Have you noticed that time seems to be speeding up? You blink and another month is gone, another season has passed, and you are left wondering where it all went. If that feeling is all too familiar, you are not alone. And here is what I want you to know: there is a reason this happens, and there is something you can do about it.
As someone who is deeply committed to helping midlife women feel fully alive in their bodies and their lives, I have been thinking a lot about experiences and memories and the role they play in how we age. When I look at where I want to invest my time and energy, it is in the things that create lasting memories: travel, connection, being present with people I love. That is why I invited my friend and collaborator Jessie Schwartzburg onto the podcast for this conversation.
Jessie is a concierge event coordinator who has worked with some of the most high-profile events and travel experiences in the world. But what she really does, what she is genuinely gifted at, is creating memorable experiences. I had a front-row seat to her genius when she coordinated our group trip to Bali, and I could not stop asking her questions about how her brain works. So I brought her here to share what she knows with all of you.
Why Time Feels Like It Is Flying By (And How Experiences Are the Answer)
Here is something Jessie and I talked about that I want you to really sit with. When we were kids, time felt enormous. Summers lasted forever. A school year felt like a lifetime. Now, a year can vanish before you have caught your breath. Why does this happen?
The answer has everything to do with how our brains encode memories. When we do the same things day after day, our brains essentially go on autopilot. There is nothing new to file away, no fresh neural pathways being built. But when you step into a new experience, your brain lights up. It pays attention. It creates memories. And when you look back, those periods feel rich, full, and long.
Jessie calls it the dopamine hit of doing something new. When you try a new restaurant, take an unfamiliar hike, travel somewhere you have never been, or simply find a new way to celebrate the people you love, you are giving your brain a reason to pay attention. And that is what makes time slow down in the very best way.
You Do Not Need a Big Budget to Create Meaningful Moments
One of the things I wanted to make sure we covered in this conversation is the idea that memorable experiences do not require a massive event or an unlimited budget. Jessie is the queen of what she calls “surprise and delight” moments, and most of them are completely accessible to anyone willing to put in a little thought.
Think about a birthday lunch with your girlfriends. Instead of just showing up, what if you called ahead and worked with the bartender to create a signature cocktail for the guest of honor? What if you put together a small basket of local products from women-owned businesses in your city? What if you showed up with a mound of their favorite treat instead of just a card?
Jessie shared a beautiful example from our group trip to Italy where she arranged gelato coupons for everyone along our Vespa city tour. Nobody saw it coming. Everyone remembers it. Those are the moments that become the stories people tell for years.
The key insight here is that it starts with knowing what the people in your life actually love. Jessie is a huge advocate for the love language framework and encourages everyone, including her coworkers and family members, to take the quiz. When you know whether someone values quality time, acts of service, physical touch, words of affirmation, or gifts, you can tailor every single experience to land exactly right for them.
The Event Planning Framework That Works for Any Gathering
Whether you are planning a baby shower, a girls trip, a birthday dinner, or an actual conference, Jessie uses the same foundational approach: start with the end in mind and reverse engineer everything from there.
Before she does anything else, she asks: what is the end outcome? What do you want people to feel when they walk out the door? From there, everything else follows. The venue, the timeline, the flow, the touches that make it feel like an experience rather than just an event.
She also shared her “rule of threes” method for communicating with clients and collaborators: present information in three formats (written, spoken, and visual) to ensure everyone is aligned. When it comes to decisions, always present three options. This approach dramatically reduces overwhelm and keeps the creative process moving forward without getting stuck.
For longer events or full-day gatherings, Jessie emphasized that no segment should run longer than two hours without a break. She calls the transitions between segments “brain breaks” and is intentional about filling them: a two-minute dance break, a sponsor moment, a small treat being passed around the room. These are not filler. They are the texture that makes an event feel alive.
What Makes a Speaker Worth Booking (And What Is a Red Flag)
Jessie has worked with a wide range of speakers and has strong opinions about what separates a great one from a forgettable one. The best speakers, she says, show up without ego. They are there to give, to serve, to connect. They are not tracking their speaker fee or focused on whether their photographer is getting the right shot from every angle.
A red flag she watches for is a speaker who wants to fly in, deliver their talk, and fly out without engaging with the community. In her events, especially group travel experiences, speakers come on excursions. They eat meals with participants. They show up fully. That is what creates the kind of connection that makes people want to come back year after year.
Travel Lessons: Why the Instagram Version Is Never the Whole Story
If you have ever booked a vacation based on stunning photos and arrived to something very different, Jessie has been there too. Many times. Her biggest piece of advice for travel planning is to look beyond the beautiful website and curated Instagram feed.
Before she books anything for a client event, she does in-person site visits. She can tell you right now that some of the most gorgeous-looking properties she has scouted were in unsafe neighborhoods, had terrible service, or required a bizarre trek through heat and bugs just to reach the meeting space. None of that shows up in the photos.
If you cannot do a site visit yourself, she recommends seeking out real video content and talking to people who have actually been there. Reviews help, but firsthand conversations are even better. The same logic applies to tourist attractions: the experiences that flood your social media feed are usually the most crowded, most commercial, and least authentic versions of a place. The best experiences come from asking locals where they actually go.
Jessie’s Formula for a Life Worth Remembering
When I asked Jessie to wrap up the conversation with practical advice for midlife women who want more out of their days, she offered what I genuinely think is a simple and powerful framework for living. She calls it her secret to life, and it is the structure she uses to design every trip and event she creates.
Every day, build in movement of some kind. Walking, swimming, yoga, a hike. Something that connects you to your body. Next, learn something new. A podcast, a speaker, a conversation that expands your thinking. Then, include some kind of excursion or experience that pushes you slightly outside your comfort zone. And finally, prioritize connection: meals with people, real conversations, the kind of communion that makes you feel less alone in the world.
She also had a piece of advice so simple it almost sounds too easy: follow your local city forums on social media. Know what is opening, what concerts are coming to town, what new experiences are available right in your backyard. Then put them on your calendar. Having something to look forward to is itself a way of expanding time.
The Takeaway for Midlife Women
You have the time. You really do. The question is how you are choosing to structure it. Midlife is not the season to shrink into routines and let years blur together. It is the season to say yes to new things, to surprise the people you love, to book the trip, to try the restaurant, to do something this week that your brain will actually bother to remember.
If this conversation resonated with you, listen to the full episode with Jessie Schwartzburg on Midlife Conversations. And if you are ready to go deeper into building a life that actually feels like yours again, come check out the Continuing to Thrive community at midlifeconversations.com.
The contents of the Midlife Conversations podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider. Some episodes of Midlife Conversations may be sponsored by products or services discussed during the show. The host may receive compensation for such advertisements or if you purchase products through affiliate links mentioned on this podcast.
The post Why Time Speeds Up in Midlife and How to Slow It Down with Jessie Schwartzberg appeared first on Natalie Jill Fitness.
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