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’t about perfect cupboards — it’s about buying back time and energy for the life you actually want.

Book reading: why less can feel like more

The sandwich generation (context that keeps it real)

Story: “The dance around Mum”

Story: “The bloke and the kidult”

🎁 THIS WEEK’S GIVE: one 20-minute clear-out + the Dear Blokes script

Your SPACE Prescription - moniquevantulder.com/your-space-prescription

Dear Blokes downloadable - moniquevantulder.com/.../Dear-Blokes-1.pdf

Chic Locals - moniquevantulder.com/?s=chic+locals

Free Weekly Newsletter - moniquevantulder.com/category/newsletters

📚 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

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 fill it in over one hot coffee.
• A quick framework to streamline your week so time-out becomes time that’s truly yours.
• Why “choose space over default” becomes easier when you print it and stick it on the fridge.
• A one-minute An Insider’s Guide to Long-Term Love note for the Blokes who want to show up better.

Mentioned in the show:

• Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
• Femonomics by Corinne Low
• Travel Prescription Quiz. Name what you need this week, choose one micro-escape, and book it....now available from 18 November.
• Free Newsletter - Lifestyle. Wellbeing. Travel
• Expression of Interest - Whitsundays Retreat

If this helped: Please share the episode or leave a quick rating/review. It genuinely helps this grassroots community grow.

Line to remember: Escape the expected. Choose space over default. It’s your turn.

📚 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

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 a bit and encouraging them to step into their ‘second-act’ where, after decades of looking after others, they now get to spend time and resources on themselves.

• linkedin.com/in/michellejcox
• instagram.com/michelle.j.cox

📚 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