Midlife Remix

Molly Carroll, therapist, author, and founder of Cracking Open with 30 years of clinical work, shares candid stories from grief and collapse. She explores the loneliness hidden by constant busyness. Short, practical practices like breathwork, grounding, and journaling come up. High achievers and caretakers are called out as especially at risk.

What if the most transformative coaching session of your life happened on a 7-day walk through Spain?In this episode of the Midlife Remix, Steven Miyao sits down with Joao Viana, founder of Walking Mentorship, who left a 20+ year corporate career to build something most people would call crazy — a walking-based mentorship where he accompanies executives on multi-day journeys through places like the Camino de Santiago and Via Virginia to Rome.Joao shares how a pilgrimage in 1993 planted a seed that took decades to act on, what it felt like to let go of his corporate identity, and why walking side by side is one of the most powerful conditions for self-discovery. He opens up about loneliness as the hidden epidemic among high achievers, what happens when someone finally feels truly seen, and why silence on the road has a way of being brutally honest.A conversation about courage, faith, purpose, and showing up as your fullest self.If you're a successful professional feeling like something is quietly missing — this episode is for you.CHAPTERS & TIMESTAMPS0:00 – The slow transformation1:25 – Introducing Joao Viana1:52 – From corporate to the open road5:15 – Letting go of your identity7:30 – Why he tried to kill his own idea8:21 – Faith and the "good crazy"11:25 – Believing in yourself enough to leap13:52 – Faith vs. belief14:50 – What walking reveals about you16:40 – The gift of brutal honesty20:50 – Walking as a path to silence21:39 – What happens when you feel seen25:03 – Patience, purpose, and faith26:50 – Loneliness: the invisible epidemic32:37 – A message to his former self34:41 – Walk and write: two daily practices36:45 – Life is a book you can't turn back #WalkingMentorship #ConsciousLeadership #MidlifeTransformation #ExecutiveWellbeing #FindYourPurpose #CaminoDeSantiago #MidlifeRemix #StevenMiyao

Jim Fallon, Managing Partner at Conscious Leadership Group who shifted from high-achievement and burnout to mindful leadership coaching. He recounts a three-day medical wake-up, leaving work to deepen presence, and learning practices like feeling emotions fully, taking 100% responsibility, and choosing curiosity over righteousness. He also discusses meditation, nervous-system training, and why inner work matters for leaders.

Midlife often brings new challenges. The life you built still functions, but it no longer feels aligned. Work, identity, and family roles start to pull apart, and the strategies that once worked stop providing clarity.In this conversation, Steven Miyao speaks with contemplative psychotherapist David Redish about how psychedelics and meditation help in midlife, particularly when identity begins to strain under change. They explore fatherhood as an early catalyst, burnout as a signal rather than a failure, and why holding too tightly to a fixed sense of self creates unnecessary suffering.They discuss psychedelics as tools that can temporarily soften rigid identity structures and create perspective, and meditation as the ongoing practice that trains awareness day by day. The conversation also covers legality, safety, preparation, and integration, with a clear emphasis that insight alone is not enough without sustained work.This episode is for people who are not looking for shortcuts, but for ways to navigate midlife transitions with more honesty, stability, and alignment.Chapters00:00 Wanting a whole different life01:49 Fatherhood as the first identity rupture03:21 When the identity you built stops working06:50 Midlife, aging out, and changing rules07:33 How psychedelics loosen fixed identity11:34 Safety, legality, and responsible use15:47 Set, setting, and integration20:10 Psychedelics and meditation, different roles23:15 Why daily meditation matters27:24 Advice across a lifetime#Midlife#MidlifeTransition#IdentityShift#Psychedelics#Meditation#InnerWork#Fatherhood#PersonalGrowth#Consciousness#CoachingMetta

Ret Taylor, a former entrepreneur turned modern-day guide who leads Vision Quests and coaching for midlife alignment. He recounts a solo Denali moment that shifted him from control to trust. They explore how early survival patterns fuel achievement, why high achievers resist pausing, and how solitude, fasting, and modern rites of passage help people reconnect and choose alignment over momentum.

Reflections on how work can swallow identity and what happens when that structure breaks. Conversations about mourning old selves and choosing risk over regret. Talks about leadership as vulnerability, parenting as self-work, and finding meaning beyond career milestones.

Paul Hatch, former Morgan Stanley vice chairman turned CEO of Vestra Financial and entrepreneur. He talks about walking away from corporate prestige, learning from recent failures, choosing impact over recognition, using Stoic practices to weather setbacks, and involving family in reinvention. Short, candid takes on purpose, struggle, and redefining success.

Larry Olson, an award-winning creative director who has worked with Nike, Apple, Spike Lee, and Al Gore, recounts a midlife reinvention sparked by success that felt hollow. He talks about the Times Square turning point, a three-item post-it that refocused his life, moving from ego to purpose, meditation, grief, and rebuilding creativity and meaning.

Keith Lawrence, executive coach focused on designing purposeful next chapters. Bruno Del Ama, leader critiquing the hedonic treadmill and external metrics. Brett Wright, leadership practitioner who centers listening and vulnerability. Jack Swift, entrepreneur who left corporate for value-aligned ventures. They discuss walking away from prestige, listening to your inner voice, human-centered leadership, redefining success, and choosing time over status.

Mike Ma, investor who measures success by process and service; Kim Mustin, executive turned caregiver who models visible boundaries; Paul Hatch, ex-naval officer who rebuilt his path after big setbacks; Larry Kihlstadius, coach focused on freedom and relationship-led leadership. They talk about redefining freedom, pivoting after loss, caregiving and work-life boundaries, and leading with trust and purpose.