From Self-Doubt to Self-Permission: How Natalie Wester Embraced Midlife Confidence

What happens when you stop letting self-doubt hold you back and start giving yourself permission to explore, grow, and reinvent?

For Natalie Wester, it meant stepping into a life of adventure, self-discovery, and midlife confidence. At 61, she embarked on a 70-day solo trip around the world with just a carry-on, proving to herself (and the rest of us!) that reinvention has no age limit.

In this inspiring conversation, Natalie and I dive into what it truly means to embrace self-permission—the key to unlocking joy, courage, and the midlife confidence to live life on our own terms. We talk about:

✨ How Natalie shifted from self-doubt to bold action and midlife confidence
 ✨ Why simplifying her life brought her more joy
 ✨ The power of getting out of our own way in midlife
 ✨ Learning to embrace uncertainty without fear
 ✨ What whiskey has to do with reinvention (yes, really!)

If you’ve ever felt stuck in midlife, wondering what’s next, this episode is your reminder that you’re capable of so much more than you think. Whether it’s traveling the world, trying something new, or simply learning to trust yourself, self-permission is the spark that makes reinvention (and midlife confidence) possible.

Are you ready to press the gas pedal on your own reinvention and step into your midlife confidence? Let’s go!

🎧 Listen now and be inspired to embrace your own midlife confidence!

Connect with Natalie:

Blog: The Hot Goddess
Instagram:  @retired_rewired_inspired

Mentioned in this episode:

Ready to embrace your fears and do it anyway? Download my free gift - my Do It Scared ebook. It will help build your midlife confidence to pursue your dreams.

Inspiring podcast: Want more inspiration as you navigate midlife and think about reinvention?  Women in the Middle® is a podcast for midlife women who are ready to hear some good news about being over 50! My friend Suzy Rosenstein, shares the good, bad, ugly, and sometimes downright hysterical about
growing older and making the changes you want to make so you don't have regrets in your second chapter.

Kick your midlife fears and uncertainty to the curb and start your Reinvention Rebels journey today. Learn about my audio program, Midlife Reinvention From The Inside Out: 8 Essentials to Greenlight Your Life.

Transcript

00:00 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
I can give myself permission to go forward and pursue what I want to pursue. Well, is there a guarantee that everything's going to work out? No, but do I know that I'm going to pop right back on up and do something else? Yes, and I think my permission includes permission for me to discover. 

00:23 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Welcome to Reinvention Rebels stories of brave and unapologetic women, 50 to 90 years young, who have boldly reinvented life on their own terms to find new purpose and possibilities. I'm your host, wendy Battles. I need to kick your fears to the curb, do it scared and step into who you are meant to be in midlife and beyond. These amazing women, these reinvention rebels, can help light your reinvention path. Come join us and let's get inspired together. Hey, hey, hey, rebels, I am so glad you are joining me for another episode of the Reinvention Rebels podcast where we celebrate midlife boldness, and you're in for a treat today. 

01:30
My guest, Natalie Wester, knows a lot about midlife boldness, as you're going to hear in her story about how she reinvented herself in her late 50s and early 60s to create so many incredibly new possibilities, getting out of her comfort zone, prioritizing self-permission, trusting her instincts and showing up for herself in new and exciting ways. I cannot wait for you to listen and because you're hearing this right now, it means that I'm on hiatus. I am busy getting ready for season seven I can't believe it Season seven of the Reinvention Rebels podcast. I cannot wait for you to tune in. I am making amazing progress getting these episodes ready as we talk about how I better myself and never look back. And I'm so excited to share this best of episode with Natalie because I've invited her to come back on season seven to tell us what's happened, because she has permanently moved to Portugal to retire. In this episode she talks about her plans and she actually did it and so many other amazing things in the four years since we talked. So this is a reminder about what's possible for any of us, in our own version, our own way. Listen to Natalie's story and get inspired about what showing up for yourself, giving yourself permission and going for it looks like Elevating authenticity through storytelling, inspiring midlife women to give themselves permission to change the life they're living so they can live a life they love. This is the intriguing backdrop for my guest today, 61-year-young Natalie Wester. Natalie is a solo international traveler and blogger who retired before 60 to pursue her passions. That makes Natalie quite the re-invention rebel, boldly and unapologetically, pursuing what lights her up and finding joy, humor and adventure along the way. I can't wait to talk to her about this, but she's no stranger to reinvention After 20 years leading teams, developing strategy and achieving results in the field of public relations and marketing communications, she became a teacher in her 40s, leaving behind a comfy salary to be of service to others. 

04:17
But she wasn't just any teacher. With a passion for multicultural education and high achievement, natalie shined In the classroom. She consistently raised achievement among at-risk students, using data-driven instruction and relationship-based motivation to drive student accountability and shared high expectations. High expectations she consistently grew student reading test achievement from more than 90% failure to nearly 90% mastery. That is fierce. Additionally, she used her strategic communication skills as an accomplished teacher, leader and educator in multicultural classrooms, earning the Ohio Department of Education's Ohio Teacher of the Year Award. I call that an educational badass. That's where Natalie finds herself today. 

05:15
She launched her blog the Hot Goddess in 2019 to help midlife women see new possibilities. She is funny, self-reflective and real all rolled into one. And did I mention funny? A recent blog post titled the Healing Properties of Exercise, laughter and Hot Sex got my attention. Seriously, how could it not? It's a fabulous, hysterical must-read. And then she embarked on a cool, kick-ass journey traveling solo around the world among seven countries for 70 days, with only one people, one carry-on bag. As a nomad in training OMG, I love this. As a nomad in training. Omg, I love this. Natalie is a kindred spirit, sharing a love of travel, good friends and writing. Natalie Wester, welcome to the Reinvention Rebels guest chair. 

06:14 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Wendy, thank you for having me. I'm so excited and I love that introduction. Oh, I think who's she talking about? 

06:25 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Isn't that the best I think that we all should be able to take in hearing how other people perceive us, think about us. I feel like so often we're like, oh, no, me, no, not me. But I think it's awesome and I loved just watching you, how you were just like listening and soaking it up, and that makes me so happy. 

06:49
So I want to tell our listeners about how we met and this is a story that many of you have heard before, because I am meeting more and more of my guests on Instagram, where there are amazing midlife and older women doing the coolest things, and I came across Natalie's profile and it looks so interesting to me. I said I want to know about this person and then I started to learn about her blog and what she's up to and her travel adventures and thought she would be an ideal guest to have on the show. So I'm really excited that you're here and, as you probably can imagine, natalie, I have a whole lot of questions to ask you because you have all kinds of adventure going on in your life and reinvention. I would love to start our conversation. I want to know how you reinvented yourself from a marketing and communications expert to a teacher. This seems like a pretty dramatic change, especially in your 40s. What inspired this reinvention? 

07:48 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
So you're right, there've been many different changes in my life. That particular decision to go from marketing communications and I left a firm as vice president, left and started my own little company for 14 years. And I was a mom and my son was diagnosed with dyslexia and I wanted to figure out how I could best help him at home. And I was learning more and more about dyslexia and that I need to learn more about how children learn to read. And I thought about going back to school just studying reading and reading curriculum and theory. And I thought, well, no, I'm 44 years old, almost 45. I can't. And then I thought you know what I am going to, because I want to know what I need to know as a mom and also as an advocate for my son, going to these meetings, iep meetings, talking with intervention specialists, and it's very overwhelming Anyone who has sat through that in a public school you're at a table and there's as many as 10 people around and it can be overwhelming if you don't know what you need to know. So I just wanted to know so I would feel armed and ready. And next thing I know I've graduated a second master's degree and I was offered this position, as in a school system. 

09:42
And the HR director said well, we have two possible jobs a classroom teacher, third grade, or a reading specialist, small group, like ding, that's it. That's me. I'm not really. I think I have the patience for a whole bunch of children. I'm not sure if it's going to work, I don't know. And my friends were like, well, really You're going to teach Because, like, where, like how are you going to? That's going to be very interesting. We just don't see you and your personality. Anyway, I said, well, I will, I'd love to be the small group reading specialist. And the HR director said, okay, well, I can't put that in writing now, but I'm 90% sure that's what it will be. Are you okay with that? And I said sure. So of course, I got the letter in the mail saying welcome our new third grade class. Yeah, of course. 

10:41
And so I taught the same school, starting third grade, and then when I retired I was in second grade and I did eventually transition to a second grade reading specialist but or reading teacher. So I taught all the second graders reading. So it still was never the small group situation, but that lasted 14 years and I never set out for that to happen, but it just that's how it happened. 

11:11 - Wendy Battles (Host)
It's amazing, it's funny how life is that sometimes, when we put our dip, our toe in thinking it might be one thing, that sometimes it's something completely different, but something that can be so life-changing. It feels to me like you created what I call a reinvention rebel mindset. You had this idea that you could reimagine your life in some way. And, yes, at first maybe you weren't sure and you kind of tested the waters, but then you realized this was kind of working and you really brought it to fruition. Because I know, sometimes we kind of talk about things and we have these ideas but we never quite make them happen. But here you said I'm going to do something different, I want to do it for these reasons, and you actually did it. And then you became so successful, you became Teacher of the Year. How did that happen? 

11:57 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
After just teaching for four years, I was nominated by my principal and I really think every teacher is a teacher of the year. This is just one of those things where, oh, I was lucky enough to have a principal at that time who appreciated and wanted to give recognition. But there are so many more deserving teachers out there and there's just nobody pushing their names forward. So every teacher is a teacher of the year as far as I'm concerned. But I was thrilled to be able to go to the White House and stand next to President Obama in the Oval Office and you know, you just, I'll never forget that and I never expected to be there. 

12:45 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Natalie, I'm really curious to know about what you mean.

13:10 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
 You do what you want to do, but it was very hard. It was very hard. I have my own critic inside telling me why I should not do something, why something won't work, why I'm not qualified to do something, I'm not brave enough to do something, I don't have whatever it takes to do the thing I'm thinking about. And that has been a struggle and continues really to be a struggle. Be a struggle, less so of one, but it's a daily reminder that I can give myself permission to go forward and pursue what I want to pursue. 

13:54
Well, is there a guarantee that everything's going to work out? No, do I know that I'm going to pop right back on up and do something else? Yes, on up and do something else, yes. So it's really a voice in my head and I tell you one thing that I have taken away from listening to your podcast and reading about women on Instagram is that the struggle for self-acceptance and believing in ourselves is universal. It's universal and I don't think I really recognized that the universality of all of us are kind of struggling with that and knowing that is kind of empowering because it gives hope, like all right. Well, yeah, there's some other bad-ass women and they're feeling that way as well, and yet they're going forward. That's huge. 

14:53 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I think you're so right about that. That really is huge, and I couldn't agree with you more. I think that we do get validation from this tribe of amazing women that we're both a part of, that are very empowering, because there are days, of course, that we feel great and we feel bold and very empowered, and other days maybe not so much Right, and you know, we do hear that, that critic in our head, although I think, as I've gotten older, it's gotten to be definitely smaller. 

15:20
Yes, as you're saying and right, it doesn't have to define us. But I like how you frame that around permission, because I think permission is one of those things that women regardless of even what age we are that we often don't give ourselves permission to do a lot of things, that we often play it safe, don't take a lot of risks, where a man might say I'm going to go do X, and they don't even think twice about it. Right, it's big and bold, they're like and who's going to stop me where we're like? Well, I guess I could try. So I think that it's so. I think it's really powerful when we get to that age where we feel good about giving ourselves permission and we don't have to think twice about it. We just do it Right. 

16:05 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
And not even just permission to do something, but even to be happy. Just so many times we feel that everyone else comes before us and we don't really have the right to be quote unquote selfish enough to look out for our own happiness. And that's the main start. Right there is yeah, it's okay. It's okay for me to be happy. 

16:35 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Exactly, and I know, for a lot of women, though, that is really a revolutionary idea, isn't that? Sad though? Yeah, it is that, it is that, and so I guess you know, but I think it's like a lot of things how do we begin to shift that narrative? How do we, how do how can women begin to feel more empowered, especially as we age and things change, and you know, we we might've had beauty, and that starts to fade, or our body changes. So I think it's so important for us to figure out what will make us happy not necessarily somebody else, but us. So I really like your thoughts about that. 

17:12
I want to fast forward to several years later, when you reinvented yourself again, not just one, and I know many of us have many reinventions, of course, over the course of our lives. That's not unusual. But I really want to know how it unfolded that, first of all, you've been able to retire at 60, because I know a lot of us are thinking well, you know it would be great to retire early, but I got to keep working so I have enough money for retirement. There's that push-pull thing. How were you able to retire at 60 and get down to pursuing your dreams? Because that's what a lot of us want to know. How did you do it, ms Natalie? 

17:51 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Well, I tell you, I actually I retired at 59 in June of 2019. I was inspired by a group of women that I'd met, so that's what made me decide to try and do it, and I just need to tell you how meaningful it was. On this trip to New Orleans and I met these various women and it was the universe telling me, and they were all sharing their different stories, and I thought, you know what, when I got on the plane back to Cleveland, I thought all right, if I cut a thousand dollars a month off of my expenses, I think I can make this work. And so that's what I did, and you'd be surprised. You'd get rid of cable internet. You get rid of I'm not going to the spa, I don't get my hair done, I'm not getting my manicure and pedicure done, I'm not getting my car washed, I'm not happy hours. Now, COVID has actually been very helpful in that regard, Saving a ton of money. But before that, it's nothing. You go out every day and you do a happy hour. You know about $100 a week. That's $400 a month. 

19:11
So when I really started drilling down into expenses, I thought I can do this, and so I did, and I thought what's the worst that could happen did, and I thought what's the worst that could happen? I'll need to go back and work. And so that was June 2019. And then, when I made the plan, I talked with my financial planner. We had not built anything in there at all for any kind of travel. Then I found out that I was getting a retirement incentive and I wasn't. I guess I didn't realize the amount of that, but I thought you know what? I need to use that to fix my driveway. But instead I wanted to travel, and that was giving myself permission. But it was also challenging myself, Wendy, because I am not I'm not an adventurous person. I am like the play it safe person. 

20:09 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Yeah, I really am. It does not appear that way, Natalie. I just want to say, looking at all your pictures on Instagram, you look like a very adventurous person to me. 

20:17 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Everything is like teach, run a field trip Okay, we've got to have this and this and this and we're all set and like over plan and be and have no surprises, and just yeah, that, and I'm afraid of flying. I don't like heights and I had never done it before, and so that was part of my reset. Uh, rewire is I'm going to do this, I am just going to do it. And so I looked into it and this was not me solo with a group tour, a women's group. This was just me planning everything. And it sounds like, yeah, okay, you are badass. 

20:59
But I will tell you, the night before I was to leave, I was bawling Like, oh, what have I done? I can't do this. What was I thinking on the internet? How much money will I lose if I cancel now? But you know, I mean panic really, really did strike. So I'm not going to lie, I was terrified and I was crying. It's like, oh, I, just what have I done? And I'm I don't cry a lot, but I was panicked and I thought I've made the biggest mistake. And so, you know, got myself together. Hello, jack Daniels, like I'm good. 

21:39 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I can do this after all, let's do this. 

21:41 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Well, I thought well, all I need to do is get. My first stop was portugal. I just need to get to portugal and then, you know, I have some time there, we'll, I'll be okay, and portugal is on my list because that's where I plan to relocate. So my I plan on moving to, say, simbra, portugal. It's a little fishing village on the coast about 30, 30 minutes south of Lisbon. I read about it. International Living says Portugal is the well, last year it was the number one. I think it's gone down, but it's always a top spot. I want to be on the water. I don't want any hurricanes, girl. I don't want any tropical anything. I don't want any monsoon season. I don't want any rainy season. I want a nice climate on the water, with no storms, evacuations or any of that. And that's what you have right there, oh my gosh. 

22:33 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I have to say too that you know I really want to move to Portugal too. So you know, later on you're going to have to tell me all about this. 

22:38 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Yeah, come visit, come I am there. 

22:44
Oh my God, I felt I really fell in love with it. I really did. Uh, lisbon is very diverse. Isimbra not as much, but it's so close to lisbon that you know it'll be okay. Um, so I thought let's get to portugal, take a deep breath, don't start thinking about all the other places, and that you'll be coming back, you know, before Christmas time. Just go. And I did OK. I did OK. I had some moments that were difficult in Morocco and Egypt. They're a little intimidating for me, but I did OK egypts. 

23:28 - Wendy Battles (Host)
They're a little intimidating for me, um, but I did okay and I would say I would say so. 

23:30
Traveling by yourself to seven countries for 70 days with one first of all, we'll have to get back to the one carry-on suitcase in just a moment, because that's a whole nother story, but I I one of the things I think that's interesting about what you said once you had your meltdown, then you calmed down and said, okay, I can do this. 

23:45
Part of what I heard you do is, once you had your meltdown, then you calmed down and said, okay, I can do this. Part of what I heard you do is that you shifted your mindset and you said, okay, just one step at a time, one step at a time. Let me just get to Portugal and I can reset. And I think it's that attitude, that mindset, that is everything about being a reinvention rebel. However, it is that someone is reinventing their life, when we can just say, well, I can't, I don't have all the answers, I can't figure it all out, but you know what, if I can step back and just take one small step, I don't have to do it all at once. Just one small step. 

24:19 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
And that to me, is like everything to be able to move forward is like everything to be able to move forward Exactly, exactly, and then once you do that one step, then you're emboldened a little bit more and then you can just keep going, and I was fortunate that everything worked out. I mean, and I got back before COVID and I had no delays. It really worked out beautifully so, and I know that doesn't always happen, so I was very lucky in that regard. 

24:52 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Hey, amazing listeners Want to have Reinvention Rebels inspiration delivered to your inbox. Head over to ReinventionRebelscom and sign up for my news and notes. Reinventionrebelscom and sign up for my news and notes. So, natalie, you went to seven countries over 70 days and I'm really curious where did you go and how did you even decide on where you were going to go in this huge world in which we live? 

25:18 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Yes, oh my gosh. Well, so when I say I traveled among seven countries, so the United States, Portugal, morocco, egypt, thailand, indonesia, japan, and then back to the US, and I actually had a list to start of 12 places, and then I looked at the money, I thought no, no, and I'll be gone three and a half months, almost four months, and that seemed like a long time. So I narrowed it down to that Bali, in Indonesia, wanted to go, and then Japan was just gorgeous to me. So those are the places. My only regret is that and I know you've been I didn't do Australia. I was so close, but I had India on the list and, oh my gosh, it was just all over. 

26:12 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I know, I know, and that's the thing. It's such a huge world in which we live. There are so many amazing places I'd like to go. I've only started scratching the surface because when I was, I was in my mid thirties when I went on my first solo trip to Australia and New Zealand and it was such an adventure. But I really didn't understand that concept of backpacking. I was quote unquote backpacking but I brought a backpack and a suitcase. 

26:37
So I had not mastered, natalie, I had not mastered what you did, which is this notion that you talk about how you traveled for 70 days with one carry-on bag. So I want to know how you did that, because so many of us, you know, we pack all this stuff. I will say I went to Spain a couple of years ago and I did pack one carry-on bag, but that was only for two weeks. So how did you do this for 70? 

27:05 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
days, oh my gosh. And so I had my carry on and then my personal item was a small backpack. So I had those those two things, but nothing cute in there. So there are my Instagram pictures. There are no cute nothing. There's no flowing red gowns and no nothing. It is gray t-shirt, white t-shirt, black leggings, khaki shorts is all this one family of stuff that could all be mixed in. 

27:35
And I left in October and I'm going to places where it's a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and then in Japan it was 32 degrees and it snowed a little bit, so it was a huge difference. I brought a jacket that had been my dad's and I posted about that. It was a Marmot Gore-Tex. That was okay, and then a little fleece that I could put under it okay, and then a little fleece that I could put under it. So just the layering, but it still wasn't quite enough. When I got to Japan I was still. I was cold, and so I bought a reversible quilted thing that's supposed to be a lot a robe on Japanese women and I put it on and the guy was laughing because I'm 5'10", so on me it was like a jacket with the sleeves up to here, but it was warm and people like, oh my God, I know I'm a giant, so I had to buy that. 

28:40
But other than that hair, that was my other thing. What about my hair? How am I going to get my? What am I going to do with my hair? And, girl, I got my travel bottle of the foam wrap and put a bunch of the wrapping, the papers, in a baggie and I washed my hair and took planning because I had to make sure it was a sunny, hot day and would wash my hair and then sit out in the sun to dry it. And I bought a travel mini flat iron that was international, so I didn't need to buy one of those expensive converters because it was an international thing. I needed an adapter, but I didn't need a converter, and then I would just curl my hair and you know, but I mostly always had on a baseball cap. I bought a couple of straw hats that were like a dollar and I bought this. 

29:34
Actually, I did end up buying in Bangkok and in Bali, some dresses that were like $2. And I left there because I don't, there's no place to put them. But so, yeah, and but nothing cute. So, like none of my travel pictures are beautiful. The landscapes and the scenery were just gorgeous and I did the best I could to capture that beauty. But you know how you see there's so many solo women travelers. Most of them are, you know, 20s, 30s, some 40s, but I have never traveled solo in my life and for my first trip this is. It's hard, and you know it's definitely hard to get the cute look unless you have more stuff. 

30:33 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I mean to you need. You need to bring more stuff with you to achieve the cute look of some cute outfits to mix in with the more utilitarian. I'm out hiking or walking 10 miles today and I need comfy shoes. But you know, on a trip like that you aren't bringing cute heels. 

30:52 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
No, oh no, Nope. I had tennis shoes and then a pair of trotters comfort sandals. Girlfriend was not looking any kind of stylish at all. 

31:02 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I think that those things that used to be important to me, that would be much more important when I was younger. Like I have to look cute. I think that those things that used to be important to me, that would be much more important when I was younger. Like I have to look cute, I have to look good, it's like now. 

31:10
I just want to enjoy myself and I can. You know, I want to see things, I want to talk to people that live there, I want to experience the culture and the food, and I don't have to be all dressed up to do that. So I think there's something to be said for that, and I just think it's freeing this idea of traveling so lightly that you don't need to have all of this stuff, because I feel like we're so weighed down in our lives generally with a lot of stuff Right, that's true. So lightening up is so easy, and it was so easy when we were traveling in Spain and we got on and off the train or the bus with just our little carry-on bag. And it was so easy when, in the past, I've traveled with all this crap, right. 

31:50 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Well, and I tell you, though and I wrote that in one of the blog posts that I made the bag too heavy, like I packed a ton of stuff in there, and but it was very, very heavy. So it was carry on. It fit all the dimensions. It was really very heavy, and by the end, I have a little titanium screw in my shoulder that's holding my bicep into my shoulder socket. It was surgery about 2012. But by the end, I'm checking this bag because I'm tired of lifting it up over there and I'm just done, so that, which kind of defeats the whole purpose, but for most of the trip it was okay. It was very heavy, and I write don't make your bag, don't make your bag too heavy in travel and in life, because you're responsible for your own stuff and nobody's going to carry it, but you, so lighten your load. 

32:49 - Wendy Battles (Host)
That really is fabulous. What are some of the biggest lessons you learned from traveling by yourself and going on this adventure? Even though you're, I like to plan it out and have everything all lined up in a row perfectly, and you know, of course, with travel, so many times that doesn't even happen. I mean it just the stars align for you, it sounds like. But what were some of the biggest lessons that you learned from this? 

33:14 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
I guess a lesson. What I learned about myself is really that I am more capable than I thought in terms of navigating new places. You know, and I've always had like safe, safe, safe, safe. And when faced with the unknown. And you know there were no travel issues, but in each place I went, there were some different thing that would pop up. Place I went, there were some different thing that would pop up. And for instance, japan, and just not knowing the language at all and getting mixed up on the trains, and I thought this woman was telling me to go sit on the floor and I'm thinking is she telling? Is this a race thing, like what? And you know, when you're with someone you would say girl, does she just say go sit on the floor. 

34:06 - Wendy Battles (Host)
But you don't want to say that too. 

34:07 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
And I'm like who's she talking to? Did she tell me to go sit on the floor and I didn't? It took me a minute to feel like I need to go find someone else to ask what do I need to do? Because there's no way I was going to be able to understand what she was saying and it turned out she was not. I thought she was speaking in English and that's what she was telling me. She was speaking in Japanese, but it sounded like she was saying go sit on the floor. And, wendy, I actually for a minute considered it. I looked around, I was like, was there a clean spot around somewhere? Considered it, I looked around, I was like, was there a clean spot around somewhere? And but then I found another. I actually went. It took me several tries, but I finally found someone, and then they explained that the train was not coming and that I needed to go to a completely different platform and take another train. 

35:01
So just little things like that when normally, just if you travel with someone, you can just, you know, bounce ideas back and forth and what do you think, and just having to figure it out on my own I didn't I always was afraid to do that for some reason that sounds ridiculous, but I just didn't trust that I knew enough you know about a new place. Trust that I knew enough. You know about a new place and always counted on like a partner, a travel buddy, someone who had been there before and knew more than I did, was more sophisticated and had more experience. You've traveled, you know all over. You were mentioning the countries, new Zealand, and so you know I wouldn't want to go out onto like you like, okay, let's go, and then you can. You, you're more experienced. But I had never done this before and I just realizing that I was more resourceful and capable than I knew and that felt really good. And then I was braver than I knew. That was really good. And then so those things about myself. 

36:07
But then just globally, learning to keep an open mind to other people's stories and what they're going through, and that has that was very empowering. Women I met, men I met talking to children from all over the world. It meant a lot to be able to just sit and listen and keep my mind open. And you know I'm not ashamed to say that sometimes I'll make judgments. I'll make a judgment about somebody based on whatever or an assumption. Sometimes it's my own self-talk and I'll be taking something personally and think and make a judgment about someone. But learning to get out of myself, open up my mind, open up my heart and just hear other people's stories, that was huge for me as well and it kind of changed the way I do things a little bit here back at home. 

37:15
One of my blog posts is about how it changed my approach to dating. Lowering expectations, not lowering, not having any expectations, expectations, just not having a list of must do's, not, um, having preconceived notions about someone, and just being open and listening and making it all about understanding each other's commonalities and hearing each other's stories. Um, that works really well. Yeah, in the dating world as well. 

37:47 - Wendy Battles (Host)
That does, and I think that's true whether you're traveling or dating. There's something powerful about one this idea of listening to people, like what I heard you say is you really were listening. You met all these people on your trip and you really listened to them and you saw something different, things you didn't know. You learn so much about yourself and other people. And this notion of opening our heart, I think, is so powerful, because it's easy for any of us to have a closed, sort of hardened heart, just because we live in a complex, difficult, often especially these days chaotic world. All of us are quick to judge and we all have to figure out how can we open our heart, how can we listen more, how can I maybe not be so quick to judge someone? And so I think that's such a powerful lesson that you, you know. 

38:39
I think that's what the beauty of travel, that it expands our horizons, literally and figuratively about. You know both. You know where we go and in our minds about what could be possible, because I love how you've applied that now to. I'm back, but I still have this more expansive mindset and I think that that's something that's like to me. It's such a powerful way to grow, especially as we age, where sometimes we're, you know, sometimes you say, oh, older people, they're set in their ways, you know so-and-so, just you know it's the same thing. But so I think some of the when you travel, you really shake that up if you're open to it, as you have, and that that's just so cool, thank you. 

39:21 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
But you never, when you start putting that one foot ahead, you're not really sure what you were, or at least I wasn't really sure what we're going to find. So this has been a happy surprise and I try to keep going back to that feeling and that same mindset that I had when I was traveling. I was telling someone I'm trying to live the way I travel Just minimal belongings, walking mostly everywhere and just buying what I need and putting it in my backpack or in a tote and walking. That's what I did when I was traveling. I just tried to live a smaller, simpler life, which also works because I don't have any money. So that's working out really well. Just simple things and minimal. That so far it's working. It's working for me. 

40:14
I think there's an expectation or people. So what are you doing? So you know what's your purpose now and what's your passion and what are you doing. And I think my permission includes permission for me to discover, to discover all my different passions and my different purposes, the things that I want to do, and that's okay. I don't need to put a label on that. And so I am enjoying taking so many different classes and writing the blog, which I started because of a class, and didn't have the courage to put the next foot in front and press publish for five weeks and then I finally remorse actually six weeks or more pushed the publish button. So that was a step and I'm not a media person. I started Instagram just for friends and family because they said we need to know if you're not dead. So can you start Instagram while you're traveling and just post pictures and then we know if the picture's out, you're probably dead. 

41:22 - Wendy Battles (Host)
So I like that, though you know they care, they care, they're like, please, we need to know. 

41:27 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
I like that. So that's the only. And I'm not on Facebook, I'm not on Twitter. We've had a seminar on on using Twitter for teaching and I'm like that was my vibrators name back in the eighties. So I yeah, I'm not, that's just not me. 

41:44
I'm not a that's, I don't do that and I've been kind of private and stuff. So this is all of this, these one step, one step, one step uh is new, and so pushing publish on the blog after I'd written the four or five entries for the class but not let anybody see them, and then it went out there. That was very frightening to me. 

42:08 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I can imagine. 

42:10 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Um. So I've got a good response of that's fine, um, and that's been encouraging, and people said, oh, you should write a book, you should write a book, and I actually am working on a memoir, and so that's what I'm doing taking classes and writing. Uh, doing the coding class, and I think, and then the blog has really that it has turned into a little bit of a passion project. I'm a goofball, so I have to have my you know, fun Friday post, and then I try and be a little more serious on motivation Monday, but that doesn't always work either. 

42:44 - Wendy Battles (Host)
So I love it. I love it. Well, one of the things I love about the blog is that it's funny. You're very authentic. You talk about you, you know you in that sort of self-deprecating way that that's still very real and feels really authentic and I just, I just really I just I don't know like your writing style. I kind of feel like I'm right there with you and so many things I can relate to, and I think that that is so key. When you're connecting with people, when you have the ability to do that, I feel like you can then make a connection with people, which apparently you are, because I've been reading some of your posts and see people commenting on them. So it tells me that you have a way to really touch people. 

43:24 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Thank you for saying that, and it's not at all what I thought would happen. And it has been very encouraging to see the comments and the messages, the DMs that I get as well, like oh wow, that's really awesome, I can't believe. 

43:43 - Wendy Battles (Host)
And then Wendy is asking me to be on Reinvention Rebels what, oh my gosh, and it's really been amazing, amazing yeah, it makes me think that sometimes we don't give ourselves enough credit and we often think very small, because we're thinking, well, why would someone be interested in what I have to say? Why would they listen or read? And it's interesting, though, because sometimes we have these low expectations and people have a totally different response. They're like I love this, like I want more of this. Tell me more. Why didn't you do this sooner? 

44:20
And so I think that when we get that feedback, I think it's really important to really listen to that, especially as we're aging and we're kind of trying to figure things out and we're exploring new things. Those are often sometimes signs that are leading us or helping us kind of figure things out. And here you are an excellent, engaging writer, and I can see you writing a memoir. I can see how interesting that would be. I would love to hear the story about how you made this decision to change your life and how you realized you don't need to have all this stuff Right and that you can live on less. 

44:55 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
There's more that needs to be gotten rid of as well. So, and it's freeing. 

45:00 - Wendy Battles (Host)
It is totally freeing. Hey, amazing listeners, want to have Reinvention Rebels inspiration delivered to your inbox? Want to have Reinvention Rebels inspiration delivered to your inbox? Head over to ReinventionRebelscom and sign up for my news and notes. I know that there are many women, older women, midlife women, older women whether you're in your 50s, 60s or 70s who and I also mentioned younger women too, because I know there's a lot of younger women that are even like 15 and above that listen to Reinvention Rebels. But I know that many women are eager to reinvent themselves in some way, but they really don't know where to begin. As someone who I think is a seasoned Reinvention Rebel, because you've done it many times and you've had all these great epiphanies and things you've learned about that when would you suggest someone starts? A woman who wants to explore something new maybe she's around your age what would you suggest she do to start looking at what might be possible? 

46:10 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
What makes her happy. That's what I did. I was not happy. I realized, after 14 years of teaching, like I'm not happy and I need to make a change and that's saying nothing about teaching and all the wonderful people who are teachers, but I there was something with me that like I need to do something different and giving myself permission to be happy, Like I'm going to quit. 

46:36
And hearing the stories of these other women who did all of these changed their lives, changed their lives and they just happened to. I met one woman at a, two women at a bar, one woman out at a jazz club. It just happened to fall into. You know, my intersected with my life for a reason and I had to figure out what I needed to do to make me happy, and that was to retire. Before that it was, you know, what I needed to do so I could to be happy as a mom who knew about how to help my son, but it always, and then before that, it was OK. Now I'm going to change from fashion to journalism, to PR, and it all started with what's going to make me happy. And I think if you don't know that, then you don't know where to put your foot for that first step. 

47:27 - Wendy Battles (Host)
That makes so much sense. And going back to our earlier conversation, when we were talking about so many women don't know how to be happy or don't give themselves permission to be happy, I think for some women it's a bold step to ask myself what would make me happy. What seems like a very simple question, it is deeply profound for so many people, and especially for women who, as you said earlier, have been taking care of everybody else kids, spouse, parents or your job, whatever it is that we're doing, often in service of others, so often for very good reasons, often at the expense of ourselves. So this, to me, can be a really revolutionary question what would make me happy? 

48:16 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
And the answer is not easy. I mean, it sounds like it would be, but at least it's not. It's not because we're not used to thinking that way. We're used to thinking about what is going to make everybody else happy, but we're not used to thinking that way and so we probably don't know. And my first happy point was to not be doing what I was doing anymore and to retire. There's still other happy points along the way and I'm discovering those and what I'm really enjoying doing, but that was key. And I don't know that I would have made that decision if I had not heard the stories of the three women. 

49:01
The woman who was a music teacher who had retired and started selling high-end office furniture, and she didn't know anything about office furniture and her friend suggested it. Hadn't. She didn't know anything about office furniture and her friend suggested it. She said I don't know. And then she said okay, and she did it. And she was there with her little handsome beau that she met while selling furniture to his, the company he owned, and she said oh, honey, you should try it. Name was June said honey, you should try it and you'd be great. Because I just started talking to her at the bar. I was commenting on her hair and nails and everything, and she went in her purse to get a business card and didn't have one. So she put out her checkbook and tore off a deposit slip and handed it to me, said here, here, honey, my information's all on here. I thought, wow, so is your bank account number, everything else, that's how y'all do it down South. She's from North Carolina, so like, okay, and you know. 

50:02
Then I met a younger woman, a single mom from Chicago, and her passion project was booking these jazz and blues acts, and she was. She had a dog walking business to, along with her other full-time job to supplement that passion, and that's why she was in New Orleans, because she had booked a band and like, oh, wow, and she was. She was younger. 

50:32
Then I met another woman who was a teacher and she was in New Orleans because she was renting her apartment out on Airbnb to make extra money, because she wanted to quit and be a writer, she wanted to write full time and I thought that's interesting. So you must be getting a lot of money if you can afford to take a trip to New Orleans to vacate your apartment in order to rent it. So that's pretty. Think about that. So just hearing like these are and they were all very different women, all very different, different ages, different backgrounds, everything. But it was so wonderful to hear these stories and, like I said that got on the plane and thought I can do this if I cut $1,000 off and then just live, very simply. 

51:29 - Wendy Battles (Host)
And here you are. I think that yourself. 

51:33 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Yeah. 

51:34 - Wendy Battles (Host)
This self-awareness which I think is the key. I think that's always the key when we're reinventing ourselves at any age whether we're younger or we're a reinvention rebel, we're 50 plus that we have to really know ourselves, like you said before, what would make us happy. This idea of slowing down, reflecting, reflecting and really tuning in for me is that has always been the key for myself and I and I guess because I like to be really quiet and you know, really I feel like I get all this wisdom when I'm quiet and still that helps guide me, just like you ran into these women who really set you on this path, who helped you see what's possible, that when we can begin to see those moments as just a little bit, you know all just kind of helping us along on our path that maybe we don't even know we're on yet, but then we discover. 

52:25 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Someone said to me well, that's, you listened to. The universe was talking to you and you listened, yes. 

52:32
Which is everything to you and you listened yes, which is everything? It is everything. And, like you said, you need to be still and be able to receive that a little bit, I guess, and be in that right frame of mind. And you talk about reflecting and re-imagining and restarting and that reflecting piece, the catalyst for that and for figuring out what makes me happy, was loss, so the death of my father and the ending of a long-term relationship, and that all happened in 2018. And then I went to New Orleans at the end of that year and decided I'm retiring, I'm okay, your mind is ready. Now, your mind is ready to figure this out and to make a change. And so that was the start of it. I didn't just wake up one day and say I'm ready to figure out my happy place, right, it started with the loss and then went from there. 

53:56 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Yeah, I know what you mean, because I do think that that can be such a big catalyst for any of us and the loss can be, you know, however it might manifest for us, whether it's someone we love or, as you said, a relationship or a job ending Right. 

54:12
Any of those things can be catalysts and I often think that when those things happen especially something like a job, I mean, where it might be unexpected I mean it could be the same thing with any of these circumstances. 

54:26
It could be unexpected, it's shocking, it is such a terrible feeling. But I think that if we can get on the other side of it, as you have done, and use that to really help you create all these amazing changes, that if we can kind of work through the most difficult parts on the other side, there can be new possibilities. You know, if we lose our job or we're downsized, it's often an opportunity. I know so many people for whom it was an opportunity to do something new that they then loved, which they wouldn't have done if they hadn't lost that job. So I try to, you know, I try to like think about it. I try to wax philosophical when I can about these things that often feel terrible right when they happen, like what, why or why me or you know that kind of thing so but I always feel like everything happens for a reason. 

55:20 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
It does and even though we may not recognize it at the time we usually don't that it really does happen for a reason. So this has been it's interesting. It's been fun and frightening at the same time, figuring out myself, understanding myself better, seeing what I like and the things that I want to try to do. I'm putting the finishing touches on a proposal for an internship at a bourbon distillery. 

55:48 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Oh, stop. Yes, yes, I think. See, this is what I love. See, this is a re-invention. Rebel Natalie. 

56:07 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Okay, this is someone who is like these are the things I'd like to do, yes, yes, I think, free, you don't have to pay me, I'll watch the stills, whatever, cause they have classes. There's actually a moonshine university in Kentucky, yes, and I thought about doing that and I thought, well, the whole course is like $6,000. I know, and then they have, they have a little weekend thing for $500 and you, you know, learn to sniff bourbon. I can do that. That's little weekend thing for $500 and you learn to sniff bourbon. I can do that. That's a weekend thing. I do that here. So I want to really learn. I thought, you know what? We've got their distilleries here. So I'm just finishing up my proposal to be a distillery badass intern. 

56:51 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I think that's fascinating and that is quintessentially what a reinvention rebel does, right? They kind of figure out what inspires them. They're really curious, they have courage. You talked about your bravery just traveling by yourself. I mean, this to me, is what a reinvention rebel does, and sometimes we don't know the answer. Sometimes it's really scary, sometimes we're just figuring it out as we go. But that's how life is right. If we're open to it, then, as you mentioned, all these new possibilities opened up. So, natalie, as we wrap up, I'd love for you to tell me anything you'd like to share with the audience about how women can unapologetically take bold action to move their life forward. What advice do you have for a re-invention rebel in training? Oh my, gosh. 

57:52 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
I keep coming back to the same thing about giving yourself permission. You have to start there and, once you've given yourself permission to be happy, figure out what makes you happy and to go forward. Then do it one step at a time. Be okay if you stumble, you might step in a rut, whatever, but you're going to get back up if you trip and you're just going to keep putting one step in front of the other and it'll change, mind's changing as we speak. 

58:28
I didn't plan, I didn't know I was going to do a blog and write a memoir and I knew I wanted to write, but that's not what I had in mind. I knew I wanted to learn about distilling and spirits, but I just decided, hey, let's propose that and see what happens. Nothing may happen. Nothing may happen, but just giving yourself permission to put one foot in front of the other in your search for what makes you happy, to be okay with not knowing the answer, to be okay with leaving yourself open to discovery. And that's hard too, because people say what are you doing? What are you? Well, okay, I haven't started a company yet, I haven't launched a service or a product yet, but I'm pursuing all of these different things and, in the process, figuring out what's bringing me joy. Figuring out what's bringing me joy and that is huge for me to just give myself permission to be comfortable with discovery and not knowing and not putting a label on it, at least not right now. 

59:50 - Wendy Battles (Host)
I think that sounds pretty amazing. In a world in which people like to label everything, I think it's significant to say I'm okay with not having to label where I am, what I'm doing, I am figuring it all out and it's okay, and that alone, I think if women that are kind of trying to figure it out can just hear that message. It's okay not to know all the answers, it's okay to just say I'm figuring it out. Yes, it's okay if people look at me like what's wrong with you? And I say absolutely nothing. This is my journey, it's my journey. 

01:00:26 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Your journey is different than my journey, exactly, exactly, wendy. 

01:00:32 - Wendy Battles (Host)
So, just claiming it, I know that people, when they're listening to this, now that we've talked about all these adventures you've been on how you are reimagining your life in these really bold, juicy, textured, really interesting ways, and you have this amazing blog. That is just delightful. So the question really is, natalie, where can people find you? Where can people find you if they want to follow you, read your blog? 

01:01:03 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Thank you. So on Instagram I am retired, rewired, inspired. I love that. I love that. Yes, at retired, underscore, rewired, underscore, inspired. And that's where I am and my blog is the hot goddesscom. One word and it is not as I had to clarify, about all of my hot sex adventures the hot is the hot flashes of a 61 year old woman wondering when is post the post part of post-menopause kicking in? But there's a little bit of hot sex mentioned in there and the vibrating panties and all of that. Yes. 

01:01:49 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Which you're all going to have to check out, because it is a great post you need to read this, ladies. 

01:01:56 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
The other big thing is to remember that as we age, I call it my NGAF, the not giving a fuck levels. Those NGAF levels get bigger and higher and higher and stronger and stronger the older you get, so that makes things a lot easier as well. 

01:02:14 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Yeah, so true, and there's so much freedom in that. Yeah, it is very emancipating. 

01:02:26
Yes, indeed, I love it. I love it and I will put in the show notes. You'll see the places where you can find Natalie. You'll see those listed so people can easily click on the links and go right to your site or to your Instagram page. I have to say, natalie, this has been such a pleasure, such a pleasure and joy to talk to you and have you on the podcast and hear about your re-imagined life, your re-invented rebel life. It's been just awesome. 

01:03:03 - Natalie Wester (Guest)
Thank you. Well, thank you for having me. I'm so honored and humbled. You have such a wonderful lineup of impressive guests, so thank you so much for asking me to be a part of your podcast, which I love. Thank you. 

01:03:23 - Wendy Battles (Host)
Isn't Natalie's story absolutely fabulous? What she's done, how she's grown really, how she was so uncomfortable in so many ways and stepped through that with fear, but did it anyway. That idea of doing it scared. There's so many things that can scare us, especially as we age. But there's also amazing possibility on the other side, and that's what is so compelling to me about her story and that's why I also can't wait until I can share the new episode with her in season seven, so you can see just how much she's grown just from four years and it's really, in my mind, exponential. So I can't wait for you to tune in. If you loved this episode as much as I did I mean, seriously, how could you not? It was so inspiring then if you did do me a favor and share this episode with several women in your life that you know are ready for inspiration, they're ready for motivation, they're ready to get into gear with their midlife or beyond, whether it's 50s, 60s, 70s, it doesn't even matter their age, but they need a little push. They need to hear that it's possible. This episode reminds us that is the case, and if you listened and you thought, I want to get started myself. I want to get out of that fear I have. I want to give myself that push, but you're not sure exactly how to get started. You gotta download my free gift, my Do it Scared, do it Anyway, ebook. It's got great suggestions and ideas to get you out of the starting block. That, honestly, is the hardest part, and we can do it with fear but still move forward, and I've got some great tips to get you started down that path as you create the most magnificent midlife and beyond and speaking of midlife, many of us are in that space. 

01:05:39
I want to tell you about what I'm listening to. You know I spend a lot of time producing the Reinvention Rebels podcast, but I also love listening to my fellow podcasters, especially in this midlife 50 plus space, and there are so many extraordinary women. One that I want to tell you about today is my friend, susie Rosenstein. She hosts a really cool podcast that I love and I think you will too, called Women in the Middle. It's all about the good news and the bad news and the every in between news, the funny stories, the things that happen, how we overcome them. It's such an adjacent podcast to Reinvention Rebels I think you're really going to like it. Susie talks about a wide range of things in the most upbeat way, from careers, self-care relationships, our mindset, empty nesting, aging, all the things. I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes. I encourage you to check it out and I'm going to be back in a couple weeks. In the meantime, keep shining your light, rebels. The world needs you and all that you have to offer.