Sometimes your name needs a midlife rebrand.

THINGS I WISH I KNEW SOONER: EPISODE 1

Let’s discuss the elephant in the room.

My real name is Karen. Yep, Karen

A perfectly normal name for several decades. A respectable name. A name that once belonged to moms, teachers, neighbors, and women with good casserole recipes.

And then the internet happened.

Suddenly, “Karen” was no longer just a name. It was a personality disorder.

Apparently, Karen wanted to speak to the manager. Karen was upset about the parking spot. Karen had concerns about the neighborhood Facebook page. Karen was absolutely going to need someone from corporate.

Meanwhile, real, actual Karens everywhere were just quietly trying to order iced coffee and mind their own business. Nobody that anyone calls a "Karen" is actually named Karen.

When the whole Karen phenomenon started, it actually became a fun ice breaker. I would meet someone new, introduce myself, and follow up with: "don't judge the name, please". It would often open up laughter and conversation. But, my daughters’ friends decided they were not going to let me go down like that.

They started calling me Wren.

At first, it was a joke.

Karen without the “Ka.”

A little lighter. A little cooler. Slightly mysterious.

Wren sounded like someone who drinks espresso on a beautiful patio, travels somewhere fabulous twice a year and has somehow figured out how to make linen pants look effortless.

Karen sounded like someone who had receipts and documentation.

So naturally, Wren wins.

And somehow over the years, it became the fun version of my name. And eventually I started answering to it without even thinking twice.

Which brings me to the kickoff of my new Things I Wish I Knew Sooner series.

There are a lot of things I wish I knew sooner.

Money things.

Parenting things.

Travel things.

Things about getting older, raising kids who suddenly become adults and wondering why nobody warned you that one day you would have both more freedom AND more Venmo requests.

But apparently the first lesson is:

Sometimes your name needs a midlife rebrand.

And really, why not?

We change our hair.

We change our homes.

We change our clothes, our priorities, our routines, our careers and occasionally our entire opinion about going out after 8:00 p.m.

Why should our names be off limits?

So around here, you’ll see Wren.

Wren is the name behind Smart Second Half.

Still technically Karen, but Wren is much better PR.

And honestly, that feels very on-brand for this stage of life.

Because the second half isn’t about pretending you’re someone completely different.

It’s about keeping the parts you like, laughing at the parts you don’t, and giving yourself permission to make a few edits along the way.

Including, apparently, your own name.

So welcome to Things I Wish I Knew Sooner — where we’ll talk about everything from money and travel to adult kids, aging, reinvention and all the things nobody thought to put in the instruction manual.

And if you’re thinking, Wait… am I too old to suddenly have a nickname?

Absolutely not.

It’s never too late for a second-half nickname.

Frankly, at this age, we’ve earned the right to rename ourselves.

Just maybe check with your kids first.

They’ve probably already done it.