The Midlife Reinvention: How to Find Your Ikigai, Deal with Imposter Syndrome & Build Your Confidence in Career & Life Transitions

Hosted by Kavita Ahuja, Founder of It's My Time Now Coaching, Inspired By Mel Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Brene Brown, Deepak Chopra, Vishen Lakhiani, Cathy Heller

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334

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Are you experiencing a Career or Life Transition, and are asking yourself "What's Next"? Join Kavita Ahuja, Certified Career and Life Transitions Coach, and founder of It's My Time Now Coaching as she gives her own wonderful insights and interviews incredible women across the globe that will give you inspiration to rediscover who you really are, what you really want, and how to get there. You'll learn how to overcome obstacles, find your true calling, and make your next chapter in life your best chapter ever. Reinvention doesn't mean giving up everything; it means rediscovering what has always been inside of you and bringing that out into the world. If not now, when? If you want a place to start, take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment . It takes about five minutes, and it isn't a personality quiz that boxes you into a type. It's a real diagnostic, built on the same four dimensions I coach with, your passions, your strengths, your values, and your contribution, and it will show you which one has been getting the least of you lately. Identifying that is the first step toward finding your way back to it. You can take it here. If you would like to dive deeper into how Kavita can help you make your vision for yourself a reality, book a complimentary consultation with Kavita here .

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September 10, 2026Episode 3377 min

#337: Why Your Future Self Already Knows Your Next Steps in a Midlife Transition

Have you finally admitted to yourself what you want next, and immediately found that a wall of fear and doubt stands between you and actually reaching for it? On Monday, in episode 336, Kristy Halvorsen left us with one question that silenced every fear long enough for us to see what we actually want. This Thursday check-in picks up right there. Once you can see the life you want, the work becomes meeting the wiser future version of yourself who has already walked the path, and giving yourself the permission you have been waiting on someone else to grant. That is the shift that turns a private daydream into something you actually begin to move toward in your midlife career and life transition. In this episode, you'll discover: How to meet your inner mentor or future self, the wiser future version of you who is already on the other side of the fear and knows exactly what to tell you to do next The real reason belief matters in a midlife career and life transition, and how it changes what you notice, what you say yes to, and what you actually reach for Why permission to believe your next chapter is possible is not something you have to earn, and the simple act of claiming it that begins to change what you do Press play to meet the future version of yourself who already knows the way, and let her show you the very next step in your midlife life transition. If you would like Kavita's guided visualization to meet your inner mentor and see the life you actually want, email Kavita directly at Kavita@itsmytimenowcoaching.com and she will send it to you. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

September 7, 2026Episode 33645 min

#336: How to Follow the Tickles of Your Soul and Trust Your Intuition in Midlife Transitions, with Kristy Halvorsen

Is there a steady pull inside you toward something different, something you keep talking yourself out of because it makes no sense on paper? For so many women in a midlife transition, the hardest part is not the lack of a plan. It's learning to trust the inner knowing that keeps calling to you underneath the noise, the responsibilities, and the voices of everyone else. In this conversation, Kavita and Kristy Halvorsen explore what it means to live by what Kristy calls the tickles of your soul, your intuition, that quiet inner compass. In 2017, Kristy sold everything, walked away from her firefighting career, and drove into the unknown in her Airstream trailer, and nearly nine years later she shares why the life you long for may be waiting on the other side of finally listening to it. In this episode, you'll discover: Why the inner pull you keep talking yourself out of, the one that makes no sense on paper, may be the truest compass you have during a midlife career or life transition The one question that dissolves almost every fear standing between you and the life you actually want, and how to sit with it honestly this week Why reinventing yourself is never about throwing away who you have been, but about bringing every skill, every role, and every hard-won lesson with you into what comes next Press play to hear an honest, wide-open conversation about trusting yourself, letting go of the maps that no longer serve you, and remembering that you were born with permission to follow what is calling you. If this episode is meeting you where you are, take the free Ikigai Clarity Assessment to turn down the noise and see honestly where your strengths, passions, values, and contribution are aligned in your life right now, then book a Complimentary Clarity Call with Kavita to name your very next honest step in your midlife career and life transition. About the Guest Kristy Halvorsen is a nomadic world traveler, mentor, and coach, and the bestselling author of Perfect Unfolding , a tender and deeply human account of what becomes possible when you live in curiosity and wonder, trust life, and let yourself wake up to the freedom that has been available all along. In 2017, Kristy sold everything she owned, walked away from her firefighting career, and drove off into the unknown in her Airstream trailer. For nearly nine years, she has migrated with the seasons, often with no idea where she is heading next. Website Book (worldwide retail link) Instagram LinkedIn Facebook Goodreads _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

September 3, 2026Episode 33511 min

#335: Why Your Inner Critic Gets Loudest the Moment You Are Ready for a Transition

Is there a voice in your head that keeps telling you you're not qualified, not ready, or not the kind of woman who gets to want something more? That voice has a name. In coaching, it's called the gremlin , and you probably know it better as your inner critic. It was built a long time ago to keep you safe, and it has been doing its job by keeping you small ever since. In this Thursday check-in, Kavita goes deeper into step two of last Monday's episode 334, facing your fears, and walks you through the exact practice she uses with clients to loosen that voice's grip so it stops running your career and life decisions. In this episode, you'll discover: What the gremlin (your inner critic) actually is, why it formed, and how to recognize it the moment it arrives during a career transition The simple naming and picturing practice that separates that voice from you , so you stop mistaking self-doubt for your own honest judgment How to give the same voice a new job and a new message, so the energy that was keeping you stuck starts working for your next chapter instead Press play to meet your inner critic, understand what it has been trying to protect you from, and turn its voice into one that lifts you toward what you actually want next. Have a question about naming your inner critic, facing self-doubt in a career transition, or anything else on your own journey? Ask Me Anything! Send it to me for a future episode: Kavita@itsmytimenowcoaching.com If you sense your gremlin is loud but you can't quite hear what it is protecting you from or write the new message on your own, book a Complimentary Clarity Call with Kavita and uncover it together. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

August 31, 2026Episode 33418 min

#334: What to Do When Your Career No Longer Fits in a Midlife Transition

Have you built a career that looks successful from the outside, and still carry an honest knowing on the inside that it no longer fits the woman you have become? Nothing may be obviously wrong. The title is still there, the paycheck is still there, and everyone around you assumes you should be grateful. But the person who chose this path 20 or 30 years ago is not you anymore. Your values have shifted, what you want from your days has changed, and wearing a career that fits who you used to be is a very particular kind of tired. In this episode, Kavita walks you through the three honest steps that finally move you forward when your career no longer fits your midlife career transition, drawn from her own reinvention and the women she has coached through the same crossroads. In this episode, you'll discover: The one honest question you have to answer before anything in your career transition can begin to change, and why staying busy is how most women avoid it The real fear that is keeping you exactly where you are, even though you already know you want to move, and how naming your specific fear returns your power back to you Why fast external fixes leave you in a new version of the same unhappiness, and how getting to the root cause through your Ikigai and reason for being becomes the way forward Press play to name what no longer fits, face the fear that has been keeping you there, and take the first honest step toward the next chapter that is truly yours. If this episode is meeting you where you are, take the free Ikigai Clarity Assessment to see which of the four dimensions of your reason for being, your strengths, passions, values, and contribution, are aligned right now and which are asking for your attention, then book a Complimentary Clarity Call with Kavita to bring your results and name your very first step. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

August 27, 2026Episode 33310 min

#333: What to Do When Your Life Looks Fine but Something Feels Off in a Midlife Transition

Have you been carrying around a low, humming sense that something in your life is off, but you cannot quite point to where? On paper, much of your life looks fine. And yet underneath your days there is a low feeling of being out of balance, of moving from a good stretch to a hard one and back again without ever knowing why. Because you cannot name it, you cannot do anything about it, so you tell yourself it is nothing and you keep going. In this Thursday check-in, a companion to Monday's Episode 332 on making this season your own reset, Kavita walks you through a simple wheel of life exercise that turns that vague off feeling into a clear picture of where your life and who you are have drifted apart, and gives you one honest place to begin. In this episode, you'll discover: Why the vague sense of being off in a midlife transition is not vague at all, and how putting your life on paper as a wheel makes it visible for the first time The eight areas to score honestly, and the one rule that matters more than all the rest How to choose the one starting point that smooths out your whole wheel, instead of trying to fix everything at once Press play to name what has been off in your life, and find your one place to begin your reset this week. To get the printable wheel of life exercise Kavita uses with her clients, email her directly at Kavita@itsmytimenowcoaching.com. And if you want to see the bigger picture underneath your wheel, take the free Ikigai Clarity Assessment to see which dimensions of your reason for being are thriving right now and which one is asking for your attention. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

August 24, 2026Episode 33217 min

#332: How to Use the September Reset to Reconnect With Your Purpose in Midlife

Have you found yourself standing at the turn of the season, wondering if this is really the life you meant to be living? For most of your life, September was a reset that belonged to everyone else. This year, with the house stiller and the old work no longer lighting you up, that familiar thrill may be replaced by a sinking feeling. That ache is not a flaw. It is a signal pointing to the gap between how you are living and the woman you have become in your midlife life transition. In this episode, you'll discover: Why the restless end-of-summer feeling is not something to push away, but the clearest sign of what needs to change next A simple way to walk through your days and see honestly where your outer life still fits you, and where it no longer does The two questions, "who am I now" and "what do I really want" , that begin to open the door to your reason for being and your next chapter Press play to make this the September you finally reset for yourself, and take the first honest step toward the next chapter that is truly yours. If this is meeting you where you are, take the free Ikigai Clarity Assessment to see which of your four dimensions, strengths, passions, values, and contribution, is alive right now and which has faded into the background, then book a Complimentary Clarity Call with Kavita to name your very next step in your midlife career and life transition. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

August 20, 2026Episode 3318 min

#331: How to Use Your Energy as a Guide to Alignment in Midlife Transitions

Have you spent so many years pushing through, being grateful, and not making a fuss that you have lost track of which parts of your day are actually fueling you and which are wearing you down? For most women in a midlife career and life transition, the mind can talk you into or out of almost anything. But your energy tells the truth. The parts of your life that are aligned with who you truly are will lift you up, and the parts that are misaligned will leave you heavier than the task alone should ever make you feel. In this Thursday check-in, Kavita builds on Monday's Episode 330 conversation about alignment and gives you one simple, honest exercise you can run this week to finally see, on paper, where your alignment lives and where it is missing. In this episode, you'll discover: Why your energy, not your thoughts, is the most honest guide to where your life is aligned and where it is misaligned in a midlife life transition How the green and red activity exercise works, and how to run it over a few days without changing a single thing yet What often surprises women who do this practice, including the real culprits behind daily depletion that have nothing to do with the work they thought was draining them Press play to learn a simple practice that turns what you have been vaguely feeling into a clear picture of what is fueling you and what needs to change in your midlife career and life transition. If this landed for you, take the free Ikigai Clarity Assessment to see which of the four dimensions of your reason for being is thriving right now and which one is quietly asking for your attention. It turns what you feel into a clear place to begin. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

August 17, 2026Episode 33015 min

#330: The Real Reason Some People Seem to Have It All in a Midlife Transition.

Have you ever looked at someone who seems to have it all and wondered why life feels so much easier for them than it does for you? It is easy to assume they were born lucky, born special, or given something the rest of us were not. What is actually happening is far more available to you than it looks. In this episode, Kavita shares why alignment with who you are and what you truly want is the one thing that steadies you, moves your energy up the spectrum, and begins to attract the people, circumstances, and next chapter you have been quietly waiting for. She also brings in the anabolic and catabolic energy framework, and the two questions human beings have been asking for generations, to help you find your own starting place. In this episode, you'll discover: What alignment actually is, why it is not luck, and how it becomes the force that begins to draw the right people and circumstances toward you during a career and life transition How the energy spectrum from catabolic to anabolic quietly shapes your days, and the kinder question to ask yourself instead of comparing yourself to women who seem to have it all The two ancient questions, “who am I” and “what do I really want”, and simple ways to begin answering them through stillness, small aha moments, and your ikigai Press play to find your own starting place, take one small step toward alignment this week, and open the door to the next chapter that is truly yours. If this episode is speaking to you, take the brand new Ikigai Clarity Assessment to see where your alignment is already strong and where it may be asking for your attention, then book a Complimentary Clarity Call with Kavita to make sense of your results together and name your very next step. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

August 13, 2026Episode 3297 min

#329: The One Question That Turns a Hard Feeling Into Clarity in a Midlife Transition

Have you been naming the loudest feeling of your day and moving on, without ever stopping to ask what is really going on underneath it? For most women navigating a midlife career and life transition, the anger, the stress, the flatness you cannot quite explain are not the whole story. They are the tip of the iceberg. The truer feeling, the one that is actually asking to be heard, is sitting quietly underneath, and it often has something important to say about a part of your life that is waiting for change. In this Thursday check-in, Kavita builds on her Monday conversation with Dr. Lorea Martinez in Episode 328 and hands you a simple, honest exercise you can use this week to get to the bottom of your own iceberg. In this episode, you'll discover: Why the first feeling you name is almost never the real one, and what your surface emotions are quietly protecting A five minute paper and pen exercise built around one question you can ask yourself over and over until you land on what is truly there What often waits for you at the bottom of the iceberg, and why it is so often a value, a passion, or a whole dimension of yourself that has quietly gone unheard Press play to learn how to read beneath the surface of your emotions and let them show you where your life is asking for change. If a feeling you touched this week is pointing to a part of you that has been waiting to be heard, take the free Ikigai Clarity Assessment to see which of your four dimensions is thriving right now and which one has been asking for your attention. It turns what you feel into a clear place to begin. _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

August 10, 2026Episode 32840 min

#328: What Your Emotions Are Trying to Tell You in a Midlife Career and Life Transition, with Dr. Lorea Martinez

Have you been doing work you once loved, in a life you actually chose, and still find yourself waking up depleted and quietly unsure of who you are anymore? That feeling is not a character flaw, and it is not proof that you built the wrong life. It is a signal, and like most of the feelings we move through in midlife, it is almost always sitting on top of something quieter and truer that we have not yet let ourselves name. In this conversation, Kavita and Dr. Lorea Martinez explore what our emotions are really trying to tell us, and how learning to listen to them, rather than push past them, can change everything at this stage of life. Dr. Martinez is the founder of Heart in Mind and the author of Living With the Heart in Mind. She spent twenty years in education, burned out inside the very work that was her purpose, and came out the other side with a completely different relationship to what her feelings were trying to tell her. In this episode, you'll discover: Why your emotions are not weakness to push past but data to read, and the simple iceberg exercise that begins to reveal the quieter feelings sitting underneath the ones you are allowed to name Why you can be living your purpose and still feel burnt out, and why that is not a failure but a signal that your reason for being is asking to evolve with the woman you have become Why the thing that comes next for you does not have to be a grand finished plan, and how one small curious step, taken with no pressure, can quietly bring you back to yourself Press play to hear an honest conversation about listening to yourself again, and let it be the permission you may have been waiting for to stop pushing through and start paying attention. If this episode is meeting you where you are, take the free Ikigai Clarity Assessment to see honestly which of your four dimensions is alive right now and which one has quietly gone silent, then book a Complimentary Clarity Call with Kavita to look at your results together and name your very next small step toward your reason for being. About the Guest Dr. Lorea Martinez is the founder of Heart in Mind and one of the leading voices in emotional intelligence. She spent more than twenty years in education as a teacher, administrator, and board member, and is the author of an award-winning book for educators as well as her newest release, Living With the Heart in Mind: A Practical Guide to Healing From Burnout and Cultivating Purpose . Her work helps individuals treat their emotions as information worth listening to, and offers practical tools to heal from burnout, rediscover creativity, and cultivate purpose in every season of life. Website: https://www.loreamartinez.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loreamartinez/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loreamartinezSEL/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartinmind _________________________ Take the Ikigai Clarity Assessment and find out which of your four Ikigai dimensions may be out of alignment. Schedule a Clarity and Next Chapter Call with Kavita New episodes every Monday and Thursday. This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention. itsmytimenowcoaching.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube