EPISODE 017 | Reflection: Aging as Deepening, Not Decline

In this solo reflection, Lee Currie threads together wisdom from recent Crone Rising conversations with Nancy Irons-Murray, Danielle Rousseau, and Wendy Jackman. She explores themes of reinvention, validation, peace, and truth-telling — and how these stories model a different way to age with curiosity, soft power, and honesty. Lee shares her own takeaways and invites listeners to consider where in their own lives they might need to reinvent, maintain peace, or finally tell the truth — out loud.

Key Topics Covered

• The courage of reinvention as a path to ongoing relevance (Nancy)
• The power of validation, boundaries, and soft power (Danielle)
• The necessity of truth-telling to break silence and heal (Wendy)
• How curiosity, peace, and truth reshape our relationship with aging
• Lee’s personal reflections on how each guest’s wisdom landed in her own life

After you listen to the podcast, answer these questions: Where in your life do you need reinvention? Where do you need peace? Where do you need to tell the truth? Choose one, or choose all — try it this week. Then share your reflections with me on Instagram @crone.rising.official or by email at hello@leecurrie.com

Crone Rising is for every woman who’s done being quiet and done being small. We’re not here to fade. We’re here to rise — unapologetic, unmuted, and unmissable.

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Transcript

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Welcome back to Coron Rising. I'm Lee Curry, and today's episode is another reflection, a moment taken every few conversations where I step back, take a breath, and pull together the threads from the most recent exchanges with my guests. These reflection episodes are different than the guest conversations. They're a chance for me to linger with what I've heard, to notice the patterns, and to understand and integrate what these stories have stirred in me. Think of it as the kitchen table after the party, the wine glasses half empty, the candles still glowing, and the conversations from the night still echoing around. We sit down, maybe barefoot, maybe a little softer, and ask, What did we really hear? What does it mean for us now? The past three episodes featured Nancy Irons Murray, Danielle Russo, and Wendy Jackman. Three women, three very different lives, and yet their stories braided together into something bigger than any one of them. They spoke of relevance, reinvention, validation, silence, peace, and truth telling. All themes that run right through the heart of what it means to be a crone in this world. So today, I want to honor them by lingering with their words and by sharing what I learned. Let's start with Nancy. If you haven't listened yet, Nancy's episode was a masterclass in reinvention. She spoke about being one of the first women allowed to military field training in Canada. Imagine that, a young woman stepping into a space that is not just unfamiliar, but outright resistant to her presence. She described how the men around her didn't quite know what to do with these women. Some wanted them to fail, some ignored them. But Nancy and her small group of university women pushed through. They didn't just survive, they excelled, they set standards, they proved competence in a space that doubted them from the start. That was Nancy's first reinvention. From there she poured herself into teaching, loving the daily contact with students, the chance to watch young minds light up. This is where I first met her as my gym teacher. Thirty-five years in the classroom, never once succumbing to the lure of administration. Why? Because she knew where she belonged. She wanted to be with the students, not the paperwork. And when she retired, did she retreat? No. Yet again she reinvented herself, teaching abroad in Italy, leading battlefield tours across Europe, judging gymnastics, writing history. Every time she could have settled into invisibility or quiet obscurity, Nancy asked herself instead, what else is possible? What haven't I tried yet? And I find myself so inspired by that, because it challenges the story we're told about aging, that the options narrow, that our world shrinks. Nancy's life proves the opposite. Relevance expands when curiosity drives you. Lesson one from Nancy. Staying relevant isn't about clinging to old titles or accolades. It's about the willingness to reinvent, to be curious, to keep moving toward what lights you up, whether that's teaching teenagers, touring battlefields, or judging gymnastics competitions while charging out of your 60s. Now let's shift to Danielle. Danielle's episode was tender and raw. She talked about retiring from nursing, a career that had defined her, given her adrenaline, given her validation through the gratitude of families, and then suddenly all of that disappeared. No more dopamine hits from critical care, no more validation from grateful families, just silence. She was honest about the void that came next. She described breaking her ankle right after retiring, a forced stillness that pinned her to a room for weeks. For a woman who had spent her life moving, doing, serving, that immobility was brutal. She cried, she doubted, she nearly broke under it. But then Grace, a friend reminding her she could get through it. The discovery that slowing down wasn't a death sentence, but an invitation. The chance to finally ask, What do I actually want? Danielle also introduced us to her gang of bandits, a group of colleagues who meet once weekly at a local cafe. That circle of validation, women who see each other, witness each other, laugh together, remind each other that they matter. That has become her anchor. And then there was her phrase that's still ringing in my ears maintain my peace. Danielle reframed invisibility as something softer, not an erasure, but a choice. The crone as a keeper of soft power, holding boundaries, saying no, maintaining peace while still extending empathy. Lesson two from Danielle Visibility is not about shouting louder. It's about being validated, holding firm boundaries, and embracing the quiet strength of soft power. Sometimes the most radical act is to say no and let that no be a yes to yourself. And then there's Wendy. Her story cut deep. She spoke of adoption, family silence, and the heavy demand to be grateful even while being mistreated. She spoke of dissociation, the ways she learned to escape through reading, through streaming, through anything that kept her from facing the raw edges of reality. Wendy also named something that hit me hard, the generational silence. Families where truths were triangulated through a narcissistic parent, where siblings didn't speak directly, where gratitude was demanded instead of nurtured. And then the breakthrough. Standing on a dock after her brother's death, finally speaking truths out loud with family members who had never before dared to do so. The relief, the grief, the liberation of words finally spoken. For Wendy, truth telling became the path back to wholeness, owning the stories, sharing them, even when messy. Her art and her writing aren't hobbies, they're lifelines. They keep her present when dissociation tempts her to drift away. Lesson three from Wendy Visibility begins with truth telling, even when your voice shakes, especially when your voice shakes. So what happens when we braid these three women together? Nancy reminds us to keep reinventing, to stay curious, to keep saying yes to new possibilities. Danielle reminds us to claim validation and peace, to let invisibility become softness, not erasure. Wendy reminds us to speak the truth, to break the silences that have bound us, even if it's messy. Together their stories form a map of cronehood, not a linear map, not a tidy map, but a wild, spiraling one. A map that says relevance is ours to define, peace is ours to protect, and truth is ours to speak. Here's what I've been sitting with since these conversations. We were raised in a culture that told us relevance comes from productivity, validation comes from service, and truth is dangerous. Nancy, Danielle, and Wendy remind us that the opposite might be true. Productivity without curiosity is just grind. But curiosity at any age keeps us alive. Service without boundaries depletes, but validation that comes from mutual witnessing restores. Silence might keep the peace externally, but truth telling is what heals us internally. And this matters not just for us individually, but for the generations watching us. Nancy's students, Danielle's gang of bandits, Wendy's children, my own kids, your kids or grandkids. When we embody curiosity, peace, and truth, we model a way of being that says aging isn't decline. It's deepening. Here's where I bring myself in. Listening to Nancy reminded me that reinvention is my lifeline too. I've shifted from corporate life to parenting to writing and podcasting. Each time I could have stayed stuck, but curiosity has always pulled me forward. Danielle's words landed in my body. Maintain my peace. That's exactly where I am right now. Choosing softness, choosing boundaries, even if it disappoints people. Her reminder gave me permission to say no and let my no be sacred. And Wendy, uh, Wendy, her truth telling cracked something in me. I grew up around silences too, around stories left untold. And I know the liberation of finally speaking them, even if they're messy. Wendy reminded me that our truths don't just free us, they free everyone around us who's been holding their breath, waiting for someone to go first. So here's my questions for you. Where in your life do you need reinvention? Where do you need peace? Where do you need to tell the truth out loud? Maybe it's a new curiosity you've been avoiding. Maybe it's a boundary you've been afraid to hold. Maybe it's a story you've been too scared to voice. Pick one. Try it this week. See what shifts. And if you feel called, share it with me. You can find me on Instagram at crone.rising.pod or send an email to hello at leecurry.com. I would love to hear what you're discovering. Until next time, keep rising.