Career change might look like a simple shift. In most cases it’s probably more complex. People make the decision in pieces, over years, often while they are also doing something else entirely: studying for an exam, holding a newborn, sitting in a cubicle they did not choose. Career change stories tend to get told backward, …read more
Honest experiences.
Hard-won insights.
Not highlight reels.
Latest Stories
Resistance has a way of pointing to exactly what a person needs to do next. It’s not always just the easy things. It’s the things that feel too big, too exposed, too far outside a comfort zone to seriously consider. For Leisa Reid, that thing was stand-up comedy, a form of public speaking she once …read more
We teach women to watch the parking lot, the elevator, the dark alley. We hand them pepper spray and tell them to walk with their keys between their fingers. What almost nobody teaches them is how to spot danger when it looks like someone they trust, someone with a title, a belt rank, a role …read more
Every generation of women inherits a version of the same promise: get it right, and happiness follows automatically. Get married, have the kids, stay home, and the rest takes care of itself. It is a tidy equation, and for a lot of women, it is also a trap, because nobody tells you what happens after …read more
Thriving As An Adult Is More Fun With A Community.
Imperfect Adulting is for women navigating the unsettling experience when everything shifts and you suddenly don’t know exactly where you fit anymore.
It’s not that you don’t know who you are. It’s that the life around you no longer reflects you—and no one told you this would happen more than once.
You’re not broken. You’re not behind. You’re in a quiet, natural transition not enough people talk about. And you don’t have to go through it alone.
What if I told you that there's a quiet epidemic of discontent among adults—especially women.
It can happen in your 20s, your 50s, your 70s, or anywhere in between. After a breakup, after a promotion, after the baby is born—or when you realize that marriage and kids might not be your path at all. After retirement, after becoming a widow, after the kids finally leave home.
We've been taught to label this feeling: Midlife crisis. Quarter-life crisis. Burnout. Reinvention. A phase.
We zoom in on the "situation" and try to fix it.
Experts. swoop in and offer to help us fix it ...for a small fee, of course.
Sometimes the fixes work a little bit and sometimes they feel good for a while until a new curveball comes along and we repeat the cycle.
This same conversation could have happened in the 1920s, the 1950s, the 1980s. It's not because you're a woman. It's not because you're 40. It's not because it's 2025. It's because most of us have never been taught the skills for thriving through life's inevitable transitions.
Instead, we've been told that we're the problem. No matter what age we are or how hard we work the problem is us. We're trained to beleive that we can prevent these struggles or avoid them altogether if we pick the "right" major, marry the "right" person, make the "right" choices from the start. But that's an impossible standard. This is circular logic that's rooted in the idea that we are always the problem and the solution is always us needing to work harder and be responsible for the fix.
At The Art of Imperfect Adulting, we see things a little differently. Sure, things don't always go the way that we want in our lives. That's just life. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with us. What helps a lot is having access to a wealth of people who have lived experiences that they are willing to share to help us get through these challenges.
At Imperfect Adulting, we're building the community to learn these skills together. We tell the truth. We share the honest stories. We master the art of transition itself.
This isn't self-help. It's collective wisdom. And it's long overdue.
Meet Amy: Your Imperfect Adulting Guide
Hi! I'm Amy, and I've spent decades collecting "wait a second...am I supposed to actually know how to do this?" moments.
From the supposedly simple stuff (like realizing you have no idea how garbage pickup actually works) to the surprisingly complex (like Googling 'what's that clicking noise in my walls?' at 2 AM), adulting throws curveballs daily. Then there are those conversations that no one prepared us for – convincing a determined toddler that their superhero costume isn't school attire, diplomatically declining your mother-in-law's 'signature dish,' or summoning the courage to ask for that long-overdue raise.
Each day brings another moment where we wish we could phone-a-friend or call in an 'adultier adult' for backup. Just when I'd get one part of life figured out, another would slip through my fingers – like trying to nail jello to a tree. I found myself wondering if anyone actually gets to feel like 'I've got this' for more than a few minutes or hours at a time.
Spoiler alert: I'm still waiting.
But along the way, I've become a mom, stepmom, stepgrandma, runner, triathlete, author, podcaster, speaker, and coach/mentor. More importantly, I've learned that some of the best moments in life happen when we stop trying to be perfect and start embracing the adventure. And when I look back sometimes the best teachers are those with experience. Which is why I work to elevate stories of lived experience.
Are You Ready? Let's Do This:
Frequently Asked Questions
The thing that separates most communities is the character of the founder and the team, and then also the group character of the people in the community. This is pretty true for all things whether you're looking at an elementary school parent volunteer group, a neighborhood watch team, or a run club. If you like the vibe of the founder... there's a chance you might also like the group.
Unlike most personal development platforms that target specific age groups or life events (new parents, career-changers, empty-nesters), The Art of Imperfect Adulting welcomes adults of all ages and life stages. We focus on the universal experience of navigating decisions and changes, rather than siloing you into a specific category.
We are building a community of like-minded adults who are not connected because of what we do professionally or how old our children are, or even if we have kids or stepkids at all—but we are connected by our shared interest in personal development and our desire to be supported in community and to support others through community.
Not at all!
I mean, maybe.
I mean, is there really a time in our lives where something isn't changing? One of the reasons I think a community like this—that we can be a part of no matter what is happening in our lives—can be so important is that it's hard to find a community in the middle of a lot of stress. We actually need to have a community in place to support us at any time, and then we lean into that community during times of intense hardship.
Our content and community are valuable whether you're facing big decisions or simply looking to improve your everyday life. Many members join for the diverse perspectives that help them with both major transitions and smaller everyday choices.
If you want a quick peek behind the scenes, I can share that podcast topics are determined by the guest. What they share depends on their life experience and what choices and transitions they want to discuss.
The podcast explores a wide range of adult experiences. Some of the more popular topics include career changes, relationship changes within families and romantic relationships, personal growth, health decisions, financial choices, changes that we feel are forced upon us by circumstances, and more.
Each episode features real people sharing their authentic stories—not just experts giving abstract advice.
This is entirely up to you.
The Village is designed to fit into busy adult lives. This has deep roots in the reality that our founder, Amy, has a deep respect for a reliable schedule and at the same time hates being told that she has to be somewhere on somebody else's schedule.
The first level of The Village is a free email subscription. Skim it in your free time or set aside time to read it carefully.