I took this photograph while listening to an episode of the Accidental Creative podcast called “Why Rituals Matter In Life and Work” Last night, while walking my dog Milo, I listened to an episode of the Accidental Creative podcast called “Why Rituals Matter in Life and Work.” I really enjoy Todd Henry’s podcasts - he is the founder of the Accidental Creative and the author of a number of thought-provoking books including two of my personal favorites, “Die Empty” and “Louder than Words”. Although his work is primarily focused on creative professionals, I have found a number of his podcasts an ..read more

I'm fascinated - obsessed even - by why we stay stuck in lives that we've outgrown.  Why we don't make the changes that we know we want to make especially when we've known that we have wanted to make those changes for years, sometimes decades. I think that one reason is that the change can seem overwhelming in its magnitude. So we leave things as they are and promise ourselves that we'll do something about it when we have more time or energy or have learned more about the "thing" that we want to do.  Or we don't know exactly what it is that we want to change so we patiently (or impat ..read more

Depending on how long you have been aware of me and my work, you might have noticed that a few weeks ago I changed the name of my business from The Midlife Courage Project to Sal Robertson. You might have wondered why I made that change or maybe you have way more important things to think about right now! If you are interested, here is the thought process that led me to make the change … The Midlife Courage Project is an idea that came to me shortly before I turned 50 in 2018. I had been thinking a lot about the things that I had wanted to do for a long time but had never fully committed to ..read more

Here are some of the things that I've been enjoying reading/watching/listening to during the past couple of weeks: Reading: The Mrs Files: in a new special project, a team of Times reporters and editors is taking a deeper look at the tradition of using honorifics to address married women.  This is a fascinating read - one of the reporters working on the project is Veronica Chambers who is an extraordinary writer and editor who I met through my daughter, Eva.  Please visit Veronica's website to learn more about her body of work and subscribe to her newsletter which I love re ..read more

This is a post that I wrote 10 years ago - I re-read it and realized how very much this still resonates with me. Especially now that my own daughters are 10 years older. I coached two wonderful women this weekend.  Smart, articulate, accomplished, funny, creative women.  Who happen also to be mothers During the time we spent together, they belittled their dreams.  They made comments like “it makes no sense whatsoever.  Except that I really want to do it.”  Or they laughed dismissively as they articulated something that is incredibly meaningful to them. When I recited s ..read more

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” — Joseph Campbell “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question that we were asked as children and it’s a question I’ve certainly asked my children. Their answers often amuse me.  When my daughter was maybe 7 or 8 years old, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up,. Her response – without a moment’s hesitation – was: “Doctor, teacher, rock star and painter.”  All in one work day, apparently.   As the adult, I smiled at her naivety. I’ve decided that the question “what do you want to be when you grow up ..read more

Eleven years ago today, I left my apartment in New York with a small suitcase in hand for a leisurely trip to the hospital to give birth to my first child.  It was leisurely as I was going to be induced – no waking up in the middle of the night with contractions (or are they) for me – my first delivery would be pitocin-induced, aided by epidural and those hours before the hard work of pushing began were some of the most pleasant of the entire pregnancy. There’s something about an epidural-enhanced sleep after months of struggling to find a comfortable position to sleep in or being unable ..read more

I coached two wonderful women this weekend.  Smart, articulate, accomplished, funny, creative women.  Who happen also to be mothers During the time we spent together, they belittled their dreams.  They made comments like “it makes no sense whatsoever.  Except that I really want to do it.”  Or they laughed dismissively as they articulated something that is incredibly meaningful to them. When I recited some of the language they had used to undermine or belittle themselves, they were quick to recognize it.  They both agreed that it’s something that women do constantl ..read more

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” — Joseph Campbell “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question that we were asked as children and it’s a question I’ve certainly asked my children. Their answers often amuse me.  When I asked Eva a“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Their answers often amuse me.  When I asked Eva a few years ago what she wanted to be when she grew up, her response – without a moment’s hesitation – was: “Doctor, teacher, rock star and painter.”  All in one work day, apparently.   As the adult, I smiled at her naivety. I ..read more

For Mother’s Day, my children made a video for me with lots of lovely old photographs interspersed with little videos of them answering questions like “what is your funniest memory with Mama?” or “what is your happiest memory with Mama?”. My 13 year old son, Leo, said that one of his happiest memories with me was going to see Trevor Noah doing stand-up. We did this back in November 2016 when Trevor did a show as part of the New York Comedy Festival. It was a really fun night out. My son is VERY funny and, even though he was only 10 at the time, I knew that he would really get a kick out of se ..read more