Wendy Battles
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Reinvention Rebels podcast. I am your host, Wendy. I am so excited. So excited that you are here today for this episode because today's episode, it's a celebration y'all. We are celebrating 100 episodes of the Reinvention Ripples podcast. Well, this episode is actually episode 101.
Episode 100 was a couple of weeks ago with my amazing guest, Tanja Shah. But I wanted to take a moment, an episode to pause, reflect, celebrate, and thank you. I wanna thank you so much for listening. A 100 episodes yelled. I feel like that is such a big milestone. I feel like I don't know. That's like a big deal, that big round number.
When I started, I wasn't saying, oh, I'm gonna do a 100 episodes. I really didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that I wanted to uplift women in midlife. I wanted to shine a spotlight on the amazing things we're doing. I wanted to celebrate, illuminate, and elevate us. So this path that's unfolded has been much bigger and juicier than I ever would have imagined. So today, we're going to reflect on the journey so far.
We're going to highlight the incredible women who have graced me with their presence on the Reinvention Rebels podcast. And we're going to explore 3 themes that really underpin so much of the stories that you hear. Persistence, prioritizing our dreams and overcoming our fears. That's what rebels do. That's what these amazing women between 5090 are doing. They are persistent about that thing that lights them up in pursuing it. They are making time and space to prioritize their dreams and they're doing it scared and all.
I don't think there's a single woman I've interviewed over the course of a 100 episodes who has not felt some degree of fear, who did not have to find her inner courage. Yet, she did it.
They all did it. And that is motivation and inspiration for all of us. So we are going to talk about these amazing women today and celebrate them. I wanna start really by expressing my gratitude. It is an honor and a privilege to interview fierce, unapologetic women who are living on purpose, who are defying stereotypes, who honestly are rewriting their own narratives. Forget what society says, they are deciding that I have my own narrative and I'm gonna do what I wanna do. That's what rebels do.
So I am grateful, one, that I have the opportunity to do this because it it fills me up. I get so much from the opportunity to be in conversation with these fierce women. I also, however, want to thank all of you. I want to thank all of you for listening. This is impossible without you. This is impossible without you listening to these stories, getting inspired by these stories, sharing these stories, using these stories to motivate yourself or people you love, women around you. So without you, we couldn't be and I am grateful for that as well.
You probably have noticed if you've been listening for a while, or maybe you are new to the podcast that my guests are amazing and they are all so different. They are from different experiences and backgrounds. They are a range of ages between 50 and 90. They are discovering things about themselves and living more authentically. They are open to taking chances. They're not afraid to fail and have multiple do overs to get to their goal once they figure out what that is. And I think those are all really key characteristics of reinvention rebels.
These women that are ready and willing and excited and inspired to reinvent, to feel more joy, to feel more purposeful, they are doing it. And I love what they uncover along the way. They uncover so much about themselves because so much about reinvention is about going within. It's not an outside job.
It's an inside job. It's all about looking within for the wisdom and the guidance that's within all of us. And that's what they're doing. They're getting quiet and still. They're listening to their intuition, that voice within. They're open to being guided about what could be and not always assuming it has to be a certain way. So there's so many things that these women are doing along their reinvention journey that I think it's important to highlight.
And needless to say, there have been so many amazing women. I can't go through each and every one of them on our episode today because it's too much amazingness. But I love talking about it at this very meta level, what these women represent, these fierce women. And I know some of you who have been on the podcast are listening right now.
So yes, you. Yes, you.
And those of you who are listening and getting inspired, yes, you. Because if they can do it in their way, we can all reinvent in our own unique way. And they really are here to show us what is possible.
I pulled out 3 themes. There honestly are so many themes from doing these interviews, a 100 episodes that I can't talk about all of them. But I wanted to talk about 3 that really stand out for me. Three themes that these rebels possess. So 1 is persistence, 2 is prioritizing their dreams, and 3 is overcoming fear. And I just wanna take a couple of moments to touch on these things that I think are really key. So let's start with persistence.
It's really interesting because I've had dreams before where I've started and I gave up, like, when I was trying to be a health coach, which I became a health coach, but I realized I didn't love it. It wasn't really for me. I tried it but I gave up. I didn't persist. And part of it is that it wasn't really the right thing for me. But when we find that thing that we love, that lights us up, and that's the difference. The health coaching, I liked it but it didn't light me up.
Podcasting and talking about amazing midlife and older women, that lights me up. That is my passion.
That is my purpose. That is why I am here to do this work so I can persist doing this with so much ease. And I believe that when we have a dream, when we believe wholeheartedly and whatever that thing is, our reinvention dreams, we have to persist because it's when we persist even in the face of obstacles and setbacks that we realize we can keep going, that we can work through those challenges, that we can get to the other side. And you know, there's so many people that talked about that on the podcast. That they had this dream and they just kept going. One person in particular is my friend Kelly Norcia who was a teacher for many years but she had this dream of becoming a photographer and she started doing it on the side and she did it for many years all the while learning about photography and beginning to build a business. And then a couple of years ago, she took the leap and she went out full time on her own especially highlighting women like midlife and older women and and photographing them.
But this was a dream about persistence. She did not give up. She had that vision. She believed in herself. She worked through the struggles and she persisted. So persistence is that first theme that's really important. We have to prioritize our dreams y'all.
You know it is. So many things can get in the way but we have to really focus on making our dreams a priority because there are so many things going on. Right? We have to prioritize our dreams in the midst of all of life's demands and responsibilities. And one person who has done that so beautifully, she prioritized her dream of moving to Portugal to retire is my friend Natalie Wester. I love that she had a vision for what she wanted to create in her life. She had a vision for her retirement and reinventing herself.
She had this vision for moving abroad and she moved from Cleveland in the US to Portugal where she now lives but this honestly was about prioritizing this dream and she did the work. She planned it out, she did all of this copious research, she went to visit, she began to understand the landscape. She then, of course, as you you may know, if you're gonna move abroad somewhere, there is a ton of paperwork you have to submit. There are all these things that have to get approved for you to move to a foreign country and she made that a priority. She step by step ticked away at all these different things and made it happen. So when we have that dream, we have to make space for our dream. If it's that important, we figure out a way.
It's really no different than me creating this podcast. I decided I was going to wake up at 4:45 every day, well, at least during the week to focus on it because I have a full time job. This isn't the only thing that I do. So I have limited time to work on it. I had to prioritize this dream of having this podcast. Just as Natalie prioritized her dream of moving to Portugal and then made it happen. So Rebels, Rebels-in-training make the space to prioritize your dreams.
Let's talk about that third idea of overcoming our fears. Reinvention Rebels move toward that goal. They work through that goal despite that fear. They acknowledge it's there. Okay. Yes. I feel afraid.
I'm not sure. Because when we do something new, it's hard to know. We don't know what the outcome is gonna be, we don't know what obstacles might get in our way, we don't know what might unfold. So it's natural that we're doing something new. We're unsure of ourselves, yet we move forward anyway. That's what rebels do, they move forward anyway despite all those things and despite sometimes the naysayers and what other people might project onto us, maybe their fears. And a great example of that is, my girl Angel, Angel Cornelius.
Angel Cornelius who at 56 started what's now a national beauty brand from her kitchen and ultimately left her full time job to pursue this and has had such amazing success. But I know you all know that feeling of other people trying to talk us down from our dreams, projecting the fears they might have or their limited beliefs onto us. And for us to become fearful sometimes, for us to sometimes talk ourselves out of it or maybe think we can't do it. But we can use that fear as fuel. We can use our fears to encourage products. She started doing it part time, this dream of hers making these beauty products and over time she grew. So small steps, that's one way that we can overcome our fears.
We can make these small steps to move forward and grow from there. And you know how it goes, you you take one small step and you're successful, you're encouraged to take another step. So that really does make a difference. So being persistent, prioritizing our dreams, overcoming our fears are all key parts of becoming rebels, right? Stepping into the light in this new empowered way. So how can you do that? How can you use persistence?
How can you prioritize your dreams? How can you overcome your fears and keep moving forward? I encourage you to reflect on your own reinvention journey. Where are you as you're thinking about reinventing? And what is possible for you? Because what I know for sure is it's never too late. We're never too old.
I think of my friend Stephanie Schwartz who at 85 started a full time acting career. She said, I want to do that. She retired from her career as a professor and said, I want to pursue acting full time and that is what she's doing. So we're never too old. We can always move forward in new ways. And these 100 episodes remind me of that. They remind me of the possibilities that exist not just for me at my guess, but for you too.
You can have your own version of owning your awesome, our theme for season 6. And reinventing in new ways that light you up, that bring you joy, that help you tap into who you came here to be. You are unfolding and so am I and so are all these rebels. We continue to do so. So I wanna invite you to consider that we are just getting started in midlife and beyond whether we're in our fifties or sixties or seventies or maybe you're in your twenties or thirties and listening to this and you're thinking, I could see new possibilities for myself even at this age. I want you to remember that we can do it. We can do anything.
We can create what we want to see in our lives. You know, a 100 episodes, it's such a big milestone for me. And I'm thinking, well, I got a 100 down. Why stop now? I'm going to keep on going. But to mark this celebration of a 100 episodes, y'all, I do have a really fun free gift for you, and it is a list of 100 ways to reinvent yourself in midlife. It's tons of super cool ideas because the thing about reinvention is that we gotta get started but it's hard to get started.
It's easy to talk ourselves out of it. It's harder to make forward progress. And this list is to inspire you, to energize you, to encourage you to get curious, to look at this list and see what resonates. What are some things looking at this list that you might explore, look into, consider doing with a friend, just knock on the door of reinvention. Hello. What could be possible? So just knocking on that door can be the entree into opening it and then walking in, and walking in with some new ideas.
I've linked to this in the show notes. You can download it straight away. But please enjoy this as an opportunity, as an opening, as a path to some new possibilities for you and myself because I'm looking at this list as I'm putting it together and I'm thinking, oh, there's so many things on this list that I haven't done that I want to try. Like community gardening. I've always wanted to have a community garden and that's how I can reinvent having more time outside. Getting a plot in a community garden so that I can connect with other people and build community as we work together. So there are so many different ideas to inspire you, and I'm so excited to share this with you as a thank you.
I thank you to express my gratitude to you amazing listeners for your support, your participation, your listening, your encouragement. And I can't wait for the next 100 episodes as we continue to champion bold, unapologetic women who are reinventing and living on purpose.
What's your takeaway? Download my free gift and get started in thinking about your reinvention journey and focus on these three themes, persistence, prioritizing dreams, and overcoming fear. How do those things factor in for you? How are you thinking about those things and how can they fuel you in moving forward? So amazing listeners, until we meet again, please keep listening. Please share this episode with people in your life, women especially that need encouragement. Think about 1 midlife woman that you can send this episode to and can tell her about the reinvention rebels podcast.
And can encourage her on her reinvention journey and being open to new possibilities. I love it and I really appreciate you doing so. Until next time, Rebels. Thanks again for listening. Thank you for your support. Thank you for helping me celebrate a 100 episodes. And here is to our next 100. Thanks again.
Until next time, Rebels. Stay fierce, stay unapologetic, keep reinventing, and remember, the world needs you and all that you have to offer.