Be Kind Lyfe Announces Release of Book "I'm Not Fine, Thanks for Asking" About Navigating Midlife for Women Over 40 by Rachael Gass and Andie Herbert

"I'm Not Fine, Thanks for Asking" trades toxic positivity for the truth about midlife, from two women who lived every chapter before they wrote it

Tucson, AZ, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Be Kind Lyfe, the leadership and coaching company founded by Andie Herbert, announced the release of I'm Not Fine, Thanks for Asking: The Honest Guide to Midlife Freedom, a new book co-authored by Herbert and Be Kind Lyfe Managing Partner Rachael Gass, PCC. Now available in e-book, paperback and hardcover from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org, the book gives women in their 40s, 50s and 60s a research-backed, candid guide to career reinvention, caregiving, perimenopause and the identity shifts of midlife.

I'm Not Fine Thanks For Asking

I'm Not Fine, Thanks for Asking: The Honest Guide to Midlife Freedom, released August 2026, is co-authors Rachael Gass and Andie Herbert's answer to that lie. It is not a gratitude journal. It is not a list of affirmations. It is a research-backed, occasionally profane, always honest look at what actually happens to women's bodies, careers, relationships, and sense of self after forty, told by two women who did not write it from a distance.

Herbert spent her forties changing careers, launching a business, caregiving for a parent with dementia, and relocating her entire life to a homestead in the Caribbean. Gass, a Professional Certified Coach with a decade spent helping women through career reinvention, caregiving, and the messier stretches of midlife, has heard the same stories from hundreds of women who thought they were the only ones falling apart quietly.

"The not-fine is not the problem," Herbert said. "It is the beginning of something. I spent years thinking I had to have it figured out before I said anything true out loud. Turns out most women are standing in that exact same silence. Nobody just, you know, says it."

Gass sees the same pattern from the other side of the coaching relationship. "Every client walks in thinking her version of falling apart is the embarrassing one," Gass said. "It never is. It's usually just the first honest thing she's said out loud in months."

It tackles the quiet shifts no one warns you about: navigating perimenopause, balancing full-time work with supporting aging parents or grown kids, pivoting careers after decades on one track, and facing the deep identity shifts that happen when you stop pretending to have everything under control. Through six composite figures shaped by actual coaching sessions, readers can spot their own journeys without feeling exposed.

I'm Not Fine, Thanks for Asking is self-published and available for now in e-book, paperback, and hardcover wherever books are sold.

Book Details
Title: I'm Not Fine, Thanks for Asking
Subtitle: The Honest Guide to Midlife Freedom
Authors: Rachael Gass and Andie Herbert
Category: Women's Midlife / Self-Help
Formats: E-book, paperback, and hardcover
Release Date: August 18, 2026
Available At: Amazon, Barnes & Noble  and Bookshop.org
Website: imnotfinethanksforasking.com

About the Authors
Andie Herbert is the founder of Be Kind Lyfe, a company that teaches individuals and organizations to be kinder to themselves and each other. She brings over two decades of corporate experience to the pages, along with lived experience of nearly every transition this book covers. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from The George Washington University and has spoken about leadership and employee engagement at NECA, CHIACON, MGMA and a variety of podcasts. She lives on a homestead in the Caribbean.

Rachael Gass, PCC, MS, is a Professional Certified Coach and Executive Coach, Managing Partner of BeKindLyfe, based in Tucson, Arizona. She holds a Master's in Organizational Psychology and a B.A. in Marketing from Arizona State University, and has spoken on culture and leadership at NECA, CHIACON, and AzHIMA.

About Be Kind Lyfe

Be Kind Lyfe is the leadership and coaching company founded by Andie Herbert. Managing Partner Rachael Gass, PCC, MS, and Herbert co-authored I'm Not Fine, Thanks for Asking: The Honest Guide to Midlife Freedom, a research-backed, irreverently honest book for women in their forties, fifties, and sixties who are done saying 'fine,' and it covers career reinvention, caregiving, perimenopause, and identity in midlife. The authors also host a podcast and a free online community for midlife women.

Press Inquiries

Rachael Gass
rachael [at] bekindlyfe.com
415-819-6713
https://www.imnotfinethanksforasking.com