Midlife Man Rising
Midlife Man Rising is a podcast for men after 50 who sense something’s off — the quiet grief of identity loss, the ache of midlife crisis depression, and the restless urge for midlife reinvention.
If you’re tired of performing roles, chasing what no longer fits, or waking up with that hollow ache in your chest, this space is for you.
Through stories, reflections, and experiential practices, I help midlife men:
- Reclaim who they once were and honor what they’ve lost
- Face the hidden grief of midlife instead of pretending it doesn’t exist
- Redefine purpose beyond legacy, expectations, or success metrics
- Begin a midlife transformation that feels authentic, aligned, and meaningful
Each episode blends evidence-based experiential techniques with narrative reflection — helping you move forward with agency, not guilt.
Join me, Nelson Pahl, Ph.D., experiential psychologist, as we help the midlife man rise — and turn midlife crisis into personal reinvention.
Current and upcoming series include:
- Good Grief, John Doe mini-course
- Midlife Resurrection series
- Midlife Plan B series
- Legacy Lab mini-course
Follow the show if you’re ready to stop surviving midlife and start rebuilding it with clarity and courage.
Midlife Man Rising
Men After 50: Sensory Mapping to Calm Midlife Angst (Mini-Course - Part 2)
A simple practice for men after 50 to ground emotions, reduce midlife crisis stress, and reconnect with themselves.
Midlife can feel like a storm inside your head — racing thoughts, old regrets, and an uncertain future. For men after 50, this so-called “midlife crisis” often hides a deeper truth: midlife grief, identity loss, and the quiet pull toward midlife transformation.
In this episode of Good Grief, John Doe, experiential psychologist Nelson Pahl introduces Sensory Mapping — a simple yet powerful practice that helps the midlife man reconnect with his body, calm his nervous system, and uncover the emotions buried beneath midlife angst.
You’ll discover how to:
- Ground yourself using your five senses
- Translate vague feelings into vivid clarity
- Release the hidden tension behind anger, anxiety, and midlife crisis depression
- Calm the inner storm and reclaim your presence
Whether you’re navigating identity loss, letting go of old roles, or seeking personal reinvention after 50, Sensory Mapping can help you process what’s unspoken — and begin your midlife reinvention with strength and clarity.
🎧 Listen now and learn how to transform midlife angst into midlife clarity.
Episode Highlights
- What Sensory Mapping Is
- How Sensory Mapping Helps Men After 50
- Getting Started with Sensory Mapping
- A Midlife Man’s Example
Healing Links
5-Day Challenge: Resurrection Camp
Supporting Links
Empirical Research: Interoceptive Awareness & Emotional Regulation
Neuroscience Research: Mindfulness and Sensory Processing
Clinical Research: Somatic Experiencing Effectiveness
Harvard Health Article: ”What is Somatic Therapy?
Next Episode: Men After 50: Create a Moment that Marks the Change (Good Grief, John Doe mini-course - Part 3)
About the Host
Nelson Pahl, Ph.D. is an experiential psychologist that helps midlife men move from midlife crisis depression to midlife reinvention. Through his proprietary approaches — Resurrection Camp, the Six Stones Retreat Arc, and his Legacy Lab — he guides men after 50 through identity loss, midlife transformation, and personal reinvention. He's also author of the book, Escaping Sartre's Hell: A Guide for Self-Validation in Midlife.
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In the midst of midlife's quiet storm, it's easy to feel trapped in your head. Thoughts racing, memories tugging, future hazy.
But there is a way back. A way to reconnect with your body, your moment, your reality.
It's called Sensory Mapping.
I'm Nelson Pahl, an experiential psychologist that makes it easy for midlife men to reclaim identity and reinvent themselves.
And this is part two of the Good Grief John Doe mini-course.
Sensory mapping is a practice that blends journaling with a focus on your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
It uses these details to bring your experience vividly into the present.
Instead of just naming an emotion, you show it. Instead of saying, "I'm anxious," you describe the tightness in your chest, the buzzing in your ears, the cold sweat on your palms.
This deeper, richer expression helps you understand yourself, what you're really feeling, and where it lives in your body.
How sensory mapping helps you.
1. It heightens your self-awareness.
2. It helps you recall feelings with clarity.
3. It helps you discover hidden triggers.
4. It helps you express yourself with more depth.
Sensory mapping turns a vague, swirling feeling into something you can see, touch, and name.
And once named, this feeling loses some of its power over you.
Here's how you can start sensory mapping today.
1. Engage your senses intentionally. During a quiet moment, eating, walking, sitting, ask yourself, what do I see? What sounds fill the space around me? What does the air feel like on my skin? What's this moment taste like? What's it smell like?
2. Describe what you notice in your journal. Don't just write, I'm sad. Instead try, a heavy weight sits low in my chest like a stone pushing down. Or, the hum of distant traffic feels like a restless buzzing in my mind.
3. Use your senses to tell a story about your day or your mood. For example, the garden outside bursts with fiery reds and yellows, and the scent of wet earth reminds me of childhood summers.
This practice grounds you in your body and your environment. It creates a clear, vivid narrative that lets you observe, without judgment, what's happening inside you.
Remember, the goal is to show, not to tell. Use sensory details to illustrate emotion. This is where the power lies. Not in simplification, but in articulation.
For example, here's a somatic exercise that I carried out here in midlife the day I finally discovered I no longer had to live by my dad's expectations of me.
Instead of saying, "I'm angry," I described it this way: "My fists clench, my jaw tightens, and my teeth grate as the latent rage rises."
Sensory mapping isn't about writing a novel. It's about telling your truth simply, clearly, and vividly.
And please, don't discard this tactic as just some woo-woo or nonsense.
This exercise can be potent.
So try it a few times. I dare you.
In the process, notice how your awareness deepens and how your story unfolds.
If this practice has opened a door for you, if you're ready to step fully into a richer, clearer understanding of yourself, then you're ready for the deeper work in my 28-day challenge, Resurrection Camp. There, we'll keep building presence, awareness, and purpose together.
I invite you to enroll at Resurrection.Camp. You'll find that link in the show notes of this podcast.
Until next time.