The Right-Sized Life with Amy Schmidt

Sometimes life takes a turn you never would have chosen, and you find yourself trying to figure out how to move forward when nothing feels the same. For Cheryl Colleluori, that moment came when her 19-year-old son, Nick, was diagnosed with cancer. During his 14 months of treatment, Nick saw how much families were struggling with the emotional and financial toll of cancer, and he created the HEADstrong Foundation to help them. Befor...

Karen Sandone joins me today to share the deeply personal story of caring for her husband Anthony after his younger onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and what it has meant for their marriage, their family, and her own identity. This conversation is for anyone navigating dementia caregiving, grieving a partner who is still physically present, or trying to understand how to support someone living this reality.We discuss Anthony&rsqu...

Parenting adult kids asks us to trade control for connection and learn how to love in a way that fits who they are now. I share the mindset shifts that help me move from managing my kids’ lives to being invited into the lives they are building. 
• noticing when the parenting “job description” changes 
• shifting from manager to mentor with trust and restraint 
• asking questions that connec...

What if moving forward after loss doesn’t mean moving on? When you’re grieving, it can be hard to know how to take the next step, especially when the world seems to expect you to eventually return to “normal.” In this conversation, Kate Doerge shares how losing her daughter, Penny, along with the earlier losses of her parents, changed the way she thinks about grief, healing, and what it means to carry someon...

This weeks Right-Sized Reflection solocast is going deep. We discuss how to stop treating wellness like a race back to our younger selves, and start building the strength, energy, and resilience to live the life ahead. I share a simple question that right-sizes everything, from beauty and skincare to relationships, home, and the space we give our future selves. 

• asking “Does this still fit?” as a midlife w...

It’s easy to feel like you’re constantly getting new rules about what to eat, how much to eat, and what your body should look like, especially as you move through midlife and your body begins to change. But what if the answer isn’t another diet or set of restrictions, but learning to listen to and nourish your body instead? That’s exactly what I wanted to explore with registered dietitian and women’s w...

We share the story of a turquoise necklace and the moment a mother hands her daughter more than jewelry. We use that moment to walk through a legacy filter that helps us choose what to keep, what to release, and what love asks us to pass on. 
• Telling the backstory of the turquoise necklace and why it matters 
• Naming legacy as patterns, stories, and unspoken rules 
• Facing the overwhelm of sorting posses...

What if the same approach you use to declutter your home could help you create more space in the rest of your life, too? Shira Gill, a globally recognized organizing expert and bestselling author, has built her career around helping people clear the clutter, but her newest book, LifeStyled, expands that idea far beyond closets and kitchen drawers. We talk about how to take a more intentional look at your relationships, commitments,...

Self-care has quietly become another job many of us feel like we’re failing at. If you’ve ever turned “take care of yourself” into a punishing checklist, this solo cast is for you. I’m Amy, and I’m talking about self-care for midlife women in a way that’s less about adding more routines and more about creating a right size life that fits the season you’re in right now.

We walk ...

Have you ever stayed quiet because bringing something up felt harder than just letting it go? Between busy schedules, phones, family responsibilities, and years of falling into familiar patterns, it can be surprisingly easy to become disconnected from the people closest to you without realizing it. I sat down with licensed marriage and family therapist Colette Jane Fehr to talk about why avoiding conflict can quietly create distanc...

Your kids grow up and move out, the house gets quieter, and suddenly the question is not “What’s next for them?” It is “What fits me now?” I’m sharing a personal right-sized reflection sparked by a Motown costume party, an unexpectedly tender empty nest summer, and a big realisation: the space that opens up in midlife can either get filled with more obligations or it can become the place where yo...

It's easy to feel like midlife arrived and your body suddenly started playing by a completely different set of rules. The habits that used to work no longer seem to make a difference, there's endless advice telling you what to do, and it can leave you wondering where to even begin. I sat down with women's health specialist and clinical nutritionist Linda Stephens to cut through the noise and have an honest conversation about what r...

Your calendar can look perfectly reasonable and still leave you wiped out by Friday. We dig into the real reason: a planner tracks time, but it does not measure emotional load, mental stress, or the subtle drain of always being “on.” When we start asking “Do I have the energy?” instead of only “Do I have the time?” the whole game changes, especially for anyone navigating midlife, recovery, or a s...

Life can feel full long before it's actually full. We tell ourselves there's no time for the things that matter, wear "busy" like a badge of honor, and assume our schedules are the problem. In this conversation, I'm joined by bestselling author and time management expert Laura Vanderkam to explore a different perspective: what if the story you've been telling yourself about time isn't entirely true? Together, we talk about building...

Making Room for Love: How Family Grows When We Expand Our Hearts

Amy shares a heartfelt reflection on how making room in our hearts and homes can lead to deeper connections and new beginnings, inspired by her daughter's wedding weekend.

Making space in our hearts and homes

The significance of family traditions and new beginnings

The role of love and hospitality in building connections

Lessons from a wedding weekend about expanding famil...

The fastest way to turn grief into chaos is to ignore the question nobody wants to ask: what happens to all the things we collect over a lifetime? I’m joined by Roger Schrenk, founder of DontMakeAnEstateMistake.com, who has spent 30+ years helping families navigate downsizing, estate liquidation, inherited belongings, and the overwhelm that hits when a big house needs to be emptied fast.

We dig into why this is so hard...

Your calendar can look totally reasonable and still leave you running on empty. That’s the tension we dig into today: the quiet exhaustion that doesn’t come from “too much to do,” but from giving your energy in the wrong directions, often by habit. I share the moment that forced me to face it, the resistance I felt, and what happened when I finally gave a clear, grounded no instead of another automatic yes.&...

There’s a moment in caregiving that almost nobody says out loud, yet so many families recognize instantly. That’s where my conversation with filmmaker Anthony Lucero begins and where his movie The Paper Bag Plan goes with honesty, tenderness, and a steady respect for dignity. If you’re caring for aging parents, supporting a loved one with a disability, or quietly wondering what the future holds for your family, th...

A brave decision can still feel terrifying once the noise stops. If you’ve ever said yes to a big change then found yourself staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m., replaying every detail and wondering whether you made a mistake, you’re not alone. I’m Amy Schmidt, and I’m sharing a very real chapter from my own life: we sold our family home, moved to Florida to build a more intentional “right-sized” se...