Beautiful, brave hearts. It is so wonderful to be with you today, and I wanna just tell you this. I see you. I feel you. I understand you. I know you. I am you. I'm a woman who is in midlife and beyond. I've been beyond for. 20 years now, and I understand the things that have happened and change and transition and, oh, all of the stuff, we're gonna talk about it today 'cause it's real. Right? It's real. And I don't think my mom shared it with me. My mom is beautiful and still vibrant, even though, uh, she will be 90 this year. But no one warned us and prepared us for the things that happen beyond midlife. And feeling invisible is one of those.

Now, feeling invisible doesn't mean that we don't have value. If you feel invisible, it doesn't mean that you're not valuable. Just know that something is shifting and you're gonna have to reinvent and find that voice that for so many years, brought wisdom, love, care, nurture. It's still there. It's still all you, just looks and feels different.

So if you're over 50, we're gonna talk about the transition that nobody warned you about, invisibility. You need to know it's not personal. It's contextual. In other words, you didn't shrink; it's just the spotlight moved. You had roles that once reflected like a mirror back to you, the significance that you had. Your mothering. The intensity that we had as we were needed by our children. They don't need us anymore as they did. They don't even need us like they did when they were having babies, and we were their babysitters. That's changed. What about your career? If you had a career outside of the home, and you did some things, that intensity lessens. And you not only ha have lost the role of mothering, but you've lost maybe your voice in your career and the wisdom and the advice that you used to give there. And so that recognition decreases.

What about the youth? Our beauty. Let's just be honest. A lot of things change. One day, we look in the mirror, and we don't recognize ourselves. We have these crow's feet, and we have these lines above our lips. In fact, where are our lips? They seem to be very thin and our eyebrows.

What about hair? Our hair has lost its color, and it's thinning, and it just feels like things aren't what they used to be. We used to have those tight, chiseled faces, and now things feel softer. We just know that we have changed, and many of us don't like it, and our voice fades. We used to have a commanding voice. We were the center of the home, perhaps, and our voice meant something, and now it feels like we can hardly get noticed as we're talking and people are talking over us, or they're not seeking our advice and our counsel anymore.

Well, when that mirror disappears, in other words, when those things that reflected to us are significant and our worth, when uncertainty shows up, that's often the first moment that we begin to wonder, who am I? I don't recognize myself. I feel disoriented, in fact. I feel invisible. While I want you to know that the loss of these roles, yes, I know it feels challenging. It feels like the loss of self, and it might until you understand what's really happening.

So, where is the real damage and feeling invisible? How does it really affect us? Well, when we get to midlife, there are a couple of things that begin to happen to us, and one of the things that I have been. Time is that we don't realize how much of our worth and value is tied to our usefulness. That is how we solve problems, how we can help our children, or how we make a difference at work when we don't feel useful anymore. And I think it's part of our created core. It's part of how God created us, but when we don't feel like we have a significant role anymore. We're gonna begin to wonder and realize our worth.

What happened to my confidence? Where did it go? Well, it's still the same. It's just now you get to see that sometimes we had false confidence. We had a confidence that was dependent on getting feedback, getting noticed, and having the spotlight on us and feeling that attention. And rarely were we, as women, taught how to self-anchor. That our value and our worth are not in what we do or who we serve, or how we look, or how we can turn heads and garner attention, or how we can mother. And until our children are 36, no. Our worth and our value are determined by the fact that we are created in God's image, and we are humanity, and our personhood matters.

So, one of the things that begins to happen is we start shrinking because we feel like we no longer deserve to take up space. I don't do that. Put your shoulders back. Put your head up high. Check your posture. Make sure you're not walking as if you're apologizing for taking up space. Because self-confidence often turns to self-abandonment. And what I mean by that is it's not really invisibility that we're struggling with. That's not what's causing the pain.

The pain is, is because we feel a loss of control. We feel off balance. We don't know what our power move is anymore. We don't know how to put on an outfit and do makeup and our hair in a way that brings us so much. Strength and power and attention and significance, and really a false confidence. We aren't the room mother anymore who can make all the crafts and bring all the treats and find our significance from how we make our clothing for our children, and pack the best lunch in the world, and make these incredible dinners or whatever it was that you did in your thirties, forties, or maybe late twenties. Those things we're in a change. It's different now, right?

And so our self-confidence begins to erode, and we abandon ourselves. We start thinking negative things about ourselves. We start wondering what our life is really about. We get quiet. We soften our voice, we lower our expectations. We become more agreeable. We lose our opinion. We don't really know what we want anymore. We begin to shelve dreams. We start feeling more familiar with regret and saying, well, I never got to it. I guess I won't ever be able to do that. Our energy turns inward. We start hating on ourselves in some ways, and I know that's a strong word to use, but maybe we start depreciating ourselves because we can't look the way we did or do what we did or move as we did, or bend as we did, whatever it is. And that's when invisibility really becomes internal. It's not that the world doesn't see us, it's that we don't see us. We don't see ourselves the way that we used to. And this is what midlife reveals. It reveals if we've been building our identity on a solid foundation or the shifting sand of the world, media, and Facebook, and what others say about us. This is your invitation to start building your life on a firm foundation. The moment you stop honoring your own voice is where invisibility really starts to hurt. So in a moment, I'm gonna tell you how to. Get that back. Reclaim your presence. How to show up strong.

But first, I wanna tell you this, if you're resonating with this today, if you're saying yes, that's how I'm feeling. I don't know what my purpose is. I don't know what I do anymore. I don't know where I'm significant. All I do is babysit. Or I am starting to watch so much tv or I've gained weight, and I can't get it off. Or I thought about volunteering. And you don't really know what you're supposed to be doing in this chapter of your life, then you are the perfect person to learn the 5 power principles. I call 'em the five Fortitudes that I teach in my Brave Hearted framework. It's an acronym that spells B-R-A-V-E, and this framework is in the course that I call Braveheart Transformation, small strategic shifts that you need to make in your life. At this season of your life, you can make it now without blowing up your whole life. They're not hard things to do, but they're powerful things to do. And you can love your life. You can love your body. You can love your mind, you can love yourself, your opinion, your values, and stay the leading lady of your life. You're the perfect person.

To get these videos that I've created in a course when I thought of a woman, especially like you, especially like me, and I'm gonna teach you how to thrive. So visit braveheartedwoman.com/bravehearted-transformation.

Alright, here, I wanna tell you how to reclaim your presence. Okay? Presence without performing. Here's what you don't need. You don't need to have more attention on you. It's not that we're begging for the spotlight. To come back to us. We're not midlife narcissists. That's not what this is about. You don't need a louder personality. You don't need to say, okay, everybody, you certainly don't need to let your hair go gray. Wear crazy glasses and bright colors unless you want to. If that's your vibe, rock on, sister, do it. You don't need a whole new image necessarily, but you're free to do that. But here's what you really do. It's an inside job, y'all. This is what you need. Visibility is rooted in your clarity of purpose and your alignment with your values. I'm gonna break that down for you, but you will ultimately feel invisible when you don't know what it is that you're doing in the world anymore.

When you don't know what your life is supposed to be about anymore, you can't do anything but fade. When we look in the mirror, we feel like our face is fading. Everything's getting smaller and thinner and grouping, and we're feeling that, but. You are looking through the eyes of a person who doesn't wake up in the morning with a vivid dream, with passionate purpose, with so much energy because we gotta get on it. We got things to do.

Alright, so here's what you need to do, and I will walk you through this in my coaching course that I just mentioned to you, The BraveHearted Transformation, or even in a FREE strategic call that we can have together. But here's what you need. You do need to discover your purpose. Knowing that brings passion. That goes without saying, but not just what your purpose was since you were 20, 30, 40, in this season of life. And it may surprise you, it may not be what you think, so it is uncovering. What's there but is shrouded. You need to uncover your purpose for this season. I promise you. I promise you. God has a purpose and a vision for you in midlife or beyond, wherever you are. 50, 60, 70. God has a purpose for your life. He's waiting for you to step into it. You do need to secondly, uncover the values that drive you, because we all have significant drivers in US values that we live by. And if we're not aligned with those, if we don't know what they are and we're not aligned with them, we will find ourselves living frustrated, unhappy, angry, confused, or sad. All of these emotions come because we're not aligned with our core inner values, and they're all different. Values are different for everybody.

One of my values, for example, is enthusiasm. I have to be enthusiastic about something. I'm naturally enthusiastic. I need to be around people who are enthusiastic. Have enthusiasm. I need lifters in my life, not just loaders. I don't mind loaders. I love people who want to unload. A little bit of their burden on me. It's part of my calling from God, but it's not the whole totality of who I am. I need to be around people who inspire me and lift me and radiate joy and the energy that just fuels me. I wanna be that for you, and I want someone to be that for me too.

What are your values? You need to know 'em. The third thing is you need boundaries that will protect your energy. Stop saying yes to everything. When we feel invisible, we start saying yes to everything because we're looking for value. Oh, I can do that because that'll make me important to you. Not necessarily. No, it won't. It'll make you be. Maybe taken advantage of. But more importantly than that, you need to protect the energy that you have so that you can continue to live out what God has called you to.

A lot of times in midlife, we think it's selfish to have self-care, and I wanna just tell you, self-care isn't about beautiful candlelights around a bubble bath. Although as lovely and wonderful as that would be, that's not what I'm talking about. Self-care goes much deeper than that. It's a beautiful belief in yourself. It's an inward realization that you matter and that this gets to be about you right now. That you can say yes to your vision, to your dreams. You have served, you have ministered, you have given, you have put yourself last. God doesn't expect you to do that. This is a season where you need to care about yourself, your health, your energy, and your mindset. So put those boundaries in place.

And then four, what are the small practices that bring you back to yourself so you don't abandon yourself, you don't abandon what you believe in and what you're passionate about, and that you don't allow yourself to be invisible. Don't. No small habits that will bring you back for me. It's the daily routine on my website, braveheartedwoman.com. Go to FREE resources and downloads, and you'll see there the BraveHearted Woman Planner. It helps me. It's a journal. It's part of my daily morning routine. I'm gonna share more about that later, but what are those habits? Exercise, eating right, reading, and writing. If you have a dream to be a writer, going back to school, studying, whatever it is, do something small every day.

Again, we're not talking about blowing up your life, but finding your voice, stating your opinion, and maybe. Yes, maybe removing some toxic people from your life. You don't wait for this season to be seen, to be noticed. You make a decision to be present. Be present in your own life. Discern the value of your presence. Show up. That changes how people see you when you think differently about yourself. People will think differently about you.

So let me ask you a few questions as we close here today. Ask yourself, where have I gone quiet to keep the peace? You wanna be a peacekeeper? Now be a peace maker. Sometimes confrontation makes peace, not a peacekeeper. Where have you gone? Quiet. Is there a part of you that wants to come back? You keep dismissing it. Is there a dream that you think it's too late for me, my season's over, and you're just shutting it down? Stop it. Listen, pay attention. Destiny is knocking on the door once you open it today. How do you want to live? The last half of your life, the last third perhaps, of your life, what would you change? If you could trust your voice again and you found that significance that is intended for you at this time of your life, at this season of your life?

Well, I invite you to go deeper into those things, around finding your core values, around uncovering your purpose for this season of life. You are here. You are ready. And if so, visit that website, brave hearted woman.com/brave Hearted Transformation. It's all in the course. It's all for you today. I can't wait for you to take advantage of it.

All right, so as I close, I wanna leave you with this. This is not your season to disappear. This is your season to return. Return to you. Return to God's vision for your life. Return to brave hearted woman. It's time for you to find your brave and live your dream.

I'm Dawn Damon, your Braveheart coach. I can't wait to see you and help you. I encourage you. Go to the website today and make this year your new beginning.