Midlife Butterfly: Healing, Empowerment & Self-Discovery
Midlife isn’t just a phase—it’s a powerful catalyst for transformation. Whether you’re navigating divorce, an identity crisis, a breakup, feeling lost, a spiritual awakening, empty nest syndrome, moving to a new city or country, or grief—this chapter of life is calling you to heal, grow, and reinvent yourself.
I’m Kena Siu, your host and Self-Love & Empowerment Guide, and I’m here to help you embrace midlife as a time of expansion, self-discovery, and joy.
Join me and my guests as we share personal stories, mindset shifts, self-care practices, and spiritual tools to support you on your journey. Midlife is not the end—it’s a new beginning. It’s time to prioritize yourself, reclaim your power, and create life on your own terms.
Follow and listen for inspiration, healing, and practical steps to transform your life from simply surviving to fully thriving.
You are the creator of your life. Let’s co-create together so you can spread your wings and fly.
Much love 💜,
Kena Siu
Midlife Butterfly: Healing, Empowerment & Self-Discovery
#17 - Afraid of the Unknown? Here’s How to Trust Your Next Chapter
In this heartfelt episode, I take you on a powerful metaphorical and literal ride—up the steep hills of Monte Albán and deep into the valleys of the unknown. From a spontaneous bike trip to spiritual insights, I reflect on how embracing uncertainty can lead to the most freeing, joyful, and expansive experiences in our lives.
In this episode, I talk about:
- A real-life adventure that revealed a powerful lesson about fear and freedom
- How our need to “know” often limits what’s possible
- The mindset shift that invites more joy, courage, and alignment in the face of uncertainty
- Why the unknown isn’t something to fear—but something to dance with
- A client story that mirrors the strength, resilience, and heart of so many midlife women
This episode is an invitation to soften your grip, trust the process, and remember the powerful woman you already are—especially when the path ahead isn’t fully clear.
Reflection Questions:
- Where are you currently holding back because you want certainty first?
- What’s one area of your life where embracing the unknown could open up new possibilities?
- What part of your story reminds you that you've done hard things before—and thrived?
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You can find all the podcast details right here: http://midlifebutterfly.ca/podcast
Download the Midlife Butterfly Guide with 5 Radical Practices to Heal, Take Your Power Back & Rise
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For Coaching, Courses & More Visit Kena's Website: http://midlifebutterfly.ca/workwithme
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Song: Reborn by Alexander Nakarada
Are you one of those people who always wanted to know what's going on, what's going to happen, one of those that are afraid of the unknown? Hmm, I feel you. I've been there many times.
Kena Siu:Midlife Butterfly, a woman in the sacred in between. She's not who she once was and not quite who she's becoming yet. She's unraveling, awakening, remembering. She's navigating life transitions, divorce, loss, reinvasion moves, with a burning desire for freedom, joy and solid living. She feels the pull to rise, to fly. She is no longer afraid of her own wings.
Kena Siu:Welcome back to the Midlife Butterfly Podcast. And I'm saying hi today from a hotel bed somewhere in Oaxaca City. So my noise, my voice, is like this because I'm still laying down, my voice is like this because I'm still laying down. I just listened to a podcast, a very beautiful podcast that was done by the Jasmine Starr Show with Peter Krohn, the Mindset Architect. I don't know if you have heard about him. He is, wow, magnificent. And they were talking about why, I don't know, is a key to freedom, and it relates a lot to what I experienced yesterday.
Kena Siu:I went cycling to Monte Alban, which is an architectural sightseeing here, close from Oaxaca City, and I rented a bicycle. So I connected to a person and he's a cyclist and I told him you know what? I'm going to be there for a few days. I would like to go visit some places and since you like cycling, I think it would be cool for me to rent a bicycle and then we can go. And he was like, yeah, I'm in, that's great. I said, okay, so there was a plan, and then you know, like, search for the bicycle. That was an adventure to get the bicycle and anyway, anyway. So I rented out, so you, and then, while I was asking around, then people told me, yeah, you need to get a mountain bike because it's uphill. And I was like, oh, you know, the little fear started creeping in, like, oh, it's uphill, okay, I think I can make it. And then I asked, and then, yeah, I went to another place and they said, yeah, you, we only have, like you know, like regular bikes here. It's not a mountain bike and you really need one because it's up here. You really need it. And I was like, okay, so I'm just gonna. You know, I already did the plan with this guy and I don't want to cancel just because people is telling me that it is uphill. I think I can make it, or any other way I'm already in and let's do it.
Kena Siu:So, by not knowing before making the plan that this place it's uphill, it's what it helps me and push me to not push me and inspire me to go, because probably, if I wouldn't known, oh, this place is uphill, I would say, yeah, in that case I'm not going on a bicycle, I better go on a tour, you know, or in a bus, in a taxi, whatever. I would have limited myself. That's what I wanted to say if I wouldn't know in advance, I would have limited myself. That's what I wanted to say. If I wouldn't know in advance, I wouldn't limit myself. And how many times by knowing something we limit ourselves because we already have the experience, or sometimes we don't even have the experience, but it was the story of somebody, or it was the limiting belief of a parent, or it was a trauma that a friend of you has, and we base our story on those stories of others and we limit ourselves to do something that we don't know and then we miss. We can miss so many fun and incredible adventures or breakthroughs or situations that can help us heal or shift, because we are afraid of not knowing.
Kena Siu:I mean, we went up the hill yesterday. I needed to take three breaks during there and it was fine. You know it's okay. You know I was like okay, I'm listening to my body, I'm focusing in this present moment, and it just really helped me to be like I was really present with my breath and noticing my body. Because when I was then realizing, okay, I need to keep pedaling and pedaling, to tell you the truth, like I cycling in Montreal, like I use my bicycle during the summer the whole time, but, of course, like it's not uphill all the time. Most of the time it's kind of flat. Or if I go uphill then it's, you know, it's like a flat place. So I get to rest and then, you know, continue. But this time it was only up, up, up. And then I was noticing how I was tensing my body, like my upper body, by trying to do the effort with my legs, and I was like what am I doing this? My effort needs to be done with my legs, not with my arms, and tensing my shoulders on the bicycle handle. It's just like, okay, just bringing that awareness and then saying, okay, buddy, I'm listening to you and we need to take a break. So I was just telling my friend okay, can we just take a break? And it was nice, it was good to drink some water, to enjoy the view, to see the city and the mountains around, and have great conversations in the meantime.
Kena Siu:And then we finally get to this archaeological place which is so beautiful place which is so beautiful. And you know we got to um, to climb a few of the um, but they are not pyramids, you know, you know. But they have quite a few steps out all the way up and then you can see the view so majestic, and then see the place itself and then wondering, like what happened here? What happened here? Like at the beginning of the, you know, this was built like a between 100 and 500 years after Christ or something. And I was like so we were wondering, like what's the true story of what happened here? Like who lived here? Well, they have some knowledge there that it was more like governors or whatever of the Zapotec culture in Monte Alban, in Monte Alban.
Kena Siu:But then coming back to my point of not knowing, I didn't know. I was going to see that, like I hear about Monte Alban and they said it's a beautiful place to visit, I said, okay, so if everyone is saying it's beautiful, and again, because somebody knew and they said it's beautiful, I was like, okay, so if everyone is saying it's beautiful, and again, because somebody knew and they said it's beautiful, I was like, okay, so I want to go. And that's what then inspired me to go there. But I didn't see any images or anything before. And then I was, once I was there, I was like this is so beautiful and magnificent and incredible. There was like this is so beautiful and magnificent and an incredible, you know, and so it's part of the knowing.
Kena Siu:But then what about that not knowing of that ride bike up the hill? And at one point, like I was like okay, I know, this is there's gonna be a payback, like when I'm gonna be going downhill, it's gonna be so fucking worth it of going up the uphill now. So by the time we were leaving, I said going down little by little, and it was like no, we're just going down to the other side of the mountain, uh, which is, you know, like steeper. And so we just took it and it was the most amazing bicycle ride I ever had. Like for me, you know, I love speed. So just being going downhill with that speed and feeling the wind on my face, in my body and seeing that, you know, the view from there going down, it was the most, one of the most majestic things ever.
Kena Siu:And then the song that I keep playing in my head is this is a life, no, this. These are the moments, the moments we live for. And I was like, yes, this is exactly what I'm living for with these kind of moments. Yes, like two hours before, I needed to go uphill and it was challenging and I needed to pause and then drink some water in the meantime and then continue and continue. And it was so worth it because then I was able to go downhill for that moment of full pleasure that I can feel. It was just so magical and fantastic. By saying this, my voice is breaking because I'm crying just by remembering that excitement and by not knowing at the beginning that it was an uphill, because otherwise I would not dare. I would not dare to rent a bike to go there, there.
Kena Siu:So my invitation for you is to trust, to trust the unknown, because the truth is, your life, or most of your life, has been unknown, hasn't it? I mean, at one point you didn't know how to walk. You just keep going. People were cheering you up, they were telling you keep going, you can do it, because they know you were going to make it. And even though you stumble over and over again, you learn to walk. And life is like that stumbling and getting back because we, we don't know.
Kena Siu:I mean, then you went to school for the first time. You didn't know what was going to happen there, you didn't know. I mean, then you went to school for the first time, you didn't know what was going to happen there. You didn't know who you were going to meet, you didn't know what you were going to learn, you didn't know the experiences with your you know, with your classmates that you were going to have. Then, at one point suddenly in your life you meet someone and you fall in love. You didn't know when that was going to happen and eventually then you were working somewhere and you got a job offer somewhere else and you didn't know.
Kena Siu:And then it was like you were probably freaking out at the beginning or or you know, like in my case, like I I work also for international conferences I lost my job through covid because, uh, the conference were canceled or they will postpone. And I took the risk of saying, okay, I'm just gonna take kind of like a, gonna take advantage of the article the, the insurance for unemployment, while I can focus a bit more in my business. And then again it was the unknown, but I was like I kind of need this at this moment, so I'm just going to take it, even though I don't know what's going to happen. And then, because of the people that I know in the event management, then I start getting contracts as a freelancer and I didn't know that was going to happen. And I'm even getting paid more now for those kind of jobs and I get to work less between quotes because at the same time, it's because I have so many years of experience in that, at the same time it's because I have so many years of experience in that, but if I wouldn't take that risk of saying, okay, I'd rather go focus on this in my business, while at the same time doing a lot of inner work and at the same time then pausing and it has given me all this kind of freedom that I have now, because I didn't know what was going to happen. And I'm so honored to be in this life experience right now and I didn't know. So don't be afraid of it, because of the magic that it can bring to your life. So I invite you to take a pause, the magic that it can bring to your life. So I invite you to take a pause To reflect about your life Of all those many times that you were afraid of the unknown and still it did happen. And what was the magic that came out of it? Or what was the learning lesson of that unknown moment? What was the breakthrough that you got to experience for not knowing, knowing. See, most of your life experience is about not knowing.
Kena Siu:The other day I was talking to one of my clients and she was very afraid because she's a single mom. She has two kids, uh, with special needs them, and and I'm just seriously, I am just amazed of her strength and resilience and how much she is to her personal development to be able to offer a better life to her children. And at one point she was telling me how afraid she is, that she's not being the mom that she wants to be for them, and then feeling afraid for some other things in life. And I told her I understand that you are afraid of the unknown, for these situations you are telling me now. I said but at one point, when you became a mom for the first time, you didn't know. You didn't know how to be a mom and you are doing great. I said, for the stories that you tell me, it really touched my heart because I can see your resilience and your courage and your commitment to be the best mom for them and you are doing it. And she was so grateful for that comment and I just say it from the heart. And I said so you didn't know how to be a mom and you are doing great.
Kena Siu:So don't be afraid of the unknown of other circumstances in your life.
Kena Siu:Just remember the mom that you are now and at the one point, that you didn't know and you're doing great. So whenever fear creeps in, remember that. And she was like, yes, you are so right, you are so right, you are so right. So what is about your story that you can be very proud about it? Very, yes, like honor and resilience, and watch each part of your story. You were super courageous to go for it, that you did it when it was unknown.
Kena Siu:So bring that memory and bring that feeling to your body now. And bring that feeling to your body now and remember this every time you are fearful of the unknown. So you can remember that you have that strength, that courage, that resilience within you to go through and to say, to realize, actually, that most of the things that are happening in your life and that had happened before are part of the unknown. You don't know. So it's about keep going, despite the fear that you are having. Just keep going because you made it before and you can make it now. So this is my share for today, my invitation to you, to welcome the unknown in your life, because if you made it before, you can continue doing it. Much love to you and take care.
Kena Siu:Thank you for tuning in to Midlife Butterfly. If this episode lead a spark in you, hit that subscribe or follow button on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you love to listen, so you'll never miss the magic. If you're feeling generous, drop a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps this empowering content reach more souls ready to transform their lives. And don't forget to take a photo of you while listening and share it on your socials. You can tag me at Ken as you, so I can celebrate you and your expansion. Until next time, keep spreading those wings and living in joy, growth and pleasure.
