Health, Power & Feminine Energy: Redefining Strength in Midlife with Rachel Godfrey

November 17, 2025

When I sat down with Rachel Godfrey on Midlife Realignment, it felt less like an interview and more like a long-overdue truth session between two women who have been in the trenches together for years.

Rachel and I have known each other for nearly 15 years. We met through the late Charles Poliquin, stayed connected as colleagues and friends, and — more recently — have supported each other through what Rachel perfectly calls “hormonal fuckery.”

This conversation wasn’t polished. It was honest. And it captured what so many women in perimenopause are living through but rarely hear reflected back to them. vsl-1JIE3-composer-2025-11-10__…

Perimenopause While Raising Young Kids Is a Special Kind of Hard

One of the realities we named immediately is how brutal perimenopause can be when it collides with motherhood, business ownership, and partnership — all at once.

Rachel went through:

  • Two back-to-back pregnancies
  • A miscarriage
  • Postpartum depletion
  • Then straight into perimenopause

All while raising young children and running a high-level business.

Even with an exceptional health foundation — decades of training, nutrition, and metabolic health — perimenopause still hit hard. And that’s an important truth:

Doing “everything right” does not make you immune to hormonal transitions.

Migraines Were the Canary in the Coal Mine

For Rachel, perimenopause didn’t begin with skipped periods or hot flashes. It began with migraines — first sporadic, then relentless.

At her worst, she was experiencing 20–25 migraines a month, often with nausea and vomiting, while caring for toddlers and trying to function professionally.

Like so many women, she went through:

  • Neurologist after neurologist
  • Years of chasing symptoms
  • Being told to “cope”

It wasn’t until we ran deeper testing and looked at hormones, gut health, and nervous system load that the full picture came into focus.

Perimenopause often shows up as neurological symptoms first, especially in high-performing women.

“Hormonal Whack-a-Mole” Is the Reality No One Warns You About

Rachel described perimenopause perfectly:

You fix one thing, and something else goes off.

A dose that worked six months ago suddenly doesn’t. Progesterone tanks. Testosterone swings. Estrogen fluctuates. Sleep breaks. Migraines flare.

This isn’t failure — it’s biology.

And it requires ongoing adjustment, not one-and-done protocols.

Self-Advocacy Is Not Optional — Even for Experts

One of the most important moments in our conversation was Rachel naming how hard she had to fight — even as a highly educated health professional — to get proper care.

She knew which labs to ask for.
She knew the right questions.
She still had to push.

That’s why self-advocacy is literally written on the cover of my book.

If someone with Rachel’s background had to fight this hard, imagine how many women are being dismissed simply because they don’t yet have the language.

A Healthy Foundation Still Matters (More Than Ever)

Here’s the part I want women to hear clearly:

Rachel’s life would have been unmanageable without the health foundation she built earlier.

Because she prioritized:

  • Strength training
  • Nutrition
  • Muscle mass
  • Metabolic health

She had resilience to fall back on when perimenopause hit.

This is why I’m so passionate about teaching women in their 30s and early 40s to start now. Perimenopause will arrive — but how hard it hits depends greatly on the reserves you’ve built.

There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Hormone Solution

We also addressed one of the biggest myths in hormone care: that there’s a single “right” protocol.

What helps one woman sleep may not help another.
Progesterone matters — but so does estrogen.
Timing matters.
Delivery method matters.

Hormonal care is deeply personal, and it requires a provider willing to listen, adjust, and collaborate.

If something isn’t working, you don’t quit — you course-correct.

Mindset, Nervous System, and Gratitude Are Not “Woo”

One of the most powerful parts of our conversation was about how you cope when things are objectively hard.

Rachel shared that at times, she simply had to keep moving:

  • Make the bed
  • Go for a walk
  • Allow a two-minute pity party — then move on

Not because she was ignoring her symptoms, but because functioning matters.

I shared my own experience with years of insomnia and how shifting focus — alongside doing the physical work — changed my quality of life.

The nervous system matters.
Mindset matters.
Gratitude matters.

Science may not measure all of it yet — but lived experience does.

Sexual Health Is Health (and We Don’t Talk About It Enough)

We also went where women are rarely allowed to go publicly: sex, desire, and pleasure in midlife.

Loss of libido is common — but it’s not something women should quietly accept.

Feeling attractive, sensual, and alive matters.
Masturbation matters.
Orgasms matter.

This isn’t frivolous — it’s part of nervous system regulation, hormone balance, and self-connection.

The Bottom Line

Perimenopause is not just a hormonal transition — it’s a full-system reckoning.

Rachel’s story reminds us that:

  • Resilience is built over time
  • Self-advocacy is essential
  • Mindset and biology are inseparable
  • You don’t need to be perfect — you need to stay engaged

This stage of life asks women to show up differently — not harder, but wiser.

And that’s exactly what Midlife Realignment exists to support.

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