Reframing Me - Self-Development & Parenting Teens for Midlife Moms
Your kids are growing up - but so are you. Reframing Me is the podcast for moms of teens ready to reframe family, identity, and self-development in midlife. Parenting teens is hard -and parenting while rediscovering yourself in midlife can feel even harder. Reframing Me is the parenting podcast for moms raising teenagers who are also navigating the transition out of hands-on motherhood, identity shifts, and the search for balance, fulfillment, and self-development. Hosted by Dr. Jennifer Brubaker, a Communication Studies professor, mom of three teens, and intrapersonal communication expert, each episode blends family communication strategies, honest conversations about parenting teens, and self-reflection tools to help moms strengthen family relationships while rediscovering who they are as women. Together we’ll talk about the issues moms face but don’t always say out loud: changing family dynamics, feeling invisible, letting go of control, and creating new purpose. Through research, theory, and compassionate conversation, you’ll find support, strategies, and a sense of community in this season of parenting and personal growth. Join the Reframing Me community to connect with other midlife moms, share your stories, and reframe how you see yourself, your family, and your future. Send emails to jen@reframing-me.com; or on socials: Reframing Me on FacebookAND join the Facebook group Reframing Me: The Podcast Community; @reframingme on Instagram; Reframing Me on YouTube @reframingme on TikTok
Episodes
Welcome! Thank you for being here!
There’s a phase of motherhood that no one really prepares you for.
It’s not the chaos of little kids, and it’s not the emptiness of the empty nest. It’s the in-between—when your teenagers are starting to launch, and everything is quietly shifting.
In this episode, I explore the tension we all feel between staying connected to our kids and allowing them the autonomy they need to grow, ...
Welcome back! I'm so happy you're here! This is part 3 of my Things I wish I knew sooner series - #s 41 through 50. I just turned 50 last week, and to count down, I stepped drastically out of my comfort zone and started recording and posting reels/TikToks every day of things I wish I had known sooner - things that would have made my life a lot easier. In that process, I learned a number of other things, st...
Thank you so much for being here!! I am so appreciative of you for tuning in!
Last year, we had a conversation about hypernormalization that I think it's important to revisit. We’re living in a time when the world feels increasingly chaotic, and somehow we’re expected to keep functioning like everything’s fine. In this episode, I explore the concept of hypernormalization - how dysfunction becomes our default, an...
In this episode, I continue my 50 Things I Wish I Knew Sooner series, walking through lessons 16 through 40.
This part of the list shifts from what we do to how we experience our lives - our thoughts, our habits, our self-image, and the way we show up in our relationships.
This isn’t about having everything figured out. It’s about learning how to think differently, trust yourself more, and move through your life with ...
"I am going to warn you in advance that it has been a rough few days and I am not feeling like my best birthday girl self." This was the message I sent to my friend who is coming to visit to celebrate my birthday.
Nothing is wrong and yet everything feels wrong. I think a lot of you can relate to some of the heaviness I'm carrying, but it all comes back to roles - the roles we play because we've c...
This week’s episode started with a random moment in my attic looking for an old box of college photos and turned into something bigger.
There’s a growing trend right now of teens recreating 90s aesthetics… and even subtle shifts in what’s considered “cool” (yes, including the whole smoking vs vaping conversation). But this episode isn’t about trends.
It’s about what those trends mean.
We’re talking about why teens are ...
As we (in the Northern Hemisphere) enter Spring, can we trust that we are on the right path, even if the balance we seek is only an illusion? Maybe we, like the Earth are only meant to find balance at times,
Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the ...
This week I found myself thinking about something a lot of parents probably feel but don’t always say out loud.
Two of my kids had tough weeks. Nothing catastrophic, but enough that I spent hours talking things through with them, listening, trying to help them make sense of it. And during a text conversation with my cousin, she said something that stuck with me.
“You’re only as happy as your unhappiest child.”
That fee...
You can start something new any time. It doesn't need to be January 1st or a Monday - it can be a random Wednesday in February at 2pm when, after YEARS of saying that "I'm going to work on my socials," you finally start.
As I approach my 50th birthday, I made a list (that I didn't know what I was going to do with) of "50 things I wish I had known sooner." On a random Wednesday after...
Welcome back! I'm so happy you're here!
You don’t need to be your best every day. You just need to show up consistently and be authentically you.
After three years of saying that I was going to build my socials/be consistent in my socials/focus on my socials (spoiler: I didn't/wasn't), on a random Wednesday in February, I committed to 50 consecutive days of making and posting reels, leading up to ...
Welcome back! I'm so grateful you are here! Last week, we talked about men and women processing information differently. I wanted to follow up on that conversation with an episode to share with the men in your life to help them to understand how to better communicate with you about it. No, men are not from Mars and women are not from Venus; We are all from Earth, and right now, Earth is a bit of a hot mess, but...
Thank you for being here for a quick zen with me! Happy Lunar New Year!! As we exit the year of the snake and enter the year of the fire horse, can you reflect on what you have shed - the good and the grief. Are you ready to take on the fire horse?! I am!
Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on...
Hello! Welcome back to Reframing Me! I'm so happy that you're here for a quick moment of zen (with Jen!)... I decluttered my pantry yesterday (finally! after MONTHS of saying I need to...), and the mental space it gave me...
Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme...
Welcome back! Another quick zen for you today, because I've been reflecting on what is the right amount of "enough?" I feel like one minute I'm convinced I'm not doing enough and another I'm too much. My ideas about what is "enough" comes from the events that shaped how I see myself and the narratives that I tell myself. So today, let's talk about that, and go through an ...
Thank you for being here! I saw a message I wanted to share - the monks who have been walking for peach across the U.S. reached Washington D.C. today! I saw a speech one gave where his message was to "Clean the mirror right away," and I think it's a valuable one to bring into today.
Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @ref...
Welcome back! I'm so happy you're here today for a Quick Zen. I have not been talking to myself very kindly lately - in fact, I've been even unkind. If we can show ourselves kindness, it filters into everything - we feel joy; we see the world with gratitude; we feel confidence; and we bring grace to ourselves, to everything and everyone we encounter. and to the world. So I am working on me kinder to m...
This episode explores why disagreement feels so much heavier right now - and why so many conflicts aren’t actually about beliefs, but about how people process information, emotion, and threat.
Using the current news cycle as a stress test, I explain how people with shared values can react in completely different ways without one of them being apathetic or wrong and why that confusion is exhausting and damaging to rel...
Thank you for being here with me! Yesterday's quick check in made me feel so good that I found myself thinking of y'all again this morning. Today, when I asked myself what I want to bring into the day, I was primed by the upcoming Olympics and following Lindsay Vonn and her injury, and I immediately thought of resilience and perseverance and where I fall in that intricate balance.
I'm so happy you're here. This isn't our weekly episode - it's me just reaching out - a touchstone, if you will - to remind you that even though things are crazy and you may feel frustrated or sad or angry or emotional - you're not alone! We need a sense of community now more than ever. And I'm here to remind you that I am here - we are here - and somehow, we'll get through - toget...
Thank you so much for being here!
This episode reflects on how my understanding of confidence has changed over time. What once felt tied to performance, comparison, and getting things “right” now feels quieter and more stable, rooted in self-trust rather than validation. I talk about the difference between arrogance and confidence, why confident people used to bother me, and how creating this podcast required speakin...
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