Kimberly Riggins: The Midlife Rebel

10/05/2026

Cancer has taken so much from me already.

But I’ll be damned if it gets to decide when it takes my hair.

I get to decide.

I was afraid to post this photo.

But this is me right now.

And when I look at this woman, I see someone who has been through a lot.

Someone who has experienced a lot of loss. Someone whose body and life have changed in ways she never asked for.

But she’s still standing here.

Fighting.

Smiling.

And believing there is still something fu***ng beautiful waiting for her on the other side of this.

I’ve spent so much of my life being hard on myself.

I was the one who decided I needed to be successful enough. Thin enough. Fit enough. Productive enough. Strong enough. Pretty enough.

Nobody was demanding those things from me.

I was.

And maybe one of the strangest things cancer has given me is the ability to look at myself differently.

Because when I look at this photo, I’m not looking for what’s wrong with her.

I’m looking at everything she’s survived.

I don't fu***ng care what anyone thinks about what I look like right now.

More importantly, I’m done being the one who tears her apart.

Today I’m going to celebrate her.

The woman who shaved her head before cancer could take that choice from her.

The woman who has lost so much and still believes there is more ahead.

The woman who is still fu***ng standing.

Today, I celebrate me.

09/09/2026

Three surgeries in two months. And I am fu***ng over it.

The good news? My latest pathology showed no cancer. Nothing. And I am incredibly grateful.

But now I have to convince myself to start chemo when there is no detectable cancer left in my body.

My brain understands why. My emotions are still catching up.

I’m grateful. I’m angry. I’m exhausted. And I’m allowed to be all three.

Today, I’m resting, healing and trying not to live ten steps ahead.

The latest chapter is up on Rebel Midlife. Link is in comments.

06/14/2026

This is the post I've been avoiding writing.

So I'm just going to write it.

I have breast cancer. It's not my first time. Ten years ago I dealt with an earlier version of this. My family knew. Almost no one outside of it did. This time, I'm choosing differently.

That graphic above is something I made for a series I started writing, called My Body My Fight. It's where I'm documenting all of it in real time. The scans, the decisions, the fear, the good days and the rough ones.

Here's where I'm at right now. I'm scared, and I know exactly why.

I've watched this disease take people I love. And at the same time, I have zero intention of letting it take me down too.

Both of those are real. Every single day.

If you want to follow along, the link to the series is in the comments.

And if you're going through something like this yourself, or you have been, I see you. You don't have to do it alone, and neither do I.

05/08/2026

Something I've noticed about midlife women, including myself: we are very good at trying things.

The supplements. The routine. The thing someone recommended. We try it, it doesn't fully stick or fully work, and we quietly file it under "I guess that's not for me either."

But most of the time the problem isn't the thing. It's the sequence.

There are five pretty distinct patterns I see in midlife women when it comes to stress, sleep, and energy. And the starting point for each one is genuinely different. What helps one woman first can actually make things harder for another.

That's not a fun thing to realize when you're already tired. But it's also kind of a relief. Because it means you weren't failing. You were just starting in the wrong place.

If you would like to know what pattern you are in, go ahead and take my FREE Rebel Resilience Audit. 12 questions. 5 minutes. Totally worth your time.

You're Not Falling Apart. You Just Don't Know Where to Start. Twelve questions. A personalized result. A custom guide waiting in your inbox when you are done. Completely free. You’ve Tried Everything. It Still Feels Off. You have read the articles.You have listened to the podcasts.You’ve even tr...

04/29/2026

Here's something nobody talks about enough.

The reason midlife feels so disorienting isn't just the hormones.

It's the identity shift that happens at the same time.

You spent your 20s and 30s building. Career. Family.

Relationships. A version of yourself that could handle everything.

And then somewhere around 40, 45, 50, that version of you starts to crack. Not because you failed. Because that version was never sustainable.

The woman on the other side of that crack is actually closer to who you've always been. Less performing. Less apologizing. Less shrinking.

She's not a crisis. She's a signal.

The only question is whether you're ready to listen.

04/15/2026

Let me ask you something.

When you think "core workout," what comes to mind?

Crunches, probably. Maybe a fitness influencer on the floor looking impossibly put together.

And somewhere in the back of your mind, a voice that says: that's not really for me.

Here's what I want you to know.

Your core is not a vanity muscle. It never was.

It is the foundation of how you stand, how you move, how your back feels at the end of a long day, and yes, how confident you feel walking into a room.

In midlife, when estrogen drops and muscle mass declines faster than anyone warned you, your core is one of the most powerful things you can rebuild.

Not to look a certain way.

To feel like yourself again. Solid. Grounded. Here.

Episode 19 of the Love Your Naked Ass podcast is up and this one is for every woman who has been quietly wondering why her body feels a little off lately.

You are not broken. You are just missing some information.

Go listen. Link in the comments.

04/08/2026

If you have ever lain awake at 2am doing math on how many hours of sleep you can still theoretically get, this episode is for you.

Episode 18 of Love Your Naked Ass is up and we are talking about midlife insomnia. What is actually driving it, why it feels impossible to break, and what you can do starting tonight.

Here is what I want you to know before you listen: the disruption is not random. It is not because you are stressed and haven't managed it well enough. It is not a character flaw.

As progesterone declines during perimenopause, the calming, sleep-supporting effect it had on your nervous system declines with it. Cortisol patterns shift. Temperature regulation goes sideways. And then the loop starts where bad sleep drives cortisol up and high cortisol keeps you awake.

Round and round it goes.

I share my own experience with this in the episode, including the restless legs, the covers on and off situation, and the very unflattering 3am mental spiral. Because I want you to know you are not alone in this.

And then we get into what actually helps.

Go listen. Link in comments.

04/08/2026

This is what it actually looks like to set yourself up for sleep.

Not a 14-step routine. Not a perfect system.

Just dimming the lights. Putting the phone down. Telling your nervous system the day is done.

It sounds simple. And it is. But most of us are not doing it.

We are going full speed until our head hits the pillow and then wondering why sleep won't come.

Episode 18 of Love Your Naked Ass is all about what's actually happening to your sleep in midlife, why it's not your fault, and what you can start doing tonight.

Link in bio. Go listen.

04/05/2026

Overnight oats that actually hold you.

Not the kind that leave you snacking twenty minutes later wondering why you even bothered. The kind that keep you steady till lunch with no crash, no food noise, no mid-morning debate about what you should have eaten instead.

The difference is almost always protein.

This week's Rebel Bite is a Lemon Berry Protein version. Greek yogurt, protein powder, chia seeds, berries, and a little lemon zest. Five minutes of prep the night before. Breakfast handled.

That's what food is supposed to do. Just do its job.

Recipe is up on the site. Link in the comments.

04/03/2026

This week's Rebel Letter is about something a lot of women feel but rarely say out loud.

You can do everything right. Build the responsible life. Show up for everyone who needs you. Check every box that was supposed to matter.

And still have a hollow feeling in your chest that won't go away.
That's not a breakdown. That's not ingratitude.

That's what happens when the life you built was designed for approval, not for you.

In this week's letter I asked a question I wish someone had put in front of me sooner.

If you were standing at your own funeral, what would you want the women in that room to say about you? Not your title. Not what you accumulated. How did you make them feel? What did you build that actually mattered?

Those answers are your compass. Everything else is noise.

Go read it when you have five quiet minutes for yourself.

You've been following a script you never agreed to