Life After 40: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly With Nina Lorez Collins

By Worthy Staff | Aug 20th, 2021

After 40, life changes for many of us. Along with those changes come lots of questions about everything that lies ahead. Nina Lorez Collins joins us for a frank discussion about life after 40 and so many of the things that it entails: The good, the bad, and the ugly! 

Whether you’re over forty, approaching your fortieth birthday, or thinking about what lies ahead for you a few years from now, this episode is for you. 

In 2015, Nina developed a closed Facebook group called “What Would Virginia Woolf Do?” It grew organically into The Woolfer, an online community for likeminded women over 40. Soon after, Nina wrote and released her book, What Would Virginia Woolf Do, and Other Questions I Ask Myself as I Attempt to Age Without Apology and started the podcast Raging Gracefully with her partner, Hillary Richard. The Woolfer and Raging Gracefully cover health, sexuality, beauty, relationships, and plenty of other hot topics. 

In This Episode

Nina and Jennifer discuss life after 40, touching on a variety of topics including friendships, community, and relationships along the way. Key takeaways include:

• How a supportive online community can be a safe space where women can ask for and receive advice, particularly on topics they’re not comfortable discussing with family members and friends who might not understand, or who might pass judgement. 
• Ways women help each other understand common issues surrounding menopause and perimenopause, including insomnia, weight gain, and hair that sprouts in odd places.
• The importance of connecting to discuss relationships and the difficulties we often encounter, whether they’re problems with teenage kids, spouses, and others. 
• How we can share experiences and advice surrounding the complexities of dating after 40, 50, and beyond, or dating after being widowed. 
• Discussions surrounding common pain points that tend to happen around age 40: Reinventing ourselves and our careers, looking for love, planning major moves, and more.
• Ways to feel vital, relevant, and needed in the community rather than feeling invisible as the years pass.
• Ways our bodies and sexuality change after 40, and how to address some common issues that tend to pop up surrounding intimacy, particularly if it has been a while. Inner and outer changes can seem frightening or challenging but there are certainly positive factors to keep in mind.
• Finances after 40, particularly after divorce, and tips for getting ahead financially. 
• Tips for taking pride in who we are rather than mourning the passing of our younger years.
• How we women are more alike than we are different, and the importance of reaching out to one another.

About Nina Lorez Collins  

Writer, entrepreneur, and founder of The Woolfer, an online platform for likeminded women over forty, Nina Lorez Collins is the author of What Would Virginia Woolf Do, and Other Questions I Ask Myself as I Attempt to Age Without Apology. Her online community grew organically out of a closed Facebook group she started called “What Would Virginia Woolf Do?” 

Nina is a graduate of Barnard College. She has a Masters degree from Columbia in the field of Narrative Medicine, and she has a long professional background in book publishing, both as a literary scout and then as an agent. She has four children who are nearly grown, and she resides in Brooklyn.