THE SCREW IT CHRONICLES

This is a collection of hard-won, no-BS lessons I've learned by living through the same shit you might be dealing with right now. From navigating midlife chaos to ditching rules we never agreed to follow in the first place, this is where we get real about the universal struggles Gen X women face—no matter where you're from.

Because Gen X problems don't respect borders. Burnout speaks every language. The sandwich squeeze exists in Oslo and Ohio. And that moment when you realize the script was rigged? That's global.

This is your space to figure things out, one "Screw it" moment at a time. To stop performing. To roll your eyes at the bullshit. And to start living boldly, on your own damn terms.

Welcome to the club. We've been expecting you.

The Chronicles

2025 Can Go F*ck Itself: How Grief Became a Book

Let's be honest: 2025 has been a dumpster fire. I lost my mother. We had the kind of closeness that doesn't need words. And then she was gone. A few weeks ago, I lost my horse. If you don't have horses, you probably don't get it. But anyone who does knows: they're not pets. They're mirrors. Therapists. Truth-tellers. Losing him was like losing a piece of my sanity. So yeah. 2025 can go straight to hell. I Became a Hermit Who Writes When things get dark, people tell you to "

Line Heggelund

Dec 19, 20253 min read

Flex the Failure Muscle

Why Your Greatest Superpower Wasn't on the School Curriculum Remember that sick feeling in your stomach when you brought home a F on a test? The shame spiral when you didn't make the team? The crushing weight of disappointing your parents, your teachers, yourself? Yeah. That's not education. That's programming. And it's time we talked about what it cost us. School Taught Us Failure Was the Enemy Here's what they taught us: Get it right. Color inside the lines. Don't raise you

Line Heggelund

Dec 16, 20253 min read

From the Outskirts: What You See When Nobody's Looking

The Triple Outsider Advantage Let me tell you what it's like to be a Gen X woman living on a farm outside Tønsberg, Norway, watching the world lose its fucking mind. Outsider from culture. Outsider from generation. Outsider from visibility: I'm Norwegian (literally on the edge of Europe). I'm Gen X (sandwiched between generations that actually get attention) and I'm a 57-year-old woman (which means I've aged out of relevance entirely). But here's what nobody tells you about b

Line Heggelund

Dec 14, 20253 min read

The ADHD Brain in Gen X Women

The Superpower We Didn’t Know We Had (Until Midlife Forced Us to Notice) If you grew up as a Gen X girl with an ADHD brain, chances are no one ever called it ADHD. They called it: “Too much.” “Too sensitive.” “Too distracted.” “Unfocused.” “Chaotic.” “Could do great things if she just applied herself.” Ah yes. That line. The academic equivalent of mansplaining your own brain back to you. Meanwhile, you were busy actually applying yourself — to ten ideas at once while helpin

Line Heggelund

Dec 8, 20254 min read

The Queen of Poop: Why I Chose a Life Full of Sh*t

So here's the thing nobody tells you when you're planning your "successful life": the cleaner your hands stay, the emptier your soul gets. I'm writing this from my farm office, which is really just the tack room with better WiFi. My boots are caked in mud and horse manure. There's alpaca fiber stuck to my sweater. One of the cats just brought in something unidentifiable and ran under my bed with it. And I'm the wealthiest person I know. Not Tesla-in-the-driveway rich. Not...

Line Heggelund

Nov 27, 20253 min read

The "Now What Phase"

Your kids left. Your parents are aging or gone. You spent 30 years building and caretaking and now the house is quiet and you're sitting there thinking "Now what?" and also "Who the f*ck am I without all of that?" Welcome to the most dangerous and important moment of your life. It's Sunday night. You're scrolling because you don't know what else to do. No lunches to pack. No schedules to coordinate. No one needs you anywhere. The structure that held your entire life together

Line Heggelund

Nov 18, 20252 min read

Stand Guard at Your Mind: What Horses Taught Me About Staying Sane

The psychiatrist leaned back and said something that changed everything. I'd been telling him about my mornings—how after mucking stalls and hauling hay, I'd stand at the fence with my coffee. Just watching. Horses grazing. Clouds drifting. The steam from their breath in cold air. I told him I felt guilty about it. Standing still when there was so much to do. He nodded. "Ah, so you're practicing mindfulness. Keep doing that." I had no idea what "mindfulness" meant. But his wo

Line Heggelund

Feb 3, 20253 min read

I Was THIS Close to Deleting Everything

I was THIS close to deleting everything. My cursor was literally hovering over the "delete draft" button when I asked myself: What's actually worse—posting something imperfect, or sitting on my ass for another five years waiting to feel "ready"? You already know what I chose. You're reading this. But let me back up. The Five-Year Wait I've been thinking about starting this blog for an embarrassingly long time. I'd get all hyped up, sit down at my laptop, crack my knuckles lik

Line Heggelund

Feb 3, 20254 min read