“[I had this moment of realizing] that my life was not something I was just passing the time with until my real life started – my ‘real life’ being a partnership or a child. I had intentionally constructed the exact life I wanted, whether I’d been fully aware of it or not.” –Glynnis MacNicol
When writer Glynnis MacNicol woke up the day after her 40th birthday without a partner or a child and feeling “fantastic,” she set out to understand why there are so few culturally acceptable life narratives for women. And to write a new one.
More About Glynnis:
Glynnis MacNicol is a writer and the author of No One Tells You This: A Memoir (S&S, 2018). Her work has appeared in print and online for publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Cut, New York Daily News, W, Town & Country, The Globe & Mail, The Daily Beast, Shondaland, and ELLE.com, where she was a contributing writer. She lives in New York City.
MacNicol is also co-founder of TheLi.st with Rachel Sklar. Named to Good Housekeeping’s 2016 Awesome Women Awards by Shonda Rhimes, TheLi.st has been covered in the NYT, The Guardian, Elle, Marie Claire’s ‘New Guard’, SAI 100, Lucky, Mashable, Fast Company, Refinery 29, HuffPost, and the New York Post.
Highlights
- Why Glynnis decided to share her story when she didn’t see a lot of similar life narratives for women
- How the cultural narrative about women has changed since Glynnis told her story (from 2014)
- The surprising responses Glynnis received from men – and from married women – about her story of being 40, single, and child-free
- How Glynnis’s realization that she had chosen her life changed the way she viewed what she had and didn’t have at age 40
- Why it’s sometimes difficult for Glynnis to enjoy her life while living in a tumultuous political and cultural time (especially for women)
- How to make decisions about your life from a place of confidence instead fear or shame
- Why creating personal boundaries is okay, even when you feel pressure to keep up with what’s going on in the world
- How women can live our best lives, even as our ability to live independent lives for the first time in history is colliding with serious global issues like climate change and political unrest
- Glynnis and I discuss our fears about maintaining the ground that women have gained since the 1960’s
- Glynnis’s view of self care – and why she calls BS on anyone who calls it “frivolous”
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
No One Tells You This: A Memoir (Amazon affiliate link)
Glynnis’s favorite sushi restaurant in Brooklyn: Hibino
The interview with Glynnis about dating that I quoted: “Two Writers on the Joys of Being Single, But Also Sometimes Dating, in Your 30s”
Connect with Glynnis: Website | Instagram
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xo,
