself Season eight to change that.

Sandy Kovach [00:13:45]:
It's just like you talk about your grandma Susie and all she has taught you or did teach you back in the day.

Lanée Blaise [00:13:50]:
Exactly. All the things. She lived to the ripe age of 93 years old. She had all of her mobility and faculties and everything rolling until maybe the very last year. She has left a legacy. We are talking about her right now. She was born in 1923 and we're talking about her now in 2026. Come on now.

Sandy Kovach [00:14:13]:
Yes, Grandma Susie. We even have an episode back from, I don't know, a few seasons back just dedicated to Grandma Susie.

Lanée Blaise [00:14:20]:
Yes, my cousins love that episode, but lots of people do. My friends do, because I guess I talk about her so much, even my friends know who she is. You know, it's just, it's so fun. It's about mindset. In this case, we'll just move right on into small changes to the way we view things. The way that we see life. We see ourselves, we see our schedules, we see our priorities. I hope and pray that everyone listening is ready to have an openness to small upward shifts in your thinking.

Lanée Blaise [00:14:58]:
I'm not saying that nobody's gonna ever have a bad day and do the woe is me and have a pity party. That's cool. But for the most part to just have these upward shifts to embrace you, to embrace change, to embrace like some of these little changes for the better, that we have no shame on who we used to be and what we used to do. But really having a genuine new you to stop thinking things like, oh, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, don't believe that anymore. You know, really and truly, midlife is a time of discovery of yourself, of your values, of what you're grateful for. There's little, small ways for us to be just like Sandy said before, wiser. Sometimes we think of getting older as you're more close minded. But let's try to shift that also.

Lanée Blaise [00:15:47]:
Let's try to think about having your most vibrant, most open minded version of yourself. Maybe you have a less afraid, less fearful version of yourself because we talked about this earlier. Okay? If the whole world seems to think that we're old anyway, what have we got to lose? Let's just go ahead and do our bucket list. Let's do what we want to do, how we want to do all the things that we thought we couldn't do, because back then we had to think about this, that and the other. Just do it really and truly. Take maybe one thing, one thing that has been really nudging in your heart to do or to try and do it just one step towards it. One thing that helps make it brighter. I'm in an industry where filmmaking and writing, screenwriting, and they have entire groups, entire learning webinars just for writers over 50 who are breaking into the business.

Lanée Blaise [00:16:45]:
Breaking, which means breaking in, you know, breaking into Hollywood when you're 50 plus and you, you have to be 50 plus in order to, to join the group or do you know, to, to get the lesson. And it is because they know that these folks have a whole catalog, I guess, of memories and experiences to share and bring to the table. When brainstorming on a writing project for a television or a film, you know, a show or a film, it can be magical. The things that you can learn about yourself or about, you know, like people like grandma suits, people who came before you. I really, really, really ask you all to take control of your life. Take control of your calendar, your schedule, take control to have boundaries, but then also take a little time to play, to play with some of the things that you were rolling around in your head that you never got to do. And you finally can go for it.

Sandy Kovach [00:17:42]:
Yeah, there's so much of life ahead, you know, honestly, we don't know. There probably is. God only knows the day and the hour that he'll take us home. But that's nothing to fear either. And I think that's one thing that faith can kind of bring into this picture. One of many things is that this isn't even our permanent home. We have eternity to look forward to with the father, but he wants us to enjoy life, but also to use our gifts. And I just, I love what you're saying about this group.

Sandy Kovach [00:18:14]:
For filmmakers over 50, I didn't see that coming.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:17]:
All the different industries, if we think about. I bet there's so many different industries and areas of society and of life and of work that that can apply.

Sandy Kovach [00:18:26]:
Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:27]:
And should apply.

Sandy Kovach [00:18:28]:
Yeah. People that write, do creative things. People can get into bodybuilding. Bodybuilding. Oh, like that lady on disgracefully. What is it? Aging disgracefully.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:41]:
Aging disgracefully on Instagram. Do everything she can do. Like, I'm not just talking about stretches or whatever and body build. She can, she can do everything. Like she's. She can climb a mountain, she can stand on her head. She can do push ups and pull ups and all kinds. You know, this is her body.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:58]:
But she also is active as far as social justice. And she is very involved and encouraging. Yeah, I like her. I like her too.

Sandy Kovach [00:19:09]:
I don't know, maybe it's because our population is getting older, maybe it's because we're just more enlightened as a society. But I feel like society really is trying to include us and it's being pushed by us, though. It's being pushed by. It's not like the younger people are saying, hey, you know, I really feel bad about all the AIDS jokes I made. And so I'm gonna start turning it over a new leaf. I mean, to be fair, when we're young, 40 seems like ancient and people just don't think that they're ever gonna be old. And I don't know. I don't know why we're like that.

Sandy Kovach [00:19:43]:
I don't know. Why do we fear it? Do we.

Lanée Blaise [00:19:46]:
We might just be in our own little world, living for the now, where God does want us to live. And think long term as well, about the full cycle of life, full circle of life. And I know, like Sandy, you and I sometimes even have difficulty. For our website, imagine yourself podcast.com, we put in stock photos for certain episodes and we many times can only find photos of young people.

Sandy Kovach [00:20:16]:
Yeah.

Lanée Blaise [00:20:16]:
And that's not. That's not cool.

Sandy Kovach [00:20:18]:
It's. There's all kinds of ways, but thank goodness things are changing a little bit. But I think what we're going to ask everyone mostly is to feel the change in yourself and also for other people. Before you make a joke about even about yourself, about your age, definitely not about somebody else's age, think about even too.

Lanée Blaise [00:20:38]:
There are other societies, other cultures in other places and other times that revered the wisdom and the experiences of their older citizens. Not only do we want that for society to change, but we want it to change it within ourselves as well. The last thing we want is for us to be the one giving the negative self talk to ourselves. That's that whole point again about loving your body, saying nice things to yourself, saying uplifting, edifying things to ourselves. I know. Back to Instagram. There was. I saw this on Instagram not too long ago.

Lanée Blaise [00:21:21]:
And the woman says that she took a photo of herself as a little girl and she stuck it on her bathroom mirror. That has forced her to be kinder to herself when she's looking in the mirror because she's thinking that little girl is still within her. These little people are still inside of us. I just recently got a LinkedIn request from a lady from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. I didn't really know her, but she seemed normal. So I accepted the connection request. And then she was like, hi, you might not remember me, but we went to the same elementary school. And I was like, wait a second.

Lanée Blaise [00:22:00]:
She's like, I've got this picture. I found this picture. That's why I reached out to you. And it's this picture of about 12 to 15 little kids back in East Cleveland. I have this red hair. So very easy to notice me right in the middle. And then she said that she was the little girl to the left of me. And it was just so adorable.

Lanée Blaise [00:22:19]:
I couldn't stop smiling. I couldn't stop telling my family how what a gift this was to see little Lanee in a picture. I don't even remember being in the picture. I don't remember that day the lady did. She kind of said, well, we were here and we were doing this and that. And I was like, wow. And it's just a good insight to remember that little Linnae is still in me. And she may look a little different and she may have become wiser.

Lanée Blaise [00:22:45]:
Even when I'm. If I'm 93 years old like Grandma Susie, one day I will still be me. I will still be valuable, I will still be worthy. I don't look like that same little girl, nor do I want to. But I have that same soul within me, that same spirit. I just think that Posting that little picture, I haven't done that yet either. But posting a picture of little Lynnae up on the bathroom mirror and making sure she is not hearing grown up Linnae say terrible things about the way her. I don't know if there's wrinkles or whatever the heck I might have.

Lanée Blaise [00:23:17]:
We don't want to focus on that. We want to focus on my eyes still see, I still have a voice, these hands still work, this body works. I, you know, I'm stretching it and I'm eating healthy foods and I'm doing the best I can to keep it in good shape. And I love myself and I love God and I thank God and I love all my little friends who, you know are getting older with me. You know, it's just that's what I want to push today.

Sandy Kovach [00:23:44]:
Yeah, it is fun connecting with people on social media or wherever and sometimes we know them and I guess sometimes we don't, but you do now and they have grown older also and they've become these really cool people. Like you find out, oh, I had a career as a veterinarian and I did this and that or oh yeah, I went over here and married this person. I live in Europe, you know, just like, yes, there's so many things and there's so much to life and I just love the idea of as kind of round back to the beginning of starting a new season. Whether you are beginning midlife, you're in the middle of midlife, you're past midlife, or you know, it's up ahead. This can be helpful for somebody to see in their future or for people that they know no matter what it's going on, there is still so many things to learn and so many things to do. And if we could just stop degrading ourselves because society feeds into it or our negative self talk feeds into it. Let's remember that we still have many gifts and God has put gifts in us. And maybe there's that one like we were talking about earlier that you still want to explore.

Sandy Kovach [00:24:57]:
This is a great time to do it. You come into it now with so much knowledge and even if you've tried it before and failed, well, now you're trying with more knowledge. Maybe it wasn't right for you before. Maybe God closed that door, but hey, now it's open. Maybe your kids are graduated from college now and hey, you're off on your own and don't have the responsibilities. So many things.

Lanée Blaise [00:25:19]:
That's a really good thing to say too. Yeah. The part that maybe it wasn't the right season and timing for you before, but it has circled back and presented itself. And this is not necessarily about midlife per se, but maybe a job opportunity or a new hobby or a new exercise regimen or a new relationship or all the things. Don't forget that just because it was a no in the past, that doesn't mean that it can't come back around and God can have an open hand leave it for you on a silver platter to take up in this season of your life.

Sandy Kovach [00:25:54]:
Yeah, I think that's a great thing. I'm going to pray about that. You never know my job and, you know, different things that I've, I do have definitely taken different turns and the technology has made it available to do. As long as I have a voice, I can do different things. Is there anything else that we can recommend? Just like small changes and maybe we'll do like next time we'll do a whole small changes episode of whether it's finances or relationships. But as far as women in midlife, any other small changes?

Lanée Blaise [00:26:26]:
So I think to your point too, I think we should also do one. Gosh, we just walk. Because this season is going to be fun. Because yeah, I think we could also do a small changes one on even the way that we interact with God also. That's another one that can be a small change that makes a big impact. But I think that's an episode for another day, maybe the next one. But I really think in my heart there's a quote by Jess Ekstrom. She's a speaker and she encourages predominantly women to use their voice and speak and get paid for it.

Lanée Blaise [00:27:00]:
But she said what you believe about yourself quietly sets the limits or removes the limits entirely in your life. That to me is a small thing to sit and think about. What limit or limits am I placing on myself before I even give myself a chance? And you know, pair that with the fact that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The scripture from Philippians. Yeah, pair that together and start knocking some of those limits off. Just dust them right off your shoulder. Don't put self imposed limits on you that you don't need to. And also you don't have to listen to all of the limits that society might put upon you as well.

Lanée Blaise [00:27:48]:
That's the only thing that I have to add besides the fact that now we've got all these cool new episode ideas to pop up. Sandy, you had a scripture though too.

Sandy Kovach [00:27:57]:
Zechariah 4:10. Do not despise these small beginnings for The Lord rejoices to see work begin. So it's easy to think that the small stuff doesn't matter, these little changes don't matter, but it reminds us not to overlook small beginnings. And we might say or think, yeah, that's back in the day when I was starting my career, or that's back this, that, or the other thing when I was beginning this. But why not make this a new beginning and then new, small beginning? And like you said, take one little step in the direction. Join a group. Find a group for. Let's say that you love art, and maybe there's even a specific gathering of women that do art.

Sandy Kovach [00:28:43]:
Or it doesn't have to be, but it can be. But join a class, Join a group. You want to get into better shape. What did you used to like to do? Did you, back in the day? Are you big swimmer? Well, you know, you can indoor. There's all kinds of aerobics. Swimming. Aerobics, or just swimming, swimming, whatever. It's related to whether it be physical or whether it be a hobby or whether it's a career.

Sandy Kovach [00:29:05]:
Like, Linnae was talking about joining a group for film producers. Did you think, like, even 10 years ago that you'd be sitting here talking about, yeah, I produced a television show and a movie. And so close.

Lanée Blaise [00:29:19]:
Like, to your point, let's say 12 years ago, I would have put a limit on myself. And to be fair, at 12 years ago, I was in a different season with my kids, with my family. So 12 years ago, I would have said. I probably would have said, I'm not sure if it's going to happen because I'm getting older now, and it definitely can't happen right now, which it couldn't truly back then at that moment, because I've got this responsibility and that responsibility, and it's. And I'm not ready. And God knew that. So God didn't really give me any opportunities right then either. And then when you say 10 years ago, that was when it was.

Lanée Blaise [00:29:55]:
A friend back from college was like, hey, Lenae, let's write a sitcom together. I know you used to like to do that back in college. Whatever, let's do it and let's go. We flew out to California, to Burbank. Let's pitch it. Let's do all these things. And it planted the seed that maybe this is possible. And I went ahead and threw the limits off.

Lanée Blaise [00:30:14]:
And I had a partner, a wonderful. Her name is Kimbala. A wonderful person to walk beside me on it. And my husband was supportive and my kids were getting older, so they were supportive and I started it. And to your point, do not despise these small beginnings. That's from Zachariah that you said it was a small beginning. I know, I mean, it's kind of big going out to California and doing this thing. But it wasn't like I was on the COVID of Variety magazine or Hollywood Reporter, you know.

Sandy Kovach [00:30:40]:
Oh, good, because I missed that.

Lanée Blaise [00:30:42]:
Yeah, you would have missed that.

Sandy Kovach [00:30:43]:
But.

Lanée Blaise [00:30:44]:
But no, it was small. Same with the podcast. If you'd asked me 10 years ago, because we're season eight, if you have 10 years ago, are you gonna have a podcast that's lasted eight years with a wonderful podcast partner? You talk about all these inspirational things. I'd be like, no, that one. I was just like, no. I'm like, there's. I don't know how to even start that. But you just start small.

Lanée Blaise [00:31:04]:
Many times. You, God will provide you with a wonderful partner. You, Sandy and I can just figuratively hold hands and, you know, and make it through life. And it's just small things, small starts. Like my mom, she's. She's never been an exercise person her entire life and now she has decided that she's going to do small things. These safe too, you know, chair yoga for seniors done in a safe environment. She can do it at home by looking at her, the links that they give her.

Lanée Blaise [00:31:34]:
She can go in person. And small things. You don't have to be on the COVID of a magazine.

Sandy Kovach [00:31:40]:
A magazine. Well, now you're dating yourself today.

Lanée Blaise [00:31:44]:
Okay, how about this? Yeah, dating myself because I'm older.

Sandy Kovach [00:31:46]:
That's right.

Lanée Blaise [00:31:48]:
You don't have to be an Instagram sensation, a tick tock gone viral. You don't have to have any of that for your life to be valuable and for your new activity and your new season to be excellent.

Sandy Kovach [00:32:01]:
Not at all. Not at all. You are playing to an audience of one, to our creator who made you. And you never know. Like, we hope that our podcast blesses a lot of people. The work that Lynae and I do her on in television and film and me and radio, we hope that that blesses people. I really sort of have that in mind now more than rising to the top, because that's not what I'm trying to do right now. When you're, when I was 25 years old and getting into radio or, you know, however old I was when I graduated from college and even before that, okay, I gotta be in this market by this age and I have to do this, you know, that's behind me.

Lanée Blaise [00:32:42]:
God tends to see the little things. Much more significance is given to some of those small things by God than we would. We think that fame and fortune is the only way to have made it. But for God, that is not the way that his kingdom operates. His kingdom operates on the small kindnesses that you give. God has told me multiple times, linnae, do whatever little film or TV show you feel like doing. But the biggest thing that makes me proud as your father, God, is that you have been able to reach back to younger women filmmakers who are interested in writing, directing, producing, acting, and the different ways that I surround them with love. So we just see the world with some different eyes.

Lanée Blaise [00:33:34]:
See yourself with some new, fresh eyes as you and Sandy and I walk into our individual new seasons. And don't let midlife be a bad guy. Midlife might mean, you know, that you're halfway through life. Like you said, Sandy, we never know. But it is a signal that we've learned enough, we're mature enough to make some small changes in our mind, body, soul and spirit that will benefit and bless us as we rediscover who we are and who God wants us to be in this second half of our lives.

Sandy Kovach [00:34:13]:
So imagine that and don't forget to subscribe.

Lanée Blaise [00:34:17]:
But also, I just want to put a little shout out here too, for Sandy. Are people able to listen into some of your radio shows?

Sandy Kovach [00:34:25]:
Oh, yeah, absolutely. So I'll just do the. The CCN, the Christian contemporary. There's a couple of them, but I'll do that. It's in St. Augustine and it's. You go to flaglerradio.com that is the name of the company and they own different stations, both in St. Augustine and then down south that they are in Flagler county and Palm coast.

Sandy Kovach [00:34:52]:
And yeah, 1013 the light. Or you can just Google 103 the light. And I do the morning show Eastern time. I'd love for folks to tune into

Lanée Blaise [00:35:00]:
that because I'm like, you've shared, you know, different things from the show and it just, it's just so uplifting. So, yeah, please do that. And then for fun, if you just have nothing to do, even though it's currently not Christmas time, my film Rekindled for Christmas is on Amazon, available for rental.

Sandy Kovach [00:35:18]:
Good one, too, if you like rom coms. You're so there. Yeah, it's cute.

Lanée Blaise [00:35:22]:
It's got a little fun to it.

Sandy Kovach [00:35:23]:
And then we're going to be talking about blended and, you know, all the other things. So because you've got a series coming up right.

Lanée Blaise [00:35:30]:
Yeah. So we're. I've been busy writing that. That's why life is busy. But still, we get to take time to do some of the little things, like even just lotioning our hands and feet.

Sandy Kovach [00:35:42]:
That's right.

Lanée Blaise [00:35:43]:
Or looking in the mirror. But no. We pray that everyone has been blessed by this episode. Hurrah to your new season out. Feel free to reach out to us through the website maturedourselfpodcast.com if you just want to share. Tell us a little bit about your recent new season and thank you for supporting us all these past eight years. Please continue to do so and have a lovely rest of your day.

Sandy Kovach [00:36:05]:
So appreciate you hanging out with us for a bit today. If you're interested in what we were just talking about as far as one of the radio stations, the Christian radio station I'm on and the Rekindled for Christmas movie, which is on prime, we'll put links to that. And there's always links to some of the other projects that Lanee and I are involved in if you happen to want to check that out. And of course, we hope you'll go to imagineyourselfpodcast. Com and connect with us on social media so we can find out more about you.