Life is Delicious- Mindset Mastery, Midlife Empowerment, Joy, Purpose, Vitality, Inspiration, Women's Health

20 : It's NEVER Too Late: Finding Your Creative Voice in Life's Third Act

• Marnie Martin- Midlife Mentor, Empowerment Coach, Happiness Expert, Best Selling Author • Season 1 • Episode 20

Share episode

Send us a text

What if your greatest creative chapter could begin at 75? Mershon Neisner proves this possibility as she shares her remarkable journey from social worker to entrepreneur to author, with her first book published on her 75th birthday and her fourth completed just before turning 80.

Mershon's story dismantles ageist assumptions about creativity and reinvention. As she recounts her path through multiple career transitions - starting as a social worker at 21, launching a marketing communications business with distinctive pink business cards at 43, becoming a certified life coach, and finally embracing authorship in her seventies - we witness the power of staying open to life's unexpected nudges. Her writing career began with a simple encouragement from a neighbor who, after just two hours of conversation, insisted Mershon needed to write a book.

The conversation takes a poignant turn as Mershon discusses her first book, "Mom's Gone, Now What," which explores the experience of motherless daughters through interviews with 50 women who experienced maternal loss in various circumstances. As a "motherless daughter of a motherless daughter," Mershon transformed personal tragedy into a resource for others navigating similar grief.

Her latest creation, "It's Mostly Good to Be Martha," introduces readers to an 89-year-old protagonist who becomes an amateur sleuth in her assisted living community. The character embodies Mershon's approach to aging - maintaining vibrant friendships, staying physically active, nurturing curiosity, and embracing new adventures. As scientific research confirms, creativity and continuous learning protect our brains and keep us young at heart regardless of chronological age.

Ready to reimagine what's possible in your own life? Listen for inspiration to pursue creative dreams at any age, and remember: it's never too late to begin something new. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts for a chance to win a copy of Mershon's book and connect with her newsletter for monthly inspiration.

https://www.LifeIsDelicious.ca/bookshelf ( Happy Is Not An Accident)

Find Marnie Martin here: 

Website : https://www.LifeIsDelicious.ca ( Podcast) and          

 https://www.MarnieMartin.com ( Voice Over )

Email: marnie@marniemartin.com

Join the FREE Facebook Community here:

Life Is Delicious Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/lifeisdelicious

CONNECT WITH MERSHON

Email her at mershonniesner@gmail.com to get a copy of her book(s) and join her monthly newsletter.

Find her books on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08CZZP8NR


Find Marnie Martin here:

LINK for 25% OFF SUPERPATCH

BUY MY BOOK: HAPPY IS NOT AN ACCIDENT here:

https://www.LifeIsDelicious.ca/bookshelf

Website : https://www.LifeIsDelicious.ca

Voiceover Work: https://www.MarnieMartin.com

Email: marnie@marniemartin.com

Join the FREE Facebook Community here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/24181886758064052

Life Is Delicious Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/lifeisdelicious

Speaker 1:

Hey, beautiful friend, it's Marni and welcome back to Life is Delicious. Today I have the privilege of talking with a lovely guest. Her name is Mershawn Neisner. She is an author and a certified life coach. She writes the Ask the Life Coach column for the Coastal Breeze News and has published four books. Her first book, mom's Gone Now what, was published on her 75th birthday, and she just completed her fourth book, it's Mostly Good to Be Martha, and it was released just before she turned 80.

Speaker 1:

She is a vibrant force and her books and her life are a reflection of how to age with vitality and to never lose one's zest for living. So if you've ever thought that you're too old to start something new, this episode is for you. We're going to be talking about why it's never too late to start that something new. Stick with us. Welcome to this episode of Life is Delicious. I'm Marni Martin and I'm so glad you're here. And if this is your first time here, welcome to the Life is Delicious family. This podcast isn't about surviving midlife. It's about crafting your next chapter life overflowing with purpose, joy and delicious possibilities. Listen, midlife doesn't have to be a crisis. It can be a beautiful invitation to remember who we are to rediscover a new version of ourself or to completely reinvent our life to reflect who we are becoming now.

Speaker 1:

So if you're tired of being exhausted, living life on autopilot and putting everyone else first, then you are in the right place. Each week, we'll bring you thought-provoking ideas and practical strategies, as well as inspiration, to help you prioritize yourself again. It's time to take back your joie de vivre. So grab a notebook and pen and pop in those earbuds and let's go get it. As we all know, life isn't always delicious, and one of the only constants we have in life is that things are always changing. Life can be a beautiful mess of twists and turns and as we grow through each unique season of life, our needs change, our goals change, our priorities change and our responsibilities change. And sometimes, when the really hard stuff shows up, as it inevitably will, we can find ourselves lost and without a clear direction. Sometimes that can happen when we've had a huge life transition, like a divorce or a diagnosis, or we realize that our babies are all grown up and ready to be out on their own, and sometimes it can be a subtle or not so subtle restlessness that tells us we're ready to step into a bigger, bolder, more authentic version of ourself. But one thing is for sure we can't transition into what's next happily until we get really clear about what's weighing us down, what lights us up and what we truly want when our soul whispers its truth.

Speaker 1:

Happy is Not an Accident is a guided journal created to bring you back home to your truest self, to remember who you are and to give you a safe place to explore and reflect on where you've been, where you really want to go and who you want to become now, with deep, inspiring prompts, thought-provoking questions and powerful exercises to help you excavate your most authentic self. Happy is not an accident will be the daily ritual that you look forward to as you step into this next awesome chapter of life. Give yourself the gift of self-reflection and create this beautiful life of yours on purpose and with intention. Get your copy, or one for somebody that you love at lifeisdeliciousca forward slash happy Welcome, mershawn.

Speaker 1:

I'm so grateful to have you here on the show today, thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, no worries. It's been such an honor to kind of learn about your story, and one of the things we wanted to talk about today is that you became an author when you were 75 for the very first time. Now, I know that's not the first time you've reinvented yourself, so maybe give us a quick overview of your story and some of the hats you've worn over your life.

Speaker 2:

Sure, I'd be happy to. I guess I hadn't thought about it being sort of historical before. You know, when you and I talked, we talked about me publishing my first book at 75. And that's how I think of this for reinvention. But as I was looking back, I realized that even when I very first started a career, I had graduated from college early, so I was 21 and just gotten married, but I had a teaching degree, but it was December, so I was waiting to teach and I came across an opportunity to be a social worker. So that was kind of the first reinvention was from planning to be a teacher to becoming a social worker.

Speaker 2:

And then I was home with kids for many years after that and then once again, at about 43, I reinvented myself again as a marketing communications head of business, an entrepreneur, and I had no experience, I had no training. I walked out the door and said this is who I am and I printed up pink business cards. Now, this was the era when women were trying to emulate men in business, so they wore little ties and suits and here I was with my pink business card. But it worked and I had a successful business. And then that morphed into coaching and I became a certified life coach and then I started writing. There's been a lot of changes, as most people have. Most people have diversity in their careers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think it's not uncommon for us to have sort of seasons in our life and chapters where we do a certain thing and then we kind of master that and we grow maybe out of that particular situation and maybe it's time for us to challenge ourself again.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, exactly, and I guess the only thing that would be unique about me is I'm 80 and I'm, you know, about to. Well, I just published my fourth book and I'm pretty close to finishing up my fifth, so that might be a little unusual, but if you really look it up, there are a lot of people that did things as oldsters, as I would say.

Speaker 1:

Of course. But it's so inspiring because there are a lot of people who kind of struggle with being able to let their talents show and to be able to bring things out. They think I'm too old to try that. Old dogs don't learn new tricks.

Speaker 1:

You know all those things we're stuck with and it's so, not true. So it's always really interesting and inspiring to watch somebody take on their own dreams and to say I can do that and I know when we talked on the phone. One of the things that I thought was super inspiring is sort of how you got into writing. So that was a really cute story. So tell us how that began.

Speaker 2:

Sure, I'd be glad to. In fact, it's really in honor of the woman who I met. It's in honor of her 88th birthday, which was this week.

Speaker 2:

Anyway at the time.

Speaker 2:

Well, I still live in Florida during the most of the year, eight months out of the year, and at the time, though, I lived in a house on a cul-de-sac, and there were a couple of empty labs across the street, so we kind of made it our business If we saw someone kind of wandering around, and I saw this woman, and so I went up to her and introduced myself and come to find out she owned the property across the street, but two hours later, we had exited the middle of the street and ourselves in front of my pool and just talked, and at the end of those two hours, she was very definitively told me that I needed to write a book, I needed to join her writers group, her critique group, and when was I going to get started?

Speaker 2:

She's really. Her name is Virginia Reed, r-e-a-d, consequently, and she's a force to be reckoned with. She has an amazing background and, you know, actually was in the CIA in the 50s. I mean, really an amazing woman, but she's someone. When she says you do it, you do it, you know, okay. So that was May, and I came back to Illinois, and I started writing a book, just like that, and that's how my first book came about.

Speaker 1:

Initially Nice and was she able to sort of help you with the process of getting the publishing happening and to be able to sort of mentor you in that way?

Speaker 2:

No, she'd never published a book. She had always been a writer and she had lots of stories she'd written and actually she used to write back in the day. She summarized and wrote the daily news report for the President of the United States in his cabinet every morning. Wow, that's super interesting and I always thought that was so cool and she's like no, I was just a housewife, Anyway. But she never published a book.

Speaker 2:

But because she steered me to her writers group and her critique group, I met people who had published books, who were writers, and then fairly early on, I went to Jackson Hole Writers Conference two years in a row where I really learned more about the craft. So that's yeah, that's how it progressed. And I was very intent on traditionally publishing that first book and was kind of on my way. I had a bit of interest from agents, et cetera, and then COVID came along. I had a bit of interest from agents, et cetera, and then COVID came along and because I had interviewed 50 women about their mother-in-law stories, I felt a huge responsibility in terms of getting this book out into the world and getting it published. And so, right in the middle of COVID, I decided to self-publish and it was actually published on my 75th birthday, July the 2020. Great yeah. And then you know, I just did a lot of Zoom. I mean, I launched a book via Zoom and it was all okay.

Speaker 1:

You know it was all okay. Well, it's so interesting how many people either found COVID to be crippling or they looked at it as a whole new opportunity to do something in a different way and to find a you know, a zig or a zag to a situation that maybe would have been, you know, not happening otherwise. So I a situation that maybe would have been, you know, not happening otherwise. So I think that's amazing that you actually still continue to take that initiative and find a way to put it together. Now, your first book was the one you're speaking about, and I know it was about that.

Speaker 1:

your story is that you lost your mom when you were eight years old, and so I can't imagine I just lost my mom this year. So I imagine that was very good to be able to bring that to light and to shed some light on that for other people who've gone through that situation. So tell us about the interview process with the women that you worked with and how that all kind of came together.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's kind of interesting because, well, first of all, I'm the motherless daughter of a motherless daughter. So my mother's mother died when she was two and then my mother died when I was eight, and they're unrelated. It wasn't a related illness or anything. But when I first wrote my book that summer, after I was convinced by Virginia that I needed to do it, I wrote a book. It was mostly my story. I sent it to my editor, who was phenomenal, and she said do you want to write a memoir or do you want to write a self-help book? And I said I want to write a self-help book. And she said well, this is a memoir.

Speaker 2:

So I went back and completely redid it. Now I kept the memoir aspect in terms of my own story, but I interviewed 50 women that had had loss of all different kinds at all different ages Alzheimer's, suicide, even murder, of course, various illnesses Anyway, and so that's how that came together. And then through those interviews, that's how the 10 steps it's 10 steps to help daughters move forward and those 10 steps just grew out of those interviews. So it's interesting because I'm just now putting together a program, a four-week program on memoir writing. So for a senior living place here in Illinois. It's the largest senior living in Illinois, actually 1,000 residents. But I'm doing a memoir writing class and you know it's kind of ironic because that's how I started, essentially was writing a memoir, and now I'm going to be teaching it started essentially was writing a memoir, and now I'm going to be teaching it.

Speaker 1:

Well, I love that so much because what's really fascinating is that a lot of those people that you are going to be teaching the class to have stories to tell, and it's amazing just like you may not have told your story if somebody hadn't given you a little nudge that you can now be that inspiration for others.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, absolutely. No. I'm really excited about it and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you know, what I love is that I've heard so many different scientific studies that talk about how our brains stay healthier and are less prone to memory loss and dementia and all variety of diseases and ailments by staying creative and being able to keep a part of your brain active, and writing a memoir would be a fantastic way to do that, to go back down through their memories, and what a wonderful thing to be able, what a gift to be able to give to those residents.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, yeah, I hope so, and I think you're absolutely right, marnie, in terms of the creative aspect. That's one that keeps, I think, helps keep people young or just keeps people sharp. So there's a creative part, and then there's also the learning, something new and that was one of the things that I challenged myself for. This summer I went to this senior living place, which, by the way, I had been chairman of their board of directors years ago, so I was very familiar with them. But so I went in and I said you know, I'd love to teach this class, I'd love to do a program on kind of reinventing yourself, a little bit like what we're doing right now. And they said, sure, well, then I had to come back and create these.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't like I had them in the can you know?

Speaker 2:

Well, that's the best way to do it. That's the best way to do it. So I'm challenging myself to not only continue to be creative, but also I want to challenge myself to do new things and learn new things. So I've had to learn about memoir writing in more detail than I might have known before.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, that's fantastic. Well, good for you for continuing to challenge yourself. I think that's brave and says a lot about who you are. Just because you know not everybody does that, it's definitely. You have to take your own initiative right, and you have to sort of drive your own bus.

Speaker 2:

I like that. Yes, for sure.

Speaker 1:

So tell us about this new book that you your last book. It sounds fascinating and I know it's the name of a friend of yours that I think you just said had turned 98. Tell us a little bit about how that book became inspired.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's a cute story too, when I was in a book club that had just read my third book. No, they just read my second book, which was the Bootmaker's Wife, which, by the way, I wrote that during COVID because I was getting bored waiting for my Mom's Gone book to be done. You know, it has to be designed and all that.

Speaker 1:

So anyway they had. Wow, you're a writing machine.

Speaker 2:

They had done the Bootmaker's Wife for their book club. So we discussed it and you know we're having a good time and they said what's next? And I said, well, I'm pretty well underway for the prequel and I told them about that, about that book, and then they and that's Angie the bee lady. And then they said what's next? And I'm like good grief, folks, it was about 20, 25 ladies. They were probably 60 to 85 years old. They were all vibrant, they had all these cute outfits on, they were just these cool ladies and.

Speaker 2:

I, just on the spur of the moment, I said I'm going to write a book about a fun, feisty older lady and they cheered they literally cheered, and that was enough motivation for me to come home and start my book called it's Mostly Good to Be Martha.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love that story. That's so great. Well see you've had a lot of little bits of nudges of inspiration all through your life, very organic ones, so this must be the path you're meant to be on.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it is for sure, absolutely. And you know, every job I've had, everything I've done, I've really loved it. And when I get bored or get, even when it comes to a genre of a book, if I get, if I get bored with, one genre, I just move to another, you know that's not good for marketing particularly, but I don't care, I want to do what I love.

Speaker 1:

Well, exactly, you've earned the right to do whatever you want and you know what, and that's important also to do what is what's inside your soul, not just what somebody else thinks is the next thing that's going to sell, right? Because, exactly yeah, it's the creative process and it's self expression, and it's joy and it's all of the good things that keep you vibrant and alive. Right, Absolutely, absolutely. So tell us a little bit about this, martha.

Speaker 2:

Oh Martha, well, I really like Martha. Well, I really like Martha, she's kind of me. In 10 years I guess. She burnt the pot and that's what got her into assisted living, because she was living in Iowa by herself and she literally burnt the pot. The fireman had to come and it was quite the deal. And so her very conservative, uptight lawyer son he said that's it, you're moving. And so he uprooted her from Iowa, took her to Poughkeepsie, new York, which is where he lived, and installed her into an assisted living.

Speaker 2:

Well, she, you know it was pretty abrupt and shocking, but she didn't really mind because right away she made friends and she established a life. And then things started happening, mysterious things. So she really became kind of an amateur sleuth Sometimes it was because in one case she was accused of abducting her friend Harold and stashing him away somewhere. So she had to solve that case. And then there was a purse snatcher in the region. So she volunteered to be a decoy for the purse snatcher, and that's the cover. She volunteered to be a decoy for the purse snatcher, and that's the cover. And if you look closely on the cover you see this little shadow of a hand about to snatch her purse. So there's other things too, but she becomes this amateur sleuth.

Speaker 2:

But along the way there's these tender stories about her friends and sometimes the demise of her friends. You know she lives in assisted living. People are old and people are app. You know she lives in assisted living. People are old and people are dying, you know so. So there's there's pieces about loss and death and but mostly it's about the value, importance of friendship and and then just keeping vibrant. You know she goes to the gym every couple of days. She, you know, she just does things to keep herself a vibrant person. And when the book starts out she's 89. And then in the book she turns 90. And then she also takes a transcontinental trip with her granddaughter and a lot happens on that trip. So I'll leave that as a mystery.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Well, you know what I think you're right on the money with all of that. I know my mom and dad got moved into assisted living just last year and then, of course, my mom passed in January, but I'm so grateful that we moved them in while they were together, because they were able to make friendships and my dad, when she did pass, he wasn't alone.

Speaker 1:

He was already had a group of community and people that he could look forward to seeing every morning and I think 100% that helped through the grieving process and it's just been such a joy to see him, you know, thriving there because he feels supported and it's a really, really great thing.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's a. I'm so happy to hear that. You know, that's not always the outcome. I'm really happy to hear that, marnie. That's great.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think so much of it, like what you're saying with the way you approach your life and also the way Martha approaches her life, is it's a mindset issue. You know my dad is a very positive guy, so he looks for reasons to be happy instead of for reasons to be unhappy, and I think that speaks to everything in our life when we what we look to find is what usually shows up in our life.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. You attract what you put out and it comes back to you.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, exactly. Well, it's been so fun to learn your story and I know we've chatted a little bit about you. Have another book coming up, so what's that one about? Tell our listeners what they can expect and then I'll give them some details on um where they can find your books, etc it's the um, the next in the Martha series.

Speaker 2:

So it's another Martha book and it's called Murder, maybe at Martin Manor, because she lives at Martin Manor. So it's a little more of a cozy mystery. It still features Martha. Harold is still there. Most of her friends have either died or departed in other ways so she's had to make new friends and get a new group together in terms of her investigations and so forth. But it's a fun book and most people, if they like the first Martha, they're going to like Martha number two.

Speaker 1:

Just so all of the listeners know, Rashaan has volunteered to give me a book to give away.

Speaker 2:

I'm thinking about the Martha book as the giveaway, and then also I would love to have people sign up for my newsletter, which just comes out once a month. It's about a two-minute read and it's fun. It has a recommended book, somebody else's, it has a recipe, it has a health tip and then another little story.

Speaker 1:

What we're going to do is we're going to actually give away one of the it's Almost Good to Be Martha books, and what you need to do is go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review of the podcast and then we will put everybody who left a review within a 30-day period into a draw to get a copy of her book. So that'll be amazing. We're going to actually put all of the details into the show notes. So if you want to join Mershawn's email list so you can get some good book recommendations, great recipes and some other fun little stories that she shares in her email, when can they find that? What email can they reach out to you so that they can be?

Speaker 2:

aware of that. Yes, just my name, Mershawn Neisner at gmailcom.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, that's great. So we'll make sure that's all in there, so you get the spelling right, and I am so looking forward to hearing when the next book comes out. And thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with me and inspiring us all to keep going, because it's never too late time with me and inspiring us all to keep going, because it's never too late.

Speaker 2:

It's never too late.

Speaker 1:

So my pleasure, marnie, thank you. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I hope it inspired you or motivated you in some way to keep going and to create your very best life. Want to know what to do next? Share this episode with someone that you love who maybe just needs a little more delicious in their life. Join my free Facebook community over at Mindset Mastery for Midlife Women, where like-minded women come together to support and inspire each other and where we get to hang out together and I offer cool bonuses, videos and some extra content. And lastly, don't forget to subscribe so that when new episodes drop, they'll be queued up and ready for you. In case no one has told you today, there's not one person on this planet that is exactly like you, and the world is a better place because you're here. So thank you for being here. I'll be back next week and I hope you'll join me right here on Life is Delicious.