Why I’m Bringing More Whimsy Into My Midlife
For me, bringing more whimsy into my life is part of living my unapologetic midlife era – doing life my way and creating a little more magic in everyday moments.
Now let’s get to it… the blog post that is 😂
When I say the beach is magical for me, I’m not exaggerating. Something about being near the ocean always shifts something inside me.
And once again it happened during the three weeks I spent in Gulf Shores, Alabama this past February (2026). 🌊
During my time there, I was hit with a major creative bug that put a huge grin on my face. You should have seen me at Walmart grabbing watercolor paints, paintbrushes, and more… I was like a kid on Christmas morning. 🎨
As I sat painting… and I use the word “painting” very loosely because this chic doesn’t know the first thing about painting and my attempts definitely don’t look like what I imagined in my head.
Here’s one of the poorly executed masterpieces – you’re welcome! 🤣).
But something interesting started happening…
My mind started wandering.
Ideas started popping up.
And words… lots of words.
The Words Came Back ✍️
Before jumping into what I share here, can I tell you why the words came back? (Of course I can – I mean this is my blog post LMAO)…
It’s because I didn’t have AI at my fingertips. Hell, one of the days I wrote I didn’t even have internet at my fingertips (left my phone in the house before heading down to the beach). (Now I’m not going to get into this whole AI thing because I have a LOT to say about that and this isn’t the time or place 😜)
Anyways… it’s been so long since words just tumbled out of me like that, and honestly it felt… well… magical.
These are two “poems” I wrote:
But the words weren’t the only thing that came pouring out…
The Realization That Hit Me
My thoughts drifted to tishlee.com and my “brand”.
When I made the decision to leave my old site (Plus Size Confidence) and the Body Positive Fairy Godmother persona behind, I moved to tishlee.com because I CRAVED FREEDOM.
Freedom to talk about whatever the f*** I wanted.
“Lifestyle blogging,” if that’s what you want to call it.
But somewhere along the way it felt like I had literally ran into a cement wall (in creative terms lol).
I wasn’t writing about ANYTHING.
And then I started listening to a bunch of guru advice (and I’m not saying coaches and experts are bad… but sometimes I personally let them influence my decisions a little too much) and of course AI.
So I went back to the lane I knew:
- body positivity
- body acceptance
- body image
- body autonomy
- , etc.
Positioning myself as a midlife confidence & self-love instigator. And YES, I am all about confidence and self-love but that never felt… mmmm, I guess “right” is the word I’m looking for.
And slowly… it started feeling like I had pushed myself right back into a box again… and that makes my skin crawl just thinking about it; I don’t do well with something that makes me feel suffocated!
And this was EXACTLY why I left the old brand in the first place!!!🤦♀️
The Moment It Clicked
Then one of those magical beach days something finally clicked.
I realized I had been so focused on “fixing”, healing, and helping women unlearn diet culture (and that is GREAT!) that I lost track of something else…
Midlife isn’t just about that.
Sure, I’ve spent a lot of my midlife years “fixing” (I hate that term because I don’t think any of us are really “broken”.) and healing but so much more than that too.
I realized that midlife can also be about RECLAIMING:
- Curiosity
- Wonder
- Play
- Joy
- Creativity
And then it dawned on me, it was time to give myself permission…
Giving Myself Permission
Once again I found myself needing to do something I’ve preached over the years but wasn’t living myself (in some cases):
BE UNAPOLOGETIC – (about taking up space, your personality, etc.)
GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION (to take up space just as you are, to wear the thing, to do the thing, etc.)
STOP WORRYING WHAT OTHERS THINK (no matter what YOU do SOMEONE is ALWAYS going to be pissed off/have an opinion, etc., so you might as well do what YOU want to do anyway)
All that to say, I needed to give myself permission to let go of what wasn’t working and lean into the part of me that has always been curious… playful… a little whimsical.
The part of me that wants to follow my curiosity instead of worrying about what everyone else thinks.
And that means I’ll be doing things here a little different. I’m not going to focus solely on body positivity anymore.
You’re going to start seeing what I’m calling Whimsical Tish come out to play… (and maybe, just maybe, the Body Positive Fairy Godmother will come out to play BUT in a different form 😉🧚♀️because damn, wasn’t she so cute and whimsy anyway? 😜
What You’ll Start Seeing Around Here
I’m leaning into that part of me that is just a middle-aged gal navigating midlife on MY terms! ✨
Welcome to my UNAPOLOGETIC MIDLIFE ERA: SCREW THE RULES . WEAR THE THING. DO THE DAMN THING.
Sure, I’ve “dabbled” here for several years but never embraced it fully. But now? Game on – watch out world 🤣
I’m going to start sharing about things like:
📚 The books I’m reading
(I read SOOOOO many while I was at the beach and was in absolute heaven)
🏡 Bringing some whimsical ambience into our home
(Our bathroom is sooo cute after some decorating!)
🔮 My curiosity about crystals
(and yes… I know curiosity about crystals might raise some eyebrows given my Christian background – that’s a conversation for another day 😒)
🎨 Creative experiments
(Painting, writing, playing… even if I have no idea what I’m doing)
And well… anything else I feel like! 😜
And honestly?
That feels pretty f***ing magical to me. ✨
If you’re a midlife woman who also feels that pull toward curiosity, creativity, and a little everyday magic…
I hope you’ll stick around.
We’re going to explore it together. 💫
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