Journalist Stacey Lindsay on Being 40 and Finally Saying It Out LoudJournalist Stacey Lindsay on Being 40 and Finally Saying It Out Loud
Cracking Open with Molly Carroll
Journalist Stacey Lindsay talks with Molly Carroll about growing up with a father’s alcoholism, midlife body decisions, beauty pressures and choosing whether to have children. Their conversation centres on women’s autonomy, health and the freedom that comes from finally saying the truth out loud.
1:09:26•5 Nov 2026
Stacey Lindsay on Bodies, Boundaries and Being 40
Episode Overview
- Growing up with a father’s alcoholism can create lifelong patterns of over-caretaking and staying in unhealthy relationships, even long after the drinking ends.
- Hearing a doctor say, “This is your life, your body,” helped Stacey claim her abortion decision as her own and reinforced the importance of women’s bodily autonomy.
- Cosmetic choices like breast implants are complex; pausing to ask who is really making the decision—you or beauty culture—can reduce shame and increase agency.
- Basic habits such as drinking more water, moving your body, resting when you can and cutting back on alcohol can support women’s mental and physical health in their 40s.
- Whether or not a woman has children or a partner, her life is still complete, and honest conversations about grief, choice and desire can bring women closer instead of apart.
“This is my body. This is my life. And if I were to write words on the mirror of every woman, it would be those words.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This honest conversation between therapist and host Molly Carroll and journalist-author Stacey Lindsay centres on what it means to claim your body, your story and your life in midlife. Stacey shares how growing up with a father’s alcoholism shaped her urge to fix, caretake and stay too long in unhealthy situations.
She talks candidly about a pivotal abortion in her late 30s, calling it “one of the most intimate, profound, and true decisions” of her life, and recalls the doctor’s words that cracked her open: “This is my body. This is my life.” That moment fuels her passion for women’s bodily autonomy and for talking openly about decisions many still keep hidden.
Her book, *Being 40: The Decade of Letting Go and Embracing Who We Are*, weaves memoir, reported non-fiction and practical guidance. Molly and Stacey chat through themes of mother-daughter dynamics, the pressure to be the family caretaker, and the freedom that comes with finally saying things out loud at 40 and beyond. They also tackle the beauty industry head-on.
Stacey admits to having breast implants in her 20s and explores why she kept it secret, how beauty culture feeds shame, and why agency matters more than any cream, filler or surgery. She and Molly share small, realistic health tools—like hydration, movement, rest, reducing alcohol and questioning stress—that don’t require huge budgets or perfect lives. Motherhood and partnership get the same honest treatment, with space for women who choose children, those who don’t, and those who grieve what never happened.
Throughout, Stacey keeps returning to one question: how do you actually want to feel in your life—warm, safe, seen—and what can you gently put down to move closer to that? If you’re rethinking alcohol, relationships or your own body story, this conversation might be the nudge to finally say your truth out loud too.
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