Reinventing Yourself After 50: Reinvention Rebels Season 4 Highlights Episode | Bold & Unapologetic Midlife Women that Inspire!

Do you know that you can dream big, overcome self-doubt and reinvent yourself in midlife and beyond?

Yes, YOU. 😍

You can live on purpose and invite in new possibilities.

You can decide now's the time to pursue your desires.

You can ditch others' limiting beliefs and find your reinvention groove.

You can finally make yourself a priority.

I know it's true based on the amazing midlife and older women I interview - Reinvention Rebels who have reimagined life in their 50s and beyond to find new purpose and possibilities!

They remind us that anything is possible if we believe it's so.

Ready to get inspired to spark your reinvention journey? Lean in and listen to this season 4 best-of episode and soak up the abundant reinvention wisdom these Rebels share. 

Check out highlights from my fabulous guests and then listen to the full episodes - again, or for the first time!

✅Reinventing My 50s: Just Say Yes! How I Crushed Self-Doubt and Became a Silver-
       Haired Midlife Model with Rachel Peru

✅Reinvention at 72: A Season of Serving - Public Servant, Politician & Policy Maker
       with Carol Hill-Evans

✅Reinvention at 69: How I Created "Alive, Fit & Free" - a Community of Sexy, Smart
       and Strong Modern Seniors with Vickie Aigner

✅Reinventing My 80s: Taking Center Stage - How I Launched a Full-Time Acting
       Career with Stephanie Schwartz

✅Reinventing My 50s: Good Girl Gone - How I Ditched Perfectionism and People
       Pleasing to Find My Authentic Self with Wendy Hutchinson

✅Reinvention After Divorce – How a Marriage Breakdown Led to a Personal
       Breakthrough with Nina Blaicher

✅Reinvention in Your 60s: How I Created a Self-Care Lifestyle & Gave Myself
       Permission to Blossom with Dr. Sheryl Barnes

But wait, that's not all!

I've also chosen my top 3 favorite solo episodes from season 4 too. These are the episodes where I share my own reinvention challenges, what I've learned and how I'm continuing to grow.

✅Learning How to Show Up for Yourself is Key to Reinvention Success
✅Ready to Thrive? You Gotta Build Your Bounce-Back-Ability Muscle
✅3 Ways Reinvention Rebels Adopt a "Perfectly Imperfect" Mindset

We can never have too much inspiration. These women remind us

Transcript

Wendy: We're going to take a walk down memory lane with some of my favorite moments from Season Four, because my guests came with powerful reinvention stories. They awakened to new possibilities in the coolest ways. They faced fears, mustered their courage, and charted new paths. 

[Reinvention Rebels theme]

Welcome to Reinvention Rebels, stories of brave and unapologetic women, 50 to 90 years young, who will boldly reimagine life on their own terms to find new purpose and possibilities. I'm your host, Wendy Battles. Ready for a dose of inspiration? Let's get to it. 

Hey, Reinvention Rebels, Happy New Year. Happy 2023. New Year, new possibilities and I am so glad you're here. Welcome to the Reinvention Rebels podcast. This is the place to come for inspiration about what's possible as we age. It's a powerful reminder that there is nothing you can't do. How do I know? I interview fierce and fabulous women between 50 and 90 who have reinvented themselves in bold and unapologetic ways. They remind us that we can do anything at any time. 

Yep, you and me and all the other amazing midlife and older women out there, we can be as fierce as we want to be. End of story. I am especially glad that you are here. With the holidays just behind us, I hope you had a chance to relax, I hope you soaked up some much needed self-care during the holidays, and I really hope you're ready for an amazing new year to unfold. 

Last year for me was something. It was busy, it was exciting, it was stressful. Between this podcast that I adore, my full-time job in cybersecurity, helping to support my aging mom, and all of the other stuff of life, honestly, it's been a lot. I needed some R&R for the last 10 days, little time to see family and friends. I popped out of town for a few days and I even celebrated my 58th birthday, which frankly, I still can't believe. How did I get to be this old? But in the best kind of way. I will say that I've returned feeling refreshed with a whole new level of focus. And I hope you find yourself in that place too. 

In 2023, I'm ready for a fresh perspective, new opportunities, and ways to showcase amazing midlife and older women who are living on purpose. They have compelling, enriching, insightful, and eye-opening stories to share. Stories that can inspire our own reinvention journey in our own unique ways because we need to shine a light and create an opening for others to emerge as rebels too. And that's just what this podcast is about. So, we're talking today about Season Four. 

First of all, I can't believe it's over and this is a fun highlight episode. We're going to take a walk down memory lane with some of my favorite moments from Season Four because my guests came with powerful reinvention stories. They awakened to new possibilities in the coolest ways. They faced fears, mustered their courage and charted new paths. They saw the light and moved toward it. They found joy in new, often unseen places. They stepped into the reinvention rebelness with energy, purpose, and a whole lot of badassery. Don't we want to hear stories like this to encourage our own journey? Oh, hell yeah. Are you ready to revisit the best moments of Season Four with me? Let's do this. 

[Reinvention Rebels Theme]

What was different about Season Four. I'll say that in this season, I took it up a notch with my solo episodes and moved from bi-weekly to weekly episodes. That was a bit of a stretch in the beginning with a more ambitious production schedule, but I pretty quickly settled into a good rhythm, alternating those solo and guest episodes each week. I want to share some of my favorite highlights from my wonderful guests. Of course, you can find all the links to the episodes I'm referencing in the show notes, and if you missed some episodes or you just have to listen again, you're one tap or click away from some serious reinvention inspiration. Plus, you can check out a few of my favorite solo episodes too. I've linked to three of them. [unintelligible [00:05:54] top three. 

Let's get this Season Four highlights started. I kicked off the season with my first guest episode in September with Rachel Peru, and it was all about overcoming society's limiting expectations for midlife women. Rachel started modeling at 46 and is going strong in her 50s. This silver haired, plus sized woman didn't let the old school notion of what a model should look like get in her way. 

Rachel Peru: I never imagined I would be asked to model, swimwear or lingerie. Saying yes again to that was like, "Okay, I'm going to do this." Even though it was way out of my comfort zone, I came back from actually as a different person. I came back so much more confident in my body. And also the reaction from other women of my age group were like, I see somebody that's got a body like mine. I'm not your typical average body, I'm a UK size 14-16. I've got long gray hair, and so it felt like I was doing something with a purpose, that I felt like other women could see themselves in me, whatever shape or form that meant. That meant something, and that's really driven me to the work that I'm doing now. Now my favorite job is a lingerie.

Wendy: Don't you love her fierce attitude? How she wants to remind all midlife women that anything is possible? The episode is full of so much inspiration and celebrates our bodies, inviting us to love ourselves up just as we are. 

My second guest was Pennsylvania state politician Carol Hill-Evans. I love how Carol ran for office for the first time in her 60s and is going strong in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives at 72. She truly is making a difference in a cynical world. Her grace, her passion and her devotion to her constituents is both refreshing and empowering. 

Carol Hill-Evans: Not being successful at an election, in my case, turned out to be a stepping-stone to the next level, and here I am. Although I was heartbroken at the time, it gave me strength because it just did. It encouraged me to step back, just to see maybe, where do I want to go from here.

Wendy: And you know what else? Don't you love how we can turn defeat into new possibilities? Sometimes when doors close, doors we desperately want to get through, I believe it's to open up other doors with new possibilities, often things we can't see. Carol is such a testament to the possibilities that exist when we have faith and trust. She overcame her fears, focused on her desire to be of service to others, and is making a true difference in her community in her 70s. Never too late, we're never too old. 

Did you check out the episode with 69-year-young Vickie Aigner. She's amazing. But then again, aren't they all? I love that Vickie is so strong and fierce in her body and she inspires others to be strong, too, through her a Alive, Fit & Free classes for seniors, what she calls Modern Seniors. 

Vikki Aigner: It's never too late, guys, to start something or to share your passion with anybody. I mean, Lois started with us before she turned 100. She was 99 when she started with us, so we've gotten to celebrate her birthdays. And, I mean, like I said, she is a firecracker. She can do 35 chair squats standing up. Oh, yeah, she's just this powerhouse. My point here in sharing this amazing woman is that, hey, she's 101, and she's showing up every day recruiting friends that are 75 to join the classes, because that's what she's passionate about. So, it's like she's making a difference in the world. No matter if you're reaching one person or hundred people, you are going to make a difference when you start sharing yourself and your passion, whatever that might be. 

Wendy: Her passion is palpable, isn't it? And I love how she's using this passion to be of service to others by helping them be strong and fit as we age because my arthritic knee reminds me that we all need to keep moving. And she is incredibly motivating, literally. It's never too late for us to reimagine our bodies, no matter our age. 

Speaking of motivating, there's no limit to what we can do as we age. Stephanie Schwartz definitely knows this is the case. I mean, how many people pursue a full-time acting career at 85. I love her story so, so much. She is living on purpose in the best ways. 

Stephanie Schwartz: You don't know what you can do until you try it. I really think even when things fail, the cliche is, "Well, when one door closes, another one opens." Step through it. Go open that second door.

Wendy: Who says we can't love our life and do amazing things as we age. She shares a powerful reminder that we can all open that second door and be delighted by what we find on the other side. This episode is so compelling and so full of wonder. I loved it, and I know you will, too. 

Let me ask you this. Have you spent any time as an adult, as either a people pleaser or a perfectionist? Well, I sure have. It's something I've worked hard to outgrow. And I know I'm not alone. I know lots of women who are recovering people pleasers. Looking for affirmation from others. That's why I love this episode with Wendy Hutchinson so much. She's that person who's figured out how to move beyond people pleasing and embrace her needs. 

Wendy Hutchinson: You're fighting for the right to be who you came here to be. You didn't come into this Earth experience to play a role for someone else. You came in here to create impact and be yourself. You're not here to be a version that someone else expects you to be. You are here to come forward with your gifts, your talents, your specific essence, you can light this place up.

Wendy: That strength, that message. Oh, yes, I adore this woman. Plus, anyone named Wendy. Well, you know she's got to be pretty special. This episode is a master class in what it looks like when we start prioritizing our needs and speaking our truth. It's empowering and emancipating. When we uncover our truth, there's nothing we can't do. 

Just as I leaned into Wendy's story and found a deep connection, it was the same for my interview with Nina Blaicher. Standing up for ourselves, especially during painful moments like divorce, is incredibly powerful. 

Nina Blaicher: I think we all want to have a greater purpose. We all have a spark within us that is calling. I think of the version of myself before I got divorced, and she didn't even know that was a thing. She didn't even know what intuition was. I wish I had had a podcast like yours or like mine to inspire me to realize there's something deeper in there. There's greater connection. There's more meaning. There's just so much more. 

Wendy: Have you ever noticed that we're stronger than we think or that when we're open to self-discovery, we can learn the coolest things about ourselves? Lean into this episode for some fabulous wisdom to help light your reinvention path, whether you have been divorced or had some other reinvention thrust upon you in ways that you didn't expect or weren't ready for. So much wisdom in this episode. 

My final guest episode of the season was with the amazing Sheryl Barnes. Sheryl is a true, kindred spirit, a fellow joy spreader. I loved our episode and the wisdom Sheryl shared about looking within to find joy in tiny places. 

Sheryl Barnes: I use the term micro joy. I don't know if it's a real term, but I use it because sometimes people think that they will be happy or happier when something really huge happens. I really think one of the secrets to self-care and living one's best life is to look for and to cultivate joy in a number of different sizes.

Wendy: It doesn't have to be the big wins, although those are great, but when we can embrace the little things in life, they can light us up. 

This episode shines a light and how we can be beacons of hope for ourselves when we awaken to what's possible. 

Honestly, I loved each of these guest episodes. The wisdom, courage, passion, and bold action these rebels took is inspiring. Their stories are all so different, yet all so powerful. They truly remind me that we can do anything if we believe we can. Which of these was your favorite? 

[Reinvention Rebels theme]

Before we wrap up, I'll mention that I loved creating more solo episodes this season. I love sharing more of myself and areas where I shine, plus areas that are a continual work in progress. I was excited to do some deep thinking about reinvention and share thoughts, ideas and lots of questions to get you thinking about your own reinvention journey, no matter where you might be. 

It's hard to pick my favorite for my own episodes, but if I had to pick a top three for listening, it would probably be the three things I grapple with most. Yeah, I'm exposing my own journey and insecurities here. 

First and foremost, the idea of showing up for ourselves and making ourselves a priority really resonates with me, and I discussed that in the episode learning how to show up for yourself is key, which was the very first episode of Season Four. Women are notorious for putting themselves last when everyone looks to us to keep all those balls spinning in the air. But when we start to shine a light on ourselves and show up, things can shift in powerful ways. The episode about showing up for yourself as key to your reinvention rebel journey is a must listen in my book. 

Second was the notion of bouncing back, as I discussed in Ready to Thrive, you got to build your bounce back ability muscle. Resilience is so key, as I've experienced in midlife, and I bet you have too. While it seems like things might get easier in midlife, for me it's been a road pave with increasing, not decreasing responsibilities, caretaking for my mom, increased work responsibilities, other family obligations, plus the general stuff of life has it feeling challenging at times. That's why we need to increase our bouncebackability factor when it comes to reinventing ourselves and just generally in life. I really enjoyed creating this episode, and it reminded me that I'm stronger than I always give myself credit for, you too. 

My third favorite, definitely ditching the perfectionist tendencies that I talked about in the episode, 3 Ways Reinvention Rebels Adopt a "Perfectly Imperfect" Mindset. I've been a perfectionist for way too many years, but honestly, it wasn't especially helpful. I can't even begin to count the amount of time I tried to "get it right." 

Lean into this episode to learn what I've discovered about myself and what's possible when we shift to a perfectly imperfect mindset. And here's a hint, just about anything. It's empowering to ditch our limiting beliefs and create new possibilities as we age. I've linked to all three of these episodes in the show notes. 

[Reinvention Rebels theme] 

There you have it. Season Four is a wrap. I hope you lean in and listen to these episodes, either for the first time or again. Lots of wisdom just waiting for you to soak it up. And guess what? After a January hiatus for some fun in the sun, I can't wait. And Season Five production work, I'll be back in February with a new season of amazing Reinvention Rebels and engaging solo episodes. What I know for sure is that we're all a work in progress. I know that we need inspiration to help light our path as we figure out this thing called life and hearing the stories of others, the ups and downs, wins and fails, progress and detours, remind us that we can reinvent ourselves as many times as we like on our own terms. There's honestly nothing we can't do when we decide it so. 

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I truly appreciate it. Thank you for cheering on these amazing rebels. Thank you for being willing to shine a light on yourself and be curious as you think about your own life. We all have an inner rebel. Sometimes we need to coax her out, shower her with love, and share deep encouragement to help her shine. That's what this podcast is all about. Together, we can do anything and be the fiercest, most bold Reinvention Rebels in the world. I can't wait to see you back here listening in when I kick off Season Five. It's going to be here before you know it. Until next season, keep shining your light. The world needs you and all that you have to offer. 

[Reinvention Rebels theme] 

Hey, Rebel. If this episode inspired you to think about what's possible in your life, I'll share a little secret. Any of us can reinvent ourselves, no matter where we are in our lives, any age, any stage. We just have to decide to get started. Here's a super simple way for you to get going with your reinvention dreams. Download my audio, 5 Questions to Spark Your Curiosity and Inspire Your Reinvention Journey. I share five key questions that will spur your thinking, help you uncover your dreams, and motivate you to take action because if not now, when? Details in the show notes. Let's get inspired together. 

[Transcript provided by SpeechDocs Podcast Transcription]