Listening Instead of Overriding
Relearning Hunger, Fullness, Rest, and Emotion Without Fear in Midlife
There was a time when you knew exactly what you needed.
You knew when you were hungry.
You knew when you were tired.
You knew when something hurt your feelings.
You knew when your body wanted to move and when it wanted to be still.
And then, somewhere along the way, you learned to override all of it.
Override hunger because it wasn’t time yet.
Override fullness because food couldn’t be wasted.
Override exhaustion because everyone else came first.
Override emotion because you had to stay strong.
So you pushed.
And pushed.
And pushed.
Until one day you woke up and thought,
“I don’t even know what my body is asking for anymore.”
If that feels familiar, nothing is wrong with you.
You didn’t lose your intuition.
You just got very, very good at ignoring it.
When Survival Gets Louder Than Signals
Many women didn’t stop listening because they didn’t care.
They stopped listening because they had to survive.
Careers.
Caregiving.
Holding families together.
Being the reliable one.
Being the strong one.
Being the one who never fell apart.
From the outside, it looked like resilience.
Inside, your nervous system quietly learned:
“My needs can wait.”
So you ate when there was time.
Slept when everything was done.
Rested only after everyone else was cared for.
Swallowed emotions because there wasn’t space for them.
After years of this, your signals didn’t disappear.
They just got softer.
Harder to trust.
Easier to dismiss.
By midlife, many women aren’t just tired.
They’re disconnected.
Not broken.
Disconnected.
And there is a very gentle way back.
Your Body Is Still Talking
Here’s the beautiful part.
Your body never stopped speaking.
It’s still whispering all day long.
A gentle stomach growl.
A yawn.
A tight chest.
A craving for something warm and grounding.
The sudden urge to lie down.
Tears that show up out of nowhere.
These aren’t inconveniences.
They’re guidance.
Your body is always trying to bring you back to balance.
But if you’ve spent years overriding those cues, they can feel unfamiliar. Even unsafe.
You might catch yourself thinking:
“I shouldn’t be hungry already.”
“I shouldn’t need this much rest.”
“I shouldn’t feel this emotional.”
But “should” is usually where the disconnect begins.
Listening Is a Skill You Can Relearn
Listening doesn’t require a new plan.
It requires permission.
Permission to pause.
Permission to check in.
Permission to believe your body.
It looks small.
Pausing before you eat and asking, “What actually sounds good?”
Stopping halfway through a meal and noticing, “Am I satisfied?”
Lying down for twenty minutes without earning it first.
Letting tears come instead of swallowing them.
Choosing the simple meal instead of the perfect one.
Tiny acts of trust.
Tiny moments of partnership.
And slowly, your nervous system learns something new:
“I’m safe enough to listen now.”
When safety returns, your signals get clearer.
Hunger feels obvious.
Fullness feels gentle.
Fatigue feels honest instead of shameful.
Emotion feels informative instead of overwhelming.
You stop micromanaging yourself.
You start responding.
This Season Is About Partnership, Not Control
For years, the world told you to control your body.
Track it.
Shrink it.
Push it.
Override it.
But midlife asks something different.
It asks for partnership.
Not control.
Not discipline.
Not force.
Partnership.
“What do you need today?”
“How can I support you?”
“Where can I soften?”
This is the heart of everything we do here at Salute to Wellness.
Not more rules.
More relationship.
Because when you feel safe inside your body, nourishment becomes simpler. Movement becomes gentler. Rest becomes allowed.
Life gets quieter.
And lighter.
A Gentle Place to Begin
Today, try this:
Just once.
Pause and ask,
“What do I need right now?”
Water.
Food.
A walk.
Ten quiet minutes.
A cry.
A warm bowl of something simple.
Let the answer be small.
Let it be enough.
Listening is how you come home to yourself again.
And you don’t have to override yourself anymore.
xx, Diana
