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Hello you gorgeous rock stars! Welcome to the very first episode of Walking This Way - my new space for midlife women who are ready to rediscover their fabulousness, one brave step at a time.
In this episode, I’m sharing how this whole thing began: the moment I realised I’d lost myself a little, the scary trip to a Muay Thai retreat that changed everything and the parkrun that taught me more about courage (and tears!) than any medal ever could.
This is about movement, midlife and self-care in its truest sense - showing up for yourself, even when it feels hard. Whether you’re juggling kids, parents, hormones or hope, Walking This Way is here to remind you that every small act of self-love counts.
So lace up your trainers, grab a cuppa, and let’s start walking this way together.
In this episode you’ll hear:
In this episode you’ll hear:
- How a Muay Thai retreat helped Lise reconnect with her confidence and purpose.
- The parkrun story that became a metaphor for showing up — no matter your size, pace or fear.
- Why courage often looks like everyday self-care.
- An invitation to midlife women everywhere to take part, share stories and inspire each other.
Be a part of the show: Here's how to get in touch...
- Follow the show and get all the links you need on LinkTree - https://linktr.ee/walking_this_way
- Email us: walkingthisway@hotmail.com
- Use the get in touch form HERE - https://tr.ee/r-ePylKE8H
- Send us a voice message HERE- https://www.speakpipe.com/WalkingThisWay
Produced by The Good Studio - thegoodstudio.co.uk
Creators and Guests
What is Walking This Way?
Welcome to Walking This Way - the upfront, no-nonsense podcast about midlife for women who are done with pretending it’s all fine.
Join Lise Thorne for honest conversations, unfiltered stories and a good dose of humour as she explores what it really means to be a woman in midlife - from shifting priorities and changing bodies to rediscovering joy, purpose and self.
Real talk. Real women. Real midlife.
Because this isn’t about surviving midlife - it’s about walking it your way.
Walking This Way is produced by The Good Studio.
Hello, and how are you doing? Welcome to Walking This Way. I'm Lisa Thorne, and this is my brand new podcast. Over the coming weeks and months, we're gonna be talking about everything to do with midlife women and our fabulousness. We're gonna be looking at lifestyle, movement, limiting beliefs, the sandwich generation, looking after young kids and older parents, and no doubt our hormones are gonna make an appearance too.
Lise Thorne:I've got some fab guests lined up, but sometimes it's just gonna be me and you. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, please give the show a follow on your usual podcast platform. A five star review would be fabulous if you're feeling generous, and tell everyone you know about us and that they need to review us too. And here is what's coming up in episode one. I began an Instagram account, which many of you lovely people follow, called Walking This Way.
Lise Thorne:And that Instagram account was and still is my personal therapy. But on the way, as I've gone through my trials and tribulations and my successes, it was something that I wanted to take out to a bigger platform and that I'd been thinking about a podcast for quite a while. My husband had come to a different car park, and my three young children then started running with me and cheering me on. Oh, they're going to cry. I actually am going to cry because they cheered me on.
Lise Thorne:And at that point, I realised who am I inspiring? My kids. We are here for it all. We're all so multifaceted that we can talk about careers and fry vaginas all in the same episode. So in this first episode, I wanted to share with you why I'm here, why we're doing a podcast, and what happened to bring me here.
Lise Thorne:The truth is the journey probably started ten years ago when I changed up my life a bit. I was an overwhelmed, overweight mother of three small children, and the truth is I was lost. I was completely lost and felt like it wasn't a world that I could connect with anymore. I was looking after small children. I was exhausted, and my weight kept creeping on and on and on.
Lise Thorne:And that was the beginning of an amazing journey for me. One where I began to show up in the world and that came through the first thing that I did or that's when I started posting on Instagram. So ten years ago, I went on a Muay Thai boxing retreat in Thailand. It was the scariest possible thing I could do, but what came out of that more than anything was my love of moving every day and knowing that I had value to give in the world, value for myself, value internally and value to go out in the world. And I began an Instagram account, which many of you lovely people follow, called Walking This Way.
Lise Thorne:And that Instagram account was and still is my personal therapy. But on the way, as I've gone through my trials and tribulations and my successes, I've brought many people with me. It was something that I wanted to take out to a bigger platform and that I'd been thinking about a podcast for quite a while. And then through Instagram or through, one of my followers, she happens to be married to this fabulous chap called Tim and he said, fancy doing a podcast. So that is why we're here today because if I was left to my own devices, I do call myself a bit of a recruit on meth, so I'm not a details person.
Lise Thorne:And I did try and host a podcast before, but somebody told me I had to create a thumbnail, and that was it. The podcast fell because I couldn't get my head around producing a fun thumbnail. So here's my hope. I'm very, good at doing under three minutes on Instagram and talking to people. I feel like everybody's sitting in my living room and I think everybody thinks they're sitting in my living room and I have more offers for a cup of coffee than I could ever possibly do if I had coffee every single day of the week.
Lise Thorne:But this is my way of connecting on a deeper, longer level with people. And more importantly than that, I hope it will encourage people to engage the other way because this ultimately is about you. It's about you and it's about me and it's about going on a journey together and seeing what we can achieve. In the podcast, I want to meet more fabulous midlife women. I want the stories of the women in their forties, fifties, sixties to make it out into the world because I have a real belief that we can change the world for the better if we show up.
Lise Thorne:And it's showing up that is so difficult for so many midlife women. I have a belief that somehow we've become invisible, and we know we shouldn't be there. We know that's not what we want. But we've got smaller and smaller and shrunk. So walking this way is about getting a bit more self love than you had the day before, and it's the courage to show up in a way that scares you a little bit more, to take a long walk, to wear a bikini, to do a park run or at times it can mean getting out of bed and making yourself a cup of tea to face that day.
Lise Thorne:Courage isn't always something that comes with a medal, but it can be the smallest act of self care. And I hope if we can encourage each of us in that act of self care, we can do incredible things together. So here's my ask of you. I really want you to get involved. I want you to send in your comments, I want your questions, your thoughts, your photos through the links in the show notes or you can email me at walkingthiswayhotmail dot com.
Lise Thorne:Don't just sit and listen silently because then you won't make the changes that you need to do. Let's take part together in this show, and you this show can be whatever you want it to be. If you want me to talk to guests in fact, so far, I've had Devina suggested, Mel Robbins, and my personal favorite, Steven. But tell me who you want on the podcast. Tell me if you want to be on the podcast and you've got a special story to tell.
Lise Thorne:Share your midlife journey with me. Make me laugh. So let's do this together. Let's make this podcast everything that that we want to see more of in the world. I'm all about, you know, shedding light on our shame and overcoming our fears and one small step at a time.
Lise Thorne:As I said, if that's that you get out of bed in the day, then I celebrate everything about you. And I'm here to shed light on those things so that we can grow together, laugh together. It's not about me. I'm here as the catalyst to get you guys doing what works for you, to grow your life, to be the amazing rock stars that you are. And in fact, I want to share a small story for when I came back from Thailand, and I'd gone out there with a life coach, JP.
Lise Thorne:And when I came back, I was really, really desperate to try a parkrun. And this might sound weird to lots of you, but parkrun was something that was way, way beyond my capabilities. At the time, I was probably about twenty one stone, and I will talk about my weight a lot, not because I because I have zero judgment about or shame about my weight now. And I know many, many women would never put that detail out in public because they feel shame about it. But my body size now has no relation to my value.
Lise Thorne:So at the time, I was about twenty one stone, and I said to my coach, I'd love to do a part run, but it's just not for people like me. And he said, well, what do you mean like that? And I said, nobody wants to see the fat girl running at the back, and everybody will laugh at me. And he said to me, who are you to deprive your inspiration from the world? And I remember that over and over again.
Lise Thorne:He said, how many people are there that would like to do a parkrun or who would like to take part but are too frightened because they're big? He said, can walk that parkrun, and you're still achieving a parkrun. You still got your time. You're still doing the most amazing thing. And that line stuck with me about who was I to deprive the world for my inspiration.
Lise Thorne:It sounds quite egotistical, but actually, it's just an encouragement to show up because you don't know who else you're helping in the process. And I want to encourage you to be brave in any way that feels right for you because you never know who you're inspiring. So let me tell you about that parkrun. So I had made a commitment to myself that I would do a parkrun before the 2017. I remember very clearly.
Lise Thorne:So the park run that I chose to do was on the 12/31/2017 because I was so frightened of showing up. I'd done a little bit of training. My I'd said to my friend, I can't run. She said, walk. So we did some walking running.
Lise Thorne:On the day of the park run, 12/31/2017, I woke up at 4AM, and I had a nutritional spinach sourdough and scrambled egg because I knew that I needed to to do the right nutrition for my, for my big event. And it was massive to me. It was absolutely massive for me. I cannot explain to everyone how fearful I was. If you see me now, you'll know that I can turn up at the start line of a triathlon or a half iron man, and I really don't care.
Lise Thorne:I just do it. Because if you can make it to the start line, you can do it. Like, if you get to that start line, you could do it. But this particular park run was so big for me. And I turned up.
Lise Thorne:I went there. I drove my car up to it. It was in Richmond Park. Walked to the start line. I was probably shaking.
Lise Thorne:And I remember the first chap I saw, I I can still see him in my head. He was covered head to toe in in tattoos, and he was like, are you alright, love? And I said, oh, yeah. I'm really nervous. I've never been here before.
Lise Thorne:I don't know if I can do it. And he said, I promise you, you'll be addicted. And I was like, oh, no. I don't think I will. Anyway, he was right.
Lise Thorne:I was wrong. So I did this park run, and as I came halfway through, I was probably about two and a half kilometers, and I didn't walk. I jogged the whole thing. As I came to two and a half kilometers, my husband had come to a different car park in the park, and my three young children then started running with me and cheering me on. Oh, they're gonna cry.
Lise Thorne:I actually am gonna cry because they cheered me on. And at that point, I realized, who am I inspiring? My kids. My young kids. I finished the park run-in just over forty minutes, which was brilliant for me.
Lise Thorne:And then the next story I have to tell you is on the 01/01/2018, my husband and my then eight year old son did their first park run. So the feelings about doing that park run, I just it's still one of my favorite, favorite events. And park runs are five k. For anybody who's thinking they can't do it, you can walk a park run. They should call it park walk or run, but I promise you, as long as you can walk five kilometers in about an hour and twenty minutes, you can join that parkrun.
Lise Thorne:And it was definitely a turning point for me. I then did Park Run for quite a while. I'd turn up every week and I got better and better. And that journey led me ultimately, it led me to doing a half iron man. I'm not a runner.
Lise Thorne:By the way, I'm twenty stone, and I'm still not a runner. And I do running, kicking, and screaming, but sometimes needs must. And I do like a triathlon. I mean, I went on from doing the part run to doing my first triathlon, and I just cannot tell anyone who's sort of if you're standing on the sidelines thinking maybe, maybe, maybe I can do it, I cannot encourage you enough to show up and take part. So please don't stay silent.
Lise Thorne:Don't think, shall I say that story or share it? Because you never know who you are helping along the way. Our stories are the how to manuals for the person coming behind us, and they let other people know that they can do it too. And they let other people know that we're all just ordinarily extraordinary. Every other week, we're gonna do a five minute bite sized show where I'm going to set you a challenge for the week ahead.
Lise Thorne:It could be something simple like moving every day, and then I want to know how you got on. You can send me your comments, thoughts, or even your photos and videos, whatever you feel comfortable with, and I'll chat about them all on my Instagram. So subscribe to the show, take on the challenges and let's see how we all get on. Hello, Lisa. It's Sarah Hardaker here.
Lise Thorne:I am so excited for this podcast. It's gonna be brilliant. Well done. So this segment is all about the listener's comments and questions. This is the spot in the show where it's all about you.
Lise Thorne:As I mentioned earlier, I want you to send me your comments or questions, and we can chat about them here. And it's been really lovely over the last couple of weeks to hear from you about the things that you'd like me to cover on the show. Like Arlene, who asked for an episode about ladies of a certain age with wobbly bodies who drink too much. And Easy Crew, who said, you really hit a nerve in a good way. I just don't feel alone anymore.
Lise Thorne:The reality of our age. Good luck in the podcast. Can't wait. Loads of you have also asked about the positive and negative effects of HRT, so I'm hoping we'll get somebody on to talk about that. And finally, this is my absolute favourite one from Neda George, And I quote, Can I be a guest?
Lise Thorne:I'd love to come and talk career confidence during midlife, conscious pivots, re skilling, women in tech, anything I can come and chat about, including menopause, dry vaginas, I'm here with all the insights. And I promise you, I'm gonna get that woman on this podcast. We are here for it all. We're all so multifaceted that we can talk about careers and dry vaginas all in the same episode. So we'll do it all again next time.
Lise Thorne:Get in touch and be part of the show. So that's it for episode one. How was it for you? Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back next week with your first bite sized challenge, so don't forget to tune in.
Lise Thorne:And in a fortnight, I'll be back with the brilliant Vanessa McDaid to chat about career pivots, rewriting the rules, and how to build a life that feels as successful on the inside as it looks on the outside. So until then, please don't forget to give the show a follow on your usual podcast platform, and a quick five star rating would be absolutely fab. Let's do it for the midlife women. So that's me done for now, and don't forget, I absolutely love you rockstars.