1. What is Courageous Retirement?

Introducing Courageous Retirement: Embrace the Best Season and Finish Well

In the debut episode of the Courageous Retirement podcast, host Vona Johnson and special guest hosts Mike and Kelsey Domeny explore what it means to approach retirement with courage and faith. Vona shares her vision for the podcast, discussing the importance of discerning God's will, redefining purpose beyond the workplace, and embracing this best season with peace and fulfillment. Tune in to discover how to navigate retirement fearlessly, finish well, leave a legacy of faith, and live your more in this new chapter of life.

00:00 Introduction to Courageous Retirement
00:32 Facing Retirement Fears
00:47 Meet the Host: Vona Johnson
01:08 Special Guest Hosts: Mike and Kelsey Domeny
02:17 Defining Courageous Retirement
02:46 The Courage to Follow God's Calling
06:09 Who Will Benefit from This Podcast?
13:01 Vona's Personal Journey
15:33 Balancing Rest and Purpose in Retirement
22:06 Podcast Format and Future Plans
25:18 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to Engage Your Faith and Live Your More!

To watch the video, check out my YouTube Channel!

Learn more about the show, author Vona Johnson, and more at CourageousRetirement.com!

Transcript

Vona Johnson: 0:00

Retirement. It's something we dream about our whole work life. And then as the time gets near, it starts to feel daunting. There's so many decisions to make. There's so much fear about whether we're going to get it right. Today we're just going to talk about all the details of what courageous retirement looks like and how we are going to start a journey that you are not going to want to miss. Stick around to the end of this episode where we're going to talk about how Jesus did things differently and that's why we are too. I look forward to seeing you in the show. Do you fear what lies beyond retirement? What if it's a gateway to a life filled with purpose, meaning, and adventure rather than an end? Discover peace and fulfillment as you boldly enter this new chapter in Courageous Retirement, a Christian podcast. I'm your host, author and coach, Vanna Johnson. Let's get started. I am so excited. I can't believe it's finally here. We are here today talking about my new podcast, Courageous Retirement. We're going to talk about what that means because you must be wondering. And because we're a little different here, we're going to start this podcast out just a little differently. In fact, I decided that what would be most effective is to invite my good friends, Mike and Kelsey Domini here to do something different. They're going to interview me about Courageous Retirement and, um, just give you a taste of what it's about and what you can expect in this podcast as we go forward. So I'm going to officially hand the mic over to you guys. Welcome. And thank you so much for doing this today.

Kelsey Domeny: 1:34

Vona, we're so excited about your new podcast and excited to just take over this first episode for you. I've never

Mike Domeny: 1:41

hosted someone else's podcast before, so this is, uh, this is a treat and it really speaks to your desire to let's just do things differently, right? Not for the sake of being different, but let's just be intentional with Making a difference by being different, right, and, and showing people there's a different way to view things than maybe you thought or what other people may say. And that's kind of the whole point. Obviously there's more to talk about there, but um, it really speaks to your willingness to keep a loose grip on things and hey, let's just, let's just make some interesting choices moving forward.

Kelsey Domeny: 2:16

Yeah. So to kick things off, courageous retirements. Why courageous? Are we talking about jumping out of airplanes? Are we talking about? Yeah, I

Mike Domeny: 2:26

picture you retire and then you like, you know, skydive and you go scuba diving. Go on

Kelsey Domeny: 2:32

safari and wrestle a lion. Like what, what do you mean by courageous retirement, Vona?

Vona Johnson: 2:39

For me, courageous retirement is none of the things you just described.

Mike Domeny: 2:43

Yeah, that's probably good because I don't know if I would want to do it.

Vona Johnson: 2:46

No, um, for me, it's all about having the courage to step into the life that God calls us to. Everybody's path is different and there's going to be some people who courage means being able to just step back and listen, make the time to be in the word and listen to what God says and take a totally different path for others. It may be a realization that. This is an opportunity to reset and completely change the way they look at life and step into God's calling. And I mean, sometimes it's a courage to just say, you know what, I'm going to take care of my grandkids this week. And I don't care if, you know, my friends are off traveling the world and skydiving and doing all the things. This is what God's called me to. So that's part of it. But honestly, I think a bigger part of it is in today's society. There are so many things going on and those of us at the retirement age have the, the ability, the wisdom, even to look back and see how things we can offer things that a young person may not realize where we're off track, where, where the Bible says something differently, and we need to have the courage to speak up. Not all the time. It doesn't mean we're going to be, you know, Chasing, um, protests and things like that. It's more in those quiet conversations and, and just maybe even, you know, having the, have you really thought about it? Maybe, maybe there's a different view. Maybe there's a different way and having the courage to do that, to have those difficult conversations. That's what it means to me.

Mike Domeny: 4:27

That's great. Courage to, to say the hard things. Courage to do the hard things. And hard doesn't necessarily mean adrenaline pumping. It can just mean things you've been putting off. Whether it's been putting it off for a couple weeks or for a couple decades. Maybe it's time to do these things that, uh, that maybe fear has kind of kept you back from. And retirement is such a great season. You call it the best season, I've heard you, heard you say. Uh, to, to really. Not just take it easy, but let's, let's do the hard things with the, with the years of experience that you have and the relationships and connections, uh, a great place to, to start new hard things courageously. I love that.

Vona Johnson: 5:08

Well, and it's not always the hard things. It's, it's that ability to use our discernment. And sprinkle the good things in with the hard things so that we're truly enjoying life. I feel like God gave us so many gifts and talents and opportunities, and we can have that tendency to want to work harder to please God. And sometimes the courage is just to sit back. And rest in knowing that he's in control and we can we can take that vacation with our girlfriend or our spouse or we can go on the sabbatical or whatever it is, um, and just, it's, it's, it's listening to what he says and doing it, living out his will. And that's pretty hard, especially for those of us who are independent and think we've got it all figured out.

Mike Domeny: 6:02

So it's, uh, what's, what's sort of listener here? We've got, you know, we've got a friend joining us in this conversation. What kind of listener is going to really get a lot of value out of these conversations moving forward? Where are they at in life? What do they care about? What do they want?

Vona Johnson: 6:22

Yeah, I think the people who will benefit from this show are the people that are thinking about retirement. And uh, in my coaching, I, I want to work with people who aren't quite there yet so that I can help them walk through that process of the decision making. When is the best time to go? Should I stay longer and truly finish well? Are there things that I need to wrap up well and make sure that I'm ready to move on? That's what I want to help with people within the coaching. But honestly, this podcast, I think will benefit anybody. Somebody said, so how old do you have to be to listen? And I said, if you're thinking about retirement, this is for you, because it's really less about the actual day of retirement more a period of thinking of how God can use us best to fulfill his purpose. So, anybody that is ready to hit that reset button and enjoy this best season of life. What is it? Engage your faith, finish well and live your more.

Kelsey Domeny: 7:21

Yeah. I, I, we're not at retirement age. I hope

Vona Johnson: 7:24

that's another thing is I don't feel like, I think that. What I love is that the younger generation people like you have so much wisdom to share to us and we need to have the courage to listen to that and change the way we look at the world sometimes too.

Kelsey Domeny: 7:41

And likewise we need to have the courage to listen to those who have come before us. I think there's a whole a vast realm of wisdom that people our age and younger than us miss out on when we discount the generations that came before because they seem Antiquated, or they don't get it, or they're not like In the culture, whatever, whatever would be explained or explain a way, a decision to not listen to someone older. Um, but we lose so much wisdom in that. And, and the Lord has blessed you in your life and has, has blessed those who have come before us in a way that we really can learn from you. And, and so even though we are not at retirement age, I've learned so much from you, Vona, and I'm, I'm so encouraged watching you entering. It's your birthday. You're turning, you're turning. 63.

Vona Johnson: 8:31

63. 63, who starts a podcast on their 63rd birthday, right?

Kelsey Domeny: 8:35

This is your 63rd birthday and you're starting a podcast, which to me, um, a little less than 30 years behind you says to me. What I'm doing now isn't the end of what I'm doing. What I'm going to be doing 10 years from now, 15, 20, 30 years from now, isn't the end of what God has for me. I'm beginning something now and I can begin something 30 years from now. And someone who is maybe closer to your age, who is someone who is looking at retirement as maybe the next phase of their life. Perhaps they can start to recognize that this is not the end, but it is the beginning. It's not too late to have a new beginning and do something new, um, in this best season.

Vona Johnson: 9:20

And I love, thank you for all that. I agree with everything you just said, and you said it really well in one of our coaching sessions. Um, and I love how you said it and I intend to use it often. God's not done with you yet. God has a plan. And if you're still breathing, God has a plan. And just one of the stories that I love is I have a friend of mine who's, it's been several years now, but his mother was dying and she was in hospice. And obviously in the later years of retirement, but what I loved about that was to her that end, even though she knew the end was coming, first of all, she was courageous because she wasn't afraid to die. She knew where she was going, but second of all, she was using that opportunity to witness to the nurses and the hospice staff that was coming in to see her. She was, she was bringing people to Jesus in her last breath. And what a wonderful example for all of us to realize that the people God brings into our life are the people that he wants us to shine our light to and show him to them, right? Yeah.

Mike Domeny: 10:29

There's always more to do. There's always another yes to make.

Kelsey Domeny: 10:33

And that can take courage at any age, it can be scary to put yourself out there to put your faith out there to really welcome someone or invite someone into a conversation about their faith because it's so personal. And we have these fears and these concerns about what it'll do with our relationships. Um, and, and so having the courage to at any stage in life, but especially it seems like when you enter that stage of retirement, when you're starting to think of that, and you're going to have. Quite frankly, more time on your hands to decide what you're going to do. Like, what is it that the Lord's calling you to for this season? How is your ministry going to grow? How are you going to invite people to him? How are you going to enter those conversations? And it's, it's going to take some courage and it's going to take some grit and, and some, some, uh, I don't know, just, just, it's going to take something to, to make that season one that is fruitful for the kingdom.

Vona Johnson: 11:27

Well, and we all have our different callings. You know, it's. There's, there's that courage to step into what, you know, it's like God gives us the breadcrumbs, right? He gives us the gifts, the talents, the experiences that lead us to where he wants us to use all of those, that nicely little put together package to further his purposes. And so not everybody's going to start a podcast. Not everybody's going to write a book, not everybody's going to sit on the city commission. Those are the things that God has called me to. I have friends whose, their, their ministry is just not just, I hate that word sometimes. Their ministry is, how can I pray for you? And then just diligently pray for people. They, You know, I have a girlfriend and we talk about that. She's like, I can't do what you can do. And that's because you're not called to do what I'm called to do. You're, I can't pray the way that you pray. And that's why we use, when God uses all of us together and we all step up and do what he wants us to do. Can you imagine how beautiful our world would be? I just, I love that image. That's what I'm hoping is to call people to step into their part.

Mike Domeny: 12:39

And so you, Vona are at the point where you are starting a new podcast, you are, uh, looking to connect with people who are approaching retirement and want to do that intentionally and biblically, and so why did you start this podcast? Why are you the person to host this show and have these conversations?

Vona Johnson: 13:01

First of all, when I was contemplating leaving my 30 year career, I knew that God was calling me to more. I, I loved my job, but I knew that there was just something deep in my soul that I was just longing for more, which was the name of my previous podcast, but I was afraid. I was afraid. I didn't know what was on the other side. And so, you know, you talk about it, you bounce it off of people. Different ideas. And one day my cousin looked at me and she said, are you going to starve to death? And that was just like the, wow, no, and I haven't even come close, but it was a realization that God will take care of the details. And when I, when I set off, I, I have tried so many things in this retirement phase of my life and from my previous identity and my previous view of who I am, I have failed over and over and over again. And the beautiful part of that is God has shown me that I haven't failed at all. That I have been obedient to him, I've been doing what he's called me to do, and that's taken courage because I haven't just walked away from it and said, you know what, I've got a lot of books in my library, maybe I'll just go read and forget about this. But I realized that he's like. Nope. Just like Noah built that ark and it took him, I don't know, somewhere between 50 and 100 years. We don't know exactly, but he just did it. There was, there'd never been rain. There wasn't a lake. There was, how crazy is that? And I feel like that's what God's saying to me is you're not too old. First of all, Noah was what, 180, something like that. You're not too old. You're still, you have life ahead of you. Let's go, let's go build something. And I feel like because I've tried so many things, network marketing, um, coaching city council, uh, all the different volunteering at the church. I mean, I've done so many things so I can help people. People can relate to, I can relate probably more appropriately. I can relate to the different things that people may want to do. And I want to be able to encourage and inspire them to realize that God wants us to have both peace, that inner peace. But he also wants us to be fulfilled. I've had two surgeries since I retired, major surgeries that left me on the couch for weeks at a time. I realized during those that I didn't, that wasn't what God had for me. I love reading books and watching TV, but you can't do that every day, all day long and feel fulfilled. You've got to do something with your time.

Kelsey Domeny: 15:33

Now, someone might hear this and be like, Oh, I just, I'm looking forward to retirement because I want to slow down. Like, are you saying Vona that I have to like pick up a second career and that's like, do I, is that what this courageous retirement is going to be? Or is it unbiblical for me to rest and relax? Like, what would you say to that? Maybe pushback.

Vona Johnson: 15:55

That's a great question. Um, and absolutely not. In fact, you know, we, so we started this interview at 9 30 in the morning. It's a really, uh, I have to get going if I'm going to be ready for something at 9 30 in the morning. Some days I'm not even dressed and ready for the day until, you know, it's like, oh, my goodness. My husband's going to be home in a few minutes. I better get dressed because, you know, he really looks at me funny when I'm still running around. It's, it's more that ability to take control of your time, go do the workout that you've always intended to do and you just never had time to do. I spend more time in the word in this season that I just, I, I loved. I did devotions, but there were times when he literally would wake me up in the middle of the night to go get the message that he had for me to bring me that calm I needed back in my career because I didn't do it any other time. And so it's, no, it's not, uh, you have to go start another career. It's, uh, You get to do what your soul is longing for to be fulfilled.

Kelsey Domeny: 17:02

Hmm. Hmm. And doesn't that sound like a more purposeful and, and really restful if you're, if you are doing and pursuing the things that your soul longs for, like there is peace and rest in that there is peace and rest in the activity. Of saying yes to God and going after those things that, that he's put in your heart to want to pursue in this time. Um, sometimes I think even, even in our life, we're like, Oh, I'm going to take a day off and that ends up looking like sitting on the couch and watching TV or watching a movie or, And you get to the end of the day and I feel, well, I just feel tired. I don't feel rested. I don't feel like that was a productive day and not even productive, but I don't feel rested at the end of that day. And if that's an entire season where the whole season is just kind of day in, day out, doing what we kind of look at as rest activities, where it's just kind of lounging or taking a nap or whatever, not that any of those things are wrong or bad individually. But what I think you're talking about is, doing those things intentionally, taking an intentional nap or taking your time to rest in front of the TV or with a book intentionally, but also with knowing that there's more purpose for your life. You don't have to spend the rest of your days lounging about in the Florida sun. You can still have purpose and go after things that your soul longs for even in the season. And in that find rest in the Lord as you are walking with him.

Vona Johnson: 18:33

Yeah. You know, in one of the, for me, one of the biggest. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges I think has been is he has given this message to me to get out there to trust him, which is really what it's about. I have learned in this process that he has provided everything I need, but the challenges is I'm excited about the podcast I'm excited about the community that I'm building I'm excited about the next book that will probably come out of all of this. but along the way, and, and you guys have been a huge impact for me on this, but along the way, life continues to happen. My, my parents are aged and need, and need my help, and so I may have plans for a day and need to take them to the doctor, or I may have plans for a week. And one of my grandkids are sick and I'm the backup sitter and I'm blessed to be able to do that. And so I just sometimes have to take a deep breath and say, okay, God, I know that you will help me meet whatever deadline that I have in the appropriate time. You need me right here, right now. And that's Part of this process and, and just the peace in knowing that I'm right where I need to be. And I don't have to stress out. I don't have to worry about the distractions, or I think as Mike said in his book, I don't have to worry about getting thrown off script. I have a plan, but it doesn't always have to look exactly the way I thought. And there's so much peace in knowing that I can just take the next step and not stress out and be anxious about it not looking like I thought it would.

Mike Domeny: 20:04

It sounds like you've created a space and a life in which you can say yes to the best things, you can say no to the, maybe the good things, but maybe not the best things, and free yourself up to be able to respond to those things that, that God wants you to give your attention to right now, whether you're planning on it or not, and being able to be able to say the best yeses to the things in this phase of life.

Vona Johnson: 20:33

Yeah, and thanks for bringing that up because I wanted to be able to take this opportunity as we're talking. I appreciate you guys doing this so much to just put that plug in that you guys have a book on that very topic. And we will talk at length about that another time. And I think that's an important message here, though, there's not really a wrong way to go. God lays this beautiful life out for us and we get to pick and choose what we want it to build it to look like. And yeah, sometimes we feel so much pressure from the world to follow a path because somebody might frown on the decision we make, or they may disagree with something that we believe strongly about and we get to trust him to be able to rely and go and, you know, I mean. Some of some of the things that I talk about in Courageous Retirement are going against the grain of the world. We don't, we don't always, um, we don't always believe everything that we hear from the pulpit. We have to question whether some of those things are true. We have to be in the word ourselves. And, um, And use good discernment and go, wait a minute, I don't, I don't know that I agree with that. And then maybe have the courage to either challenge it or go somewhere else where they're that that pastor is speaking true God's truth.

Mike Domeny: 21:59

I know a lot of people have read your books, have followed even your previous podcast. What can people expect to be different about this particular podcast moving forward? Why would someone, maybe who's familiar with your messaging, what makes this one different? I

Vona Johnson: 22:18

think, um, the, the main thing that's different about this podcast is. And talk about stepping out of your comfort zone. My last podcast was all audio. And this one, we are going to do both audio and video. So you'll be able to find us on your favorite podcast platform, or you'll find us on YouTube at Vona Johnson. I think it's just Vona Johnson on YouTube. Um, and I'll have a separate playlist there and that's, that's exciting. And it's a little scary for me to be in front of the mic and, um, and be able to be authentic and not worry about whether, you know, I mean, there's just But I, but that's the where the world is going. People are watching videos and they're, they're looking for things. Out there and so I want to be able to say, okay, God, I, I, I know you'll walk this path with me. It'll all be good. I can do this too. So,

Mike Domeny: 23:21

so you said, uh, it's available. I'm obviously someone is listening right now to be able to, uh, so they found it, um, but they're. But it's available on on wherever you might find podcasts on podcast platforms and on YouTube What can we expect in terms of how often this show will release? When when can people expect new episodes?

Kelsey Domeny: 23:43

How busy are you gonna be?

Vona Johnson: 23:44

And, and, and I think that that's a really good example. When I started longing for more, it was a weekly show and I realized that that was all I was getting done. I enjoyed the show, but I didn't have time for life in between episodes. I mean, obviously I did, but it didn't feel like it sometimes. And so this podcast and towards the end, uh, I started doing every other week and that felt like a more. a better pace. So this podcast will go every other week until and unless I decide that that's not working. And then we'll do something different. And that's, that's part of the beauty of it is, you know, I want, I want to be obedient and I want to do what God's calling me to. And right now that every other week feels like a good pace. And as I learned before, sometimes life happens and, and that doesn't always come out, but that's my plan.

Mike Domeny: 24:42

It sounds like you are living out what you are teaching, right? And what you are calling people to. And so you get to live that now as an example. And I, uh, I know we've learned so much from you. I'm excited for your listeners to be able to learn so much from you and not just listeners, but also viewers. Welcome to video. This is exciting. Um, and, uh, I, I'm just very excited for the conversations ahead that you'll be having and covering the tough topics and, uh, and really taking a look at this best season from a number of different angles.

Vona Johnson: 25:15

Yes. Perfect. Thank you guys so much. I, um, I feel like along the theme of finish well, this is a really great place to finish this conversation. And I'm just so blessed to kick off this podcast with you guys. Um, I, I highly respect you guys and the work you're doing. I think that the Lord, he's, He's moving and he's, he's inspiring people to, to know that he is there and he's got us every step of the way. And I'm just so encouraged by that. And so thank you guys for sharing this time with us as we kick off Courageous. What is that called?

Kelsey Domeny: 25:57

Courageous Retirement. On this debut episode of Courageous Retirement with Vona Johnson. We'll catch you next time.

Vona Johnson: 26:07

Oh, funny. Yeah, we might edit some of that.

26:11

Well there, you have it now. You know what? Courageous retirement is all about. I really hope you enjoy this episode. And I hope. That you will follow the show either on YouTube or on your favorite. Podcast platform. I'm subscribed to it today. So you won't miss any of the upcoming episodes. We're going to talk about a lot of different things in the next few. We're going to talk about identity and how that shifts when we're in retirement. We're also going to talk about how we can still make an impact, even if we're not working. We've, we've been told that we need to be getting recognition and making achievements and. That's how we are to gain our, um, Our kudos in life, and this is just not true. So I hope that you will, will follow the show so that you can learn. We're going to do interviews with people who have done some really courageous things. And we were going to do other interviews with people who have really learned what it's like to just sit back. And bask in the presence of our Lord. So it's going to be a variety of different things. Some of the shows will be just me. It'll be, and other shows will be interviews like we had today with Mike and Kelsey. If you have a friend that you know is thinking about retirement, I hope that you will share this episode with them and invite them along this journey with us. And as you can already tell, we're going to have a lot of fun. Earlier I talked about the Bible verse that we talk about in the show, as far as how we're doing things differently, just like Jesus did things differently. And I want to share that part of the discussion with you now.

Mike Domeny: 27:49

That's exciting because that's how Jesus liked to teach, right? Matthew 5: 6 and 7. He said, you've heard it this way, you've been taught from the religious leaders this way, you've heard from your culture to do it this way, but I'm telling you another way. a better way, a different way. And we obviously don't have time in this particular debut episode to get into all those things, but that really is the heart behind this podcast here of like, hey, let's, let's challenge those things. Let's find God's way in it, even if it's different. Uh, even if it takes some courage, especially if it takes some courage. So I'm excited to I'm excited for the conversations that you'll get to be having here moving forward.

Vona Johnson: 28:29

Thank you so much for stopping by today. It's been such a pleasure to spend this time with you. Until next time, when we talk about the impact that we can make in retirement, I pray that you will engage your faith, finish well and always, always live your more.