A Grown Up's Gap Year

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A Grown Up's Gap Year

Monique van Tulder

23 episodes

4 days ago

If “New Year, New You” makes you want to throw your phone in the sea, this one’s for you. In this episode, Monique van Tulder – author of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – calls time on the standard New Year resolutions and 75-day “transformation” challenges. Instead of treating yourself like a renovation project, she invites you to treat yourself as the project and turn January into your own creative test kitchen. Monique shares how notebooks, scribbles, walks, paint, and “making something with no out...

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Society & Culture

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If “New Year, New You” makes you want to throw your phone in the sea, this one’s for you. In this episode, Monique van Tulder – author of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – calls time on the standard New Year resolutions and 75-day “transformation” challenges. Instead of treating yourself like a renovation project, she invites you to treat yourself as the project and turn January into your own creative test kitchen. Monique shares how notebooks, scribbles, walks, paint, and “making something with no out...

Show more...

Society & Culture

Episodes (20/23)

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Ditch the “New Year, New You” Resolutions: Pick Up a Notebook, Not a 75-Day Challenge

If “New Year, New You” makes you want to throw your phone in the sea, this one’s for you. In this episode, Monique van Tulder – author of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – calls time on the standard New Year resolutions and 75-day “transformation” challenges. Instead of treating yourself like a renovation project, she invites you to treat yourself as the project and turn January into your own creative test kitchen. Monique shares how notebooks, scribbles, walks, paint, and “making something with no out...

4 days ago

10 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Mid-Life Maintenance Mojo: Just Wear the Bikini & Other Handy Hints

In this episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, Monique unpacks mid-life maintenance mojo – from mammograms and strength training to swimsuits, perimenopause, and why you should just wear the bikini (if you want to). You’ll hear: Why mid-life maintenance is not vanity – it’s logistics for the adventures you still want (Italian hills, ocean swims, last-minute trips)The real talk on swimmers, bodies and confidence: kaftans you don’t actually like, “sensible” shorts, and finding sw...

1 week ago

16 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Happyish Holidays: Festive Season Boundaries & What Feels Like Home

Design a festive season that actually fits: clear, kind boundaries and small rituals that help you feel at home when “utterly joyful” feels like a stretch. In this short episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, we explore Happyish Holidays: how to set festive season boundaries that are clear and kind to you, and how to re-find what feels like home when traditions and family shapes have shifted. You’ll hear a candid story about home changing over time, three reflection questions to loca...

2 weeks ago

20 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Dreaming of Your Own Greek Island House? A Chic Local Shares Her Mid-Life Reset on Hydra

Ever caught yourself scrolling Greek property listings, wondering what it would be like to trade your commute for cobblestones, donkeys and Aegean light? In this episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year – The Podcast, I sit down with award-winning artist Desiree Prinsloo, who divides her time between Sydney and the Greek island of Hydra. After her husband died and an 'untangling' unspooled in the aftermath, she reached a point where nothing was really holding her back. One night, browsing houses in G...

3 weeks ago

46 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Mid-life Mental Load and Guilt: Your SPACE Prescription for Better Boundaries

If you’re a mid-life woman who’s somehow ended up at the top of everyone else’s “people we need” pyramid and the bottom of your own, this one’s for you. In this episode, Monique talks about what happens when you finally admit you’re exhausted – from the unpaid, invisible work that quietly attached itself to your life while everyone else’s stayed more or less the same. By the time she left for her grown up’s gap year, she felt she’d been on call for decades and someone had forgotten to roster ...

1 month ago

28 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Streamline Your Lifestyle: Declutter, Create SPACE, and Feel Better Now

Feeling better starts with space — physical first, mental next. In this candid, useful episode, Monique reads from her book, A Grown Up's Gap Year, on the beauty of simplicity, then gets real about the sandwich-generation juggle: a kitchen-table chat about Mum’s future, and a surprise moment of the bloke stepping in with calm, practical wisdom. You’ll leave with THIS WEEK’S GIVE (a 20-minute clear-out you can do today), a cut-and-paste Dear Blokes script, and a reminder that streamlining isn’...

1 month ago

16 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Your Two Minute Travel Prescription Reset: Find Space in Mid-life

Feeling stretched thin and a little invisible? This episode gives you a simple, two-minute Travel Prescription Certificate to start reclaiming space—without dismantling your life. We talk the hot coffee moment (after decades of lukewarm), why streamlining comes first, and how to close a few of those 52 tabs in your head so you can actually hear yourself think. Solo when you want it, company when you choose it. In this episode you’ll hear: What the Travel Prescription Certificate is—and how to...

1 month ago

23 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Reinvention With Monique van Tulder and Michelle Cox on One Question Podcast

This episode is part of a ‘series’ on the podcast One Question with host Michelle Cox - where she is talking to all guests about the same topic, and that topic is REINVENTION! It is a topic she is often asked about; how she reinvented herself, why, the process she went through, and she was keen to talk to others about their transitions and what they went through to create a new life for themselves. Today, it is with Monique van Tulder who has been inspiring mid-life women to shake things up...

1 month ago

26 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

From Shirley Valentine to Solo Adventure: Lessons from a Grown Up's Gap Year

A replay of an Episode where the mic is turned and I am a guest, chatting with Gillian Whitney of Easy Peasy Books podcast. "Monique, author of "A Grown Up's Gap Year: Put YOU in the picture", shares the inspiring story behind her midlife memoir and self-help book. Discover what prompted Monique's "Shirley Valentine moment" of running away from home at 57 to embark on an 8-month solo journey of self-discovery and reinvigoration. We discuss the challenges of vulnerable personal storytelling, w...

2 months ago

38 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Breaking the Midlife Mold: Secrets of Australia’s Most Relentless PR Student

Another replay of an Episode where the mic is turned and I am a guest. This week chatting with Liz Nable, host of Media Magnet podcast (and Chief all round Media and PR wizz Media Masters Academy). Liz asks me about practical tips for building confidence, pitching, and never taking no for an answer. the impact of a coachable mindset and relentless consistency in becoming the media’s go-to expert (Liz's words - not mine - although I rather like this sentiment). The real crux is the steps to cr...

2 months ago

37 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

I Did a Shirley Valentine: Took a Gap Year and Found Myself

A replay of an Episode where the mic is turned and I am a guest of Your 2nd Act host Michelle Parsonage: Imagine reaching midlife and deciding to take a gap year, on your own, without your family, and without all the usual responsibilities. How many times have you thought, "I wish I could just do that," but for some reason, you don’t because you’re scared of change and the unknown? Well, today’s guest is anything but scared of having a go. Monique van Tulder took the leap. She stepped away f...

2 months ago

42 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Living As If: A Mid-Life Reinvigoration Idea To Start Now

This episode is the pivot. It’s not about dismantling your life. It’s about backing yourself for a minute. What if your so-called second act isn’t about waiting for perfect conditions, but about remembering who you are — and showing up for it? The moment we stop dreaming about change — and start living it. On purpose. In real life. Living as if… As if you were already the version of yourself you always imagined you’d be. As if you trusted that vision enough to move toward it. As if you didn’t...

2 months ago

23 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Seasons and Japanese Rituals: In conversation with Six Senses Kyoto’s Director of Wellness

This week we head to Kyoto for a conversation about wellbeing that isn’t performative — it’s lived. We talk kerbside shrines and small daily reverence, seasonal eating, onsen bathing, and why Japanese approaches to rest, ritual, and nature feel like a balm in mid-life. Director of Wellness for Six Senses Kyoto, Ayako Fukuda, embodies a philosophy that is beautifully simple: wellbeing begins by restoring balance between humanity, the earth, and the heavens — and by being mindful of the moment ...

2 months ago

25 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Why I'm A Fan Of Best Practice Retreats: Wellness Travel Done Well

Feeling stretched thin but not sure a “holiday” will fix it? This episode unpacks what a real retreat looks like—and how to choose one that doesn’t fall apart the second you’re home. We talk best-practice design, how to avoid the Wellness Trap, and why intentional space beats a packed schedule of treatments every time. If you’ve ever wondered whether a retreat could actually help you feel better, think clearer, and get back in the picture—start here. Wellness Travel, done well. Why We Swim - ...

3 months ago

23 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Saying Yes in Mid-life: A Camino Pilgrimage with Anna Manlulo

Anna Manlulo said yes to herself and walked the Camino de Santiago — one step, one day, along hundreds of kilometres of ancient pilgrim paths. We talk about the moment she moved from “one day” to “I’m going,” the logistics around work and family, the day-to-day reality on the trail, and what changed when she came home. You’ll leave with five things: one mindset shift, one planning tip, one safety habit, one packing tip, and a prompt to find a ‘local Camino’ you can try in your own postcode. W...

3 months ago

45 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Why More Women Over 50 Are Travelling Solo: And Loving It

Somewhere between society decided women need permission slips to take a breath. If you need it (and of course we don't 'require permission' - our lives, we need look to only ourselves for how to live life fully) “But if a good nudge is required — take this episode as your signed slip." glamgirlsluxtravels.cominstagram.com/pineapplevillaintrepidtravel.com/au/womens-expeditions 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscr...

3 months ago

34 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Emptier Nest And Everyday Resets That Work: with Prue Francis

If your house is quieter and you aren't quite sure what comes next - this episode is for you. Mid-life reinvigoration, an emptier nest, and the everyday resets that stick. Monique talks with Prue Francis about naming the wobble, choosing small changes that actually work, and rebuilding connection - fun and supportive. Practical, candid, immediately usable. Why not now? Why not you? Plus, an invitation, to join us at 'A Grown Up’s Gap Year – THE CLUB' (Facebook) to keep the conversation going ...

3 months ago

34 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Ask Why Not You: How Values Become Your North Star

Ever feel like you’re circling the same question - What now? Why not me? - without actually moving forward? This episode of A Grown Up’s Gap Year takes you straight to the compass you’ve been missing: your values. In less than half an hour, you’ll learn how to uncover your 3–5 non-negotiables - the litmus test for every yes, no, and “not for me.” Monique van Tulder guides you through her five-step “Values Lab,” weaving in real-life stories, Joan Didion wisdom, and practical micro-actions you...

4 months ago

21 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

The Rewrite: Letting Go to Begin Again with Melinda Louise Hutchings

What if the life you’ve built no longer fits? In this candid, hope-filled episode, author of A Grown Up’s Gap Year, wellbeing commentator and host Monique van Tulder, interviews fellow author, editor and Fit HIIT Pilates founder, Melinda Louise Hutchings, to talk reinvention, no regrets, and why it’s never too late to rewrite your next chapter. Melinda Louise Hutchings - who not only contributed a powerful chapter to A Grown Up’s Gap Year, but also edited the book. Melinda knows what it’s l...

4 months ago

29 minutes

A Grown Up's Gap Year

Your Grown Up’s Gap Year Starts Here: And It May Not Be Where You Thought

A Grown Up’s Gap Year starts here — Tiny acts, big shifts: the art of feeling alive again. (no job-quitting or plane ticket required). 📚 Get your copy of A Grown Up’s Gap Year the book, from Amazon, moniquevantulder.com, bookshops and libraries, subscribe to the podcast, and take the first step toward your own A Grown Up’s Gap Year. Monique's LinkedIn Monique's Instagram

4 months ago

15 minutes