Ep. 310 How Grocery Shopping Can Decrease Anxiety, Stress & Overwhelm in Midlife Artwork

Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships

Coping Skills for Midlife Stress and Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships

Forget the midlife crisis—how about creating midlife calm? The anxiety and stress of this life stage can drain your energy, fuel overthinking, and make it hard to enjoy what should be the best years of your life. This podcast offers practical coping skills to help you reduce anxiety, manage stress, and rediscover a calmer, more confident version of yourself.

In Creating Midlife Calm, you’ll discover how to:

Be happier, more present, and more effective at home and work.
Transform stress and anxiety into powerful tools that boost your clarity, energy, and confidence.
Cultivate calm and joy through practical, affordable coping skills that help you handle life’s daily challenges.

Join MJ Murray Vachon, LCSW, a seasoned therapist with over 50,000 hours of clinical experience and 32 years teaching mental wellness, as she guides you to reclaim your inner calm. Learn to stay grounded in the present, navigate midlife transitions with clarity, and build emotional resilience using proven coping tools.

Every Monday, MJ dives into real stories and science-backed insights to help you shift from anxious to centered—ending each episode with an “Inner Challenge” you can practice right away. Then, on Thursdays, she shares a brief follow-up episode that connects, deepens, or expands the week’s topic, helping you apply these skills in real life.

Let’s evolve from crisis to calm—and make midlife your most balanced and fulfilling chapter yet.
🎧 Start with listener favorite Ep. 138 to feel the difference calm can make.

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Creating Midlife Calm: Coping Skills for Stress & Anxiety in Family, Work & Relationships

Ep. 310 How Grocery Shopping Can Decrease Anxiety, Stress & Overwhelm in Midlife

September 11, 2026 • MJ Murray Vachon LCSW • Season 5 • Episode 310

0:00 | 3:33

Can a trip to the grocery store actually help you become calmer when someone else is rude or stressed?
Everyday moments give us opportunities to practice responding differently to stress.
In this episode, you’ll discover:

How one ordinary moment in the tortilla aisle reminded of how good growth feels.

Take 5 minutes to practice creating your own calm right in the middle of the wild.

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About the Host:

MJ Murray Vachon, LCSW, is a seasoned clinician, educator, and host of the podcast Creating Midlife Calm, recognized by Maria Shriver as a “Listen of the Week.” Over the past 40 years, MJ has led more than 50,000 therapy sessions and developed the Inner Challenge mental wellness program and the Inner Challenge Master Class, practical tools for emotional regulation, self-awareness, and resilience taught for more than 30 years in junior high schools and at the University of Notre Dame for freshman football players. Through her podcast, teaching, and coaching, MJ helps people build calmer lives, stronger relationships, and healthier communities.

Creating Midlife Calm is a podcast designed to guide you through the challenges of midlife, tackling issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy, procrastination, and isolation, while offering strategies for improving relationships, family support, emotional wellbeing, mental wellness, and parenting, with a focus on mindfulness, stress management, coping skills, and personal growth to stop rumination, overthinking, and increase confidence through self-care, emotional healing, and mental health support.

M.J. Murray Vachon LCSW 0:26

Welcome to Creating Calm in the Wild. I'm MJ Murray Vachon, and this is your reminder that calm isn't always found when life settles down. It's something you can create right in the middle of the wild. Every time I do dishes, I see a message on my windowsill that says, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." There's a reason I keep it there. By nature, I'm a doer, a fixer, and intense. My mother was extraordinarily calm, which of course drove me nuts when I was a teenager and young adult. As I've gotten older, I've realized- As I've gotten older, I've realized the world doesn't run on MJ time, and I'm a whole lot happier when I accept that. Yesterday, I got a little test of this in the grocery store. I used to grocery shop just to get things done. Now, I try to actually enjoy it. It probably adds five minutes to my trip, a small cost for a pretty big, a small cost for a pretty big payoff. So yesterday, I'm standing in the tortilla aisle talking to my sister while using this app called Yucca to scan- While using this app called Yuka to scan tortillas Now that I think of it, I was yucking up-- I was-- Now that I think of it, I was yukking it up with my sister while I was yucking up the tortillas. Somewhere along the way, I learned that the... Somewhere along the way... Somewhere, somewhere on my... Somewhere on my health journey. Somewhere on my health journey, I had learned that corn tortillas were healthy and flour tortillas weren't. I've been buying corn tortillas for about ten years. Well, yucca burst that bubble Well, Yuka burst that bubble. Turns out, depending on the brand, neither one was looking particularly good. Turns out, depending on the brand, neither one was looking particularly good. So I'm scanning tortillas hoping to find a healthier option when a woman comes up behind me, clearly frustrated, and tells me to move over. I realized my cart was blocking the section. I apologized and moved it. I go back to scanning, and she scolds me about... I go back to scanning, and she scolds me again about being on my phone. Again, I say, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." She says something else, grabs her tortillas, and marches away. I took a breath, and I had two thoughts. First, I've been her. I've been the person in a hurry thinking, "Come on, just move." And second, I realized I didn't have to do anything. And second, I realized I didn't have to do anything with her frustration. I didn't have to defend myself. I didn't have to convince her that I wasn't trying to be inconsiderate, and certainly, I didn't have to give her frustration right back to her. I could just let her be frustrated and go back to... I could just let her be frustrated and go back to buying my tortillas, which I did As I, after I paid for my groceries and was walking to my car, I had this little moment of realizing, wow, I didn't let her ruin my day. In fact, I didn't even let her... In fact, I didn't even let her impact it a bit. 10 years ago, I probably would have carried that interaction with me through the rest of the store. I might have even come home and told my husband about it. Yesterday, I didn't. You can be rude to me, but I don't have to be rude to you. And standing there in the tortilla aisle of all places, I got to be the change I want to see in the world. That didn't happen because I suddenly became naturally calm. It's taken intention, self-awareness, and a lot of practice. And maybe that's the point. Calm isn't something we wait to feel. It's something we practice in tiny moments right there in the wild. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join me Monday on Creating Midlife Calm.