4,000 Mondays: A Midlife Wake-up Call (And Why That’s a Good Thing)
What would you do differently if you knew how many Mondays you had left?
It’s a question that might jolt you out of your seat, but that’s exactly the point. According to speaker and author Jodi Wellman, the average person gets about 4,000 Mondays in a lifetime. If you’re somewhere around midlife, you may have just over 2,000 left. That’s not meant to be a downer, it’s meant to be a wake-up call.
And for many women, midlife already feels like a call to wake up.
At Shala, we talk a lot about the hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause: the hot flashes, the brain fog, the exhaustion that shows up uninvited. But beneath the physical symptoms, there’s often something deeper stirring: a restlessness, a sense of time passing, and the unsettling question… Is this really how I want to spend the rest of my life?
That’s where Jodi’s work lands with a refreshing, and necessary, urgency.
From Autopilot to Intentional Living
Jodi Wellman is the founder of Four Thousand Mondays, a movement that invites us to stop coasting through life and start living like we mean it. Her TEDx talk, How Death Can Bring You Back to Life, has over 1.3 million views, and for good reason. She doesn’t tiptoe around mortality, she uses it as motivation.
Because sometimes the best way to come alive… is to remember that we won’t live forever.
Her book, You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets, isn’t about fear, it’s about freedom. Freedom from autopilot. Freedom from living someone else’s definition of a “successful” life. Freedom to make different choices, even if they feel small. Especially when they feel small.
Why Midlife Is the Perfect Time for a Wake-Up Call
Midlife is often labeled as a crisis, but maybe it’s more accurate to call it a clarifier.
Yes, your hormones are shifting. Your body may feel unfamiliar. You might be juggling teenagers, aging parents, or career burnout. But it’s also a season where you start to see life more clearly. You know what drains you. You know what lights you up. And, here’s the powerful part, you’re old enough to do something about it.
That’s why we love Jodi’s message at Shala. It’s not about blowing up your life. It’s about reclaiming your time and energy, and using it on what matters most to you. Whether that’s finally taking that solo trip, starting a creative project, changing your career path, or simply saying no to things you’ve outgrown… you don’t need to wait.
You have a finite number of Mondays left.
But you have infinite agency over how you spend them.
So… What Will You Do With Your Mondays?
Maybe you start small. You take your morning coffee outside and let the sun hit your face. You skip the doom scroll and walk around the block. You call a friend just to laugh, not to check a box. You listen to that quiet voice inside you that’s been whispering: more joy, less obligation.
Jodi often says we don’t need a near-death experience to start living.
We just need a nudge.
Consider this your nudge.
Listen to Jodi on The Complete Woman Podcast
We sat down with Jodi Wellman on The Complete Woman podcast to talk about mortality, midlife, and why it’s never too late to shake off autopilot and start living with more curiosity, purpose, and joy. It’s one of the most inspiring conversations we’ve had, and we can’t wait for you to hear it.
Listen to the episode here