'It’s f#ing insane to live here.'—Minneapolis menopause coach
+ The return of LYLAS
Meet Sara Larson, the Minnesota menopause coach
Book a free discovery call here
Follow Sara: Substack • LinkedIn • Facebook • Instagram
Sara Larson says she’s in the midst of what feels like “equal parts catastrophic perimenopausal hell and the best days of her life.” Which is precisely what makes the Minnesotan the ideal menopause coach. She’s only semi-joking when she says she can “help women over 40 feel less like a haggard swamp monster and more like yourself.”
Sara is living her best entrepreneurial life. This is the job description she wrote for herself: “I work with brave, weary, powerful women who are trying to figure out what in the hell is happening to them.”
“I refuse to let women suffer,” she says. “We’re made for more than ‘just dealing with it’. I help perimenopausal women figure out what they need while doing the same for myself.”
When I met with Sara last week, she teared up when I asked her what it’s like to live near Minneapolis right now. More on that below …
Amy Cuevas Schroeder: Like many perimenopausal women, you knew something wasn’t right with your body, but you saw 12 doctors before one of them finally figured out you were in perimenopause. Why so many doctors?
Sara Larson: This is the burning question. Almost all the doctors I saw about my common perimenopause symptoms were kind, well-intentioned, and genuinely interested in helping me. But none of them mentioned menopause or perimenopause.
When I mentioned it, I was told that I was too young and “if you have your period regularly, that’s not it. We can’t do anything for you, even if it is menopause.” Keep in mind, all of this started when I was 41–42 years old. At 47, I finally found a doctor who really listened — Dr. Aimee Neumann. Almost immediately, she said, ‘This sounds a lot like perimenopause.’ In that moment, everything shifted.
It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. I was looking for any solution to why I was so miserable. This has changed a lot in the last couple of years. I went to The Menopause Society Conference in 2024 — the first time they had ever sold out. Thanks to the conference, I learned there is help available to women. I am so excited to help women find evidence-based care so they can feel like they have control of their lives again.
How does perimenopause and menopause coaching work, and how is it different from seeing a menopause health specialist?
I’m in my third year of menopause coaching, which is customized to each client. I specifically focus on helping women cut through the noise and misinformation about perimenopause and menopause online so they can find evidence-based care.
Seeing a menopause coach is different from seeing a menopause health specialist because most of the women I see need help with:
Figuring out what kind of menopause health specialist they want to see
Understanding the advice they get from their care provider (especially when the provider isn’t a menopause health specialist).
Navigating confusion, fears, or just plain forgetting the advice they’ve been given. A perfect example is vaginal estrogen. A woman may get prescribed vaginal estrogen but takes one look at the applicator and is like “Hell NO!” and never uses it. Or she does try it but doesn’t like how it feels. Or oftentimes, she gets it but has no idea how often or how long to use it.
Learning how to advocate for themselves when they don’t feel like they are getting the help they need.
Preparing for an appointment when they only get 12–17 minutes with the menopause specialist, which isn’t always enough time to cover a lot of ground.
I help women communicate with their provider, identify the right questions to ask, and make sure they maximize their appointment and get timely follow-up care. Together, we decode your perimenopause symptoms, understand what’s actually happening in your body, explore options for hormone therapy and other evidence-based support.Having an accountability/support system in place for the long haul. Very often, women need to renegotiate their treatment multiple times before they find the right fit.
What services do you offer?
Personalized peri/menopause coaching for women who want real answers, not quick fixes.
Together, we’ll decode your symptoms, understand what’s happening in your body, explore your options for hormone therapy (HT, MHT) and other evidence-based support, and advocate for the care you deserve.Public speaking about hormones over a woman’s lifespan, perimenopause/menopause, and midlife chaos.
Coming soon! Group coaching for women in perimenopause and post-menopause
Let’s talk about what it’s like to live near Minneapolis right now, after the January 2026 ICE incidents.
What happened in Minnesota is f#cking insane. It’s unlike anything I have ever imagined experiencing in my lifetime — and the hard reality I’ve learned is how profound a privilege it is to say that. As a Minnesotan, we typically try to downplay hard things, but this is horrible and we are rising. We are showing up for our neighbors and each other.
But there is a tension you can feel in your soul. I have friends are getting pepper-sprayed for standing vigil and then going home to make dinner for their families. At the same time, love and support is soaring in from around the country, and world. It feels crazy-making.
We have to ask you about Husband Replacement Therapy (HRT), which you joke about on your website — but also, seriously. Are you finding that women in peri/menopause are more likely to consider divorce?
I must give credit where credit is due. Husband Replacement Therapy is classic Dr. Lauren Streicher, my menopause mentor. She said this in a podcast and I nearly fell off my chair!
I find women in menopause are just f#ng done. They’re exhausted from feeling like crap. They’re tired of carrying the mental load of their whole lives and the lives of those they love. The part of their brains that gave a crap is shifting — due to actual neurological changes — and they are finally done taking care of everyone except themselves.
If they happen to be in relationships where all of these factors exist AND their partner isn’t interested in or able to understand and support them, MANY of my clients admit they are daydreaming AND in some cases planning for a divorce.
You are also a certified Positive Intelligence mental fitness coach — tell us all about this.
Positive Intelligence is a coaching tool that helps people utilize simple neurological function to work on mental fitness with the express goal of maximizing how much time we spend in our sage brain vs. our saboteur brain.
In Positive Intelligence’s own words, “Imagine yourself able to remain calm, clear-headed, stress-free, and positive even in the midst of handling work and life’s greatest challenges. What becomes possible for you, in achievement, in peace of mind and wellness, and in your relationships?”
What did you do professionally before you became a menopause coach?
I’ve worked with women my entire career. As a wilderness guide, retreat leader, public speaker, and retail business owner, I’ve always found myself alongside women who are interested in doing this life well:
Moms looking for rest
Caretakers needing a break
Thought leaders looking to shape change in their work
Homes and communities
Women who want to want adventure but need to learn how to set up a tent and light a fire
Young adults who want to learn how to speak more kindly to themselves, and care for the humans in their lives with reasonable boundaries and fierce, deep love
How can The Midst community support you?
I want to be a part of a community that’s actively working to change the way women talk to themselves and each other. I refuse to believe anything improves when we criticize without kindness. Everything improves when we lead with curiosity and compassion.
What do you want to manifest?
I want to create a community of irreverent badass women who unapologetically care for themselves and each other through the wholehearted, blazingly beautiful shitshow that is midlife. And I’m not going to lie. I’d like to get paid for it.
A version of this story was originally published here on the-midst.com.
Sara Larson is a member of The Midst Founder network of solopreneurs and business owners. Learn more about how to join our community here.
OMG, do you remember #LYLAS? As in, Love You Like a Sister?
I recently came across my 1994 high school yearbook, which is loaded with LYLAS. I thought the acronym was cheesy in the 1990s and it still is. But who cares. Let’s bring it back for a minute, yeah?
LYLAS to Grown Ass Ladies everywhere! I’ll tag mine on Instagram here. Tag yours LYLAS here too, and we’ll get a whole thing going.
And I'm doing the LYLAS thing here on Substack! https://substack.com/@themidst/note/c-213626783