Mid-Year Check-In: Have You Lost Yourself?

By Rachel Hupp Cline · June 26, 2026

Episode 36 · Radiantly Rooted with Rachel

Halfway through the year. That’s where we are. And if part of you just thought, “wait, am I actually halfway to where I wanted to be?”, I want you to know you’re not alone, and you’re not behind.

I’ve been hearing from so many women lately who feel a little lost in the middle of their lives. One asked me recently, how do you actually find your way through the messy middle? What are the real steps? So that’s what this episode is about.

We’ll talk about why so many of us end up living on autopilot, why it isn’t your fault, and the one simple practice I keep coming back to, the power of the pause, plus a letter to your future self you can write this week. Let’s begin.

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You know what to do. You just can’t seem to do it. And somewhere along the way, maybe you decided that means something’s wrong with you. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t.

Are You Halfway to Where You Wanted to Be?

Welcome back. I’m so glad you’re here. I want to start with a question. We’re about halfway through the year. Are you halfway to where you wanted to be this year? I know that’s going to mean something different for every one of us, but I invite you to just sit with it for a second. Not to judge, just to notice, to bring in a little awareness.

The Messy Middle

I’ve run into some of my listeners recently, and I cannot tell you how much it means to me to hear how much this work has meant to you. Somebody asked me, how do you find your way through the messy middle? What are the real steps? And even though it can look a little different for each of us, I thought, that’s exactly what I want to talk about today.

Because so many of us are standing right in the middle, literally and figuratively. We’re in the middle of the year. Many of us are in the middle of our lives. The middle of something big, some kind of transition, maybe between a role we’ve outgrown, for whatever reason, and where we’re heading, who we’re becoming. Wondering how we got a little lost, how we lost touch with ourselves along the way.

The Signs You’re Running on Empty

Here’s what I hear from so many women, and to be honest with you, it’s what I’ve lived myself. It’s that feeling of just going through the motions, moving through your day on autopilot. You’re putting out fires all day, taking care of everybody else, and by the end of the day, there’s nothing left for you.

Somewhere along the way, you lost touch with who you really are, at your core, in your heart. And it shows up in really real ways. Maybe you snap at the people you love over something small. It’s not because you don’t care. It’s because your tank is empty. Maybe you find yourself lying awake at night, your mind looping through everything you should have done, everything you still need to do. Or maybe you’ve stopped making plans with your friends, because it feels like one more thing on a calendar that’s already overflowing.

I see you. Let’s take a deep breath together. Let it go.

Why It’s Not Your Fault

I invite you to hear this clearly, because it is not your fault. It’s not your fault. We were all handed this idea that we should be able to do it all. Be the perfect mom, the perfect partner, the successful professional, and somehow still find time for your health, your wellbeing, for yourself.

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We were never meant to do this much. We were never meant to do it all.

Nobody teaches us how to navigate a midlife transition. And that transition can look like so many different things. It might be a change with a partner or a friend. A change in your work or your role. Maybe your children are getting older. Maybe you just had a baby. Maybe the kids are moving out and they don’t need you the way they used to. Maybe you finally have time for yourself again, and you don’t quite know what to do with it. Maybe you’re retired, and somehow busier than you’ve ever been.

Wherever you are, whatever it is, there’s no one map. We’re all just figuring it out as we go. So if you feel lost, you’re not failing. You’re human. And you are in good company. Most of the women I work with are right here with you, and so am I. And the most important thing I can tell you is this. It doesn’t have to stay this way. We can find our way back to ourselves.

The Power of the Pause

It can start with something simple. You’ve probably heard me talk about this before. It’s the power of the pause. Because in this busy life of go, go, go, do, do, do, when you let yourself pause, slow down, even for a moment, something begins to shift.

Imagine with me that you could rise up into the sky like a hawk, and look down on your whole life from above. From up there, you can finally see it. The places you’ve been pouring yourself out, and the parts of you that have been waiting for you to come back. It’s like a fog lifting.

And from that place, you’re not just reacting to your life anymore. You start to remember what matters most. You begin to wake up with a little more purpose, a little less anxiety. The small moments you used to rush right past, your first sip of coffee, the sky on your drive home, they start to feel like yours again. You have more energy for the people and the things you love, because you’re learning to say no to what drains you, and yes to what lights you up.

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This is the return. The unbecoming, and the becoming. Not a brand-new you. The you who’s been there the whole time.

Start Small, Every Day

So how do we actually begin? We start small. We start with a pause. And it’s not about some big dramatic life change. It’s not quitting your job or running off to an ashram, don’t worry. It’s a small, daily act of stopping, even for a minute, and turning your attention, your awareness, back toward yourself. Asking, how am I, really? And seeing what bubbles up. What do I need right now?

Simple, right? Not easy. But the more often you do it, the more you start to hear your own voice again, underneath all the outside noise, all the things you should be doing, all the people who need you. You start to hear your own voice again.

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It’s not quitting your job or running off to an ashram. It’s a small, daily act of turning your attention back toward yourself.

A Letter to Your Future Self

Today I want to give you a simple practice, and I encourage you to do it this week to begin. It’s one of my favorites. I call it a letter to your future self.

How to write it

Find a few minutes to yourself, fifteen minutes, half an hour, maybe even an hour. Somewhere you can get comfortable. Put on your favorite pajamas, your favorite slippers. Maybe set the mood with a cup of tea or light a candle. And if it feels okay, take a breath, let it go, and breathe mindfully.

Then picture yourself on December 31st of this year. Not the to-do-list version of you, but the real you. Can you see her? That version of you about six months from now. Who has she become? What has she let go of? What is she finally making room for? How does it feel to be her?

Then, when you’re ready, open your journal and write to her. To that woman on December 31st of this year. Tell her what you hope she’s living. Tell her who you’re becoming. Pour your heart out. Nobody else has to see this but you.

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This isn’t just daydreaming. It’s you giving yourself permission to want again. And for so many of us, that permission is everything.

That letter becomes a kind of compass you can keep coming back to, all the way to the end of the year.

This One Wild and Precious Life

Because this is your one life. So let me ask you the way I ask myself. Does it feel the way you want it to feel? I’ve been sharing a Mary Oliver quote in my yoga classes this week. You probably know it. It’s from The Summer Day.

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Tell me, what is it you plan to do with this one wild and precious life?

— Mary Oliver, The Summer Day

Does your life feel the way you want it to feel? Does it look the way you want it to look? And if not, this is the moment, right here, right now, in the middle, to gently begin steering it back toward you.

And here’s the thing. That letter is a beautiful beginning. But the real shift doesn’t come from one big pause, one action, one session. It comes from the small, intentional pauses you take every single day. That’s actually why I made you a little gift. It’s called Daily Pause Points, a simple free guide to weaving tiny moments of pause into your ordinary day, so that coming home to yourself stops being one more thing on your to-do list and starts becoming the way you actually live. Let it be your next small step.

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