It often happens without you realising at first. One day, you notice that people don’t look your way as much. Your opinion in meetings seems to carry less weight. You start to feel overlooked by others and perhaps by yourself, too.

It’s almost as if you are starting to fade away, becoming invisible as younger, louder, more confident people start to loom over you.

Many women experience this sense of invisibility as they grow older, particularly in midlife. Our youth-obsessed culture often equates value with appearance, energy, and external success, leaving women who are older, wiser, and more grounded feeling unseen.

This could have happened to you or someone you know. You may have felt aggrieved that you have been overlooked for someone else, knowing full well that this is a bias against age, not experience or talent.

A client I worked with told me a story of her sister being overlooked at a bar, younger people being served before her, even though she had been standing waiting patiently.

The scary part, she said, was that she didn’t raise a fuss; she just stood patiently waiting to be noticed.

But here’s the truth: you are not invisible. You’ve simply outgrown a system that doesn’t know how to value depth, experience, and authenticity.

As a holistic life coach for women, I see this pattern often. The key isn’t to chase visibility through external validation; it’s to reconnect to your own inner light, to let it shine so brightly that others can’t help but see you.

My role as a life coach means I work with many women in different situations, but the one I work with most often is the feeling of being stuck or lacking direction, especially through the mid-life years.

Now this is something I have had experience with. My coaching practice began as a result of me feeling stuck in the life I was living and wanting more purpose, passion and happiness.

Feeling stuck, restless, or facing the quiet solitude of an empty nest can bring up many emotions and a profound sense of uncertainty and loss.

These emotions are valid and common among midlife women who are trying to live their lives while significant changes are happening all around.

This is where holistic coaching becomes such a valuable tool, as holistic life coaching offers a compassionate approach to help you reconnect with your inner self, uncover new passions, and gain clarity about your next chapter.

When we address the mind, body, and spirit as one whole interconnected entity, you can reclaim your purpose and build a fulfilling, authentic life tailored to your evolving dreams and goals.

By the time you get to your mid-life years, you will have already been through so much. You will have experienced many changes up to this point, good and bad - career changes, marriage, divorce, children leaving home, deaths and house moves.

All of the situations that you experience in your life will have an impact physically and mentally. In fact, by the time you get into your late forties and fifties, you will have experienced so much you may no longer recognise the person you once were.

The lessons of life can change you in many ways and this can lead to feeling lost, lacking direction and unsure of who you are any more.

It can be at this point a crisis of self can develop or a “mid-life crisis.”

A midlife crisis in women can manifest through a variety of symptoms that often reflect a mental struggle with ageing and life fulfilment.

Common signs include dissatisfaction or restlessness, re-evaluating life choices, and a desire for change in personal or professional areas.

Emotional symptoms such as anxiety and depression may arise, accompanied by a sense of urgency to pursue dreams or goals left unaddressed. Additionally, changes in relationships, including conflicts with partners or friends, can occur as women seek deeper connections or reconsider their roles.