Why Starting Over at 57 Is Not Too Late — It's When Life Beginsn- Barbara Warren-Bloms

Most of us underestimate the power of starting over — no matter our age. At 57, Barbara Warren Blums decided it was time to embrace her true calling, proving that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. Her story is a masterclass in resilience, showing how a lifetime of experiences can fuel a bold new chapter filled with creativity, purpose, and unapologetic passion.From growing up in a small town, handling heartbreaks, and becoming a mother in her teens, to excelling as a nurse, leader, and cosmetologist, Barbara’s journey is a testament to how responsibility and perseverance lay the groundwork for reinvention. She shares how each stepping stone — whether it was her career, motherhood, or side passions like sewing and acting — built her resilience and unlocked new ambitions. Her story challenges the belief that dreams expire with age, revealing instead how life’s lessons prepare us for the next great adventure.In this episode, you’ll discover:

• How Barbara navigated the challenges of early motherhood and a small-town life to become a dedicated nurse and leader in healthcare.
• The surprising way her experience on "The Price is Right" ignited her passion for acting at 57, proving the power of pursuing dreams regardless of age.
• The importance of viewing failure as a lesson, not a setback, and why it’s the secret to continual growth.
• How embracing your creative side, whether sewing, performing, or modeling, can change how you see yourself and open new doors later in life.
• Practical advice for listeners juggling responsibilities—parents, caregivers, or career professionals—who feel stuck or think their dreams are out of reach.

Why does this matter? Because Barbara’s journey highlights that the right moment to start is always now. Her story urges you to break free from limitations, trust your lived experience, and pursue what truly excites you—no matter your age. Whether you’re contemplating a career switch, chasing a long-held dream, or simply need a dose of inspiration to keep going, her story is a reminder: your best chapter is still ahead.Meet a woman who has worn many titles—mother, nurse, mentor, artist, actress—and shows us that success isn’t about perfection; it’s about perseverance and daring to begin again. Her unapologetic embrace of her evolving identity will inspire you to see age as a catalyst, not a barrier, to your passions. Perfect for anyone feeling the call to reinvent, renew, or simply live more fully—this episode is your blueprint to starting now, with courage and joy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

When you feel like life has got you a hand of unfair cards. Instead of voting, you double down. We stuck in the game. You face battles. You felt broken. But hey, do us a favor. Put your hand on your heart. You feel that? You're still here. Welcome to the Resilience Files Unlocked, where survival meets transformation. Welcome back to the Resilience Files Podcast. I'm your host, Carrie Bernance, and I am so excited about our guest today. First off, she was working overnight in with some ICU patients, and God bless her heart. We are so thankful to have such caring guests on here, but she has a phenomenal story that I feel like you need to hear today. And her story comes with it's never too late to become. When society says your dreams expire, but your soul says it's time to begin, listen to it. Well, as we do here on the Brazilian spouse podcast, we like to read our guest essay. And I would love to introduce you to our guest today, Barbara Warren Blums. My life, becoming again and again. I have lived many lives in one lifetime. Some were chosen, some were necessary, and some waited patiently until I was brave enough to claim them. If there is one truth that runs through my story, it is this. I have never stopped becoming. I grew up knowing early that life would act something of me. I learned responsibility young. I learned how to show up even when I was unsure, how to keep moving when the path ahead wasn't clear. Those early years shaped my work ethic, my resilience, and my belief that nothing meaningful comes without effort. I didn't always know where I was going, but I knew I was meant for more than standing still. I became a mother early, and with that came a fierce sense of purpose. Suddenly my life wasn't just about my own dreams. It was about stability, survival, and setting an example. I worked hard, sometimes relentlessly, determined to prove to myself and the world that I was capable, dependable, and strong. I made a promise that I would never settle for less than what my children and I deserved. That promise became a driving force in everything I did. Nursing found me not by accident, but by alignment. It was the perfect marriage of discipline and compassion, science and humanity. Over the years, I grew into my role, not just as a nurse, but as a leader, a mentor, and a steady presence in moments when people felt most vulnerable. I have held hands in fear, celebrated recoveries, and stood quietly in rooms heavy with grief. I learned that true strength is often soft-spoken and that showing up consistently is its own form of courage. As a charged nurse and a unit shift coordinator, I became someone others relied on. I took pride in becoming organized, calm under pressure, and deeply respectful of every patient and colleague. I saw potential in new nurses before they saw it in themselves. I believed in lifting others as I climbed, as I climbed, because healthcare is not just about skill, it is about humanity. Nursing did not just become my profession, it became part of my identity. But there was another side of me that never went away. Before the scrubs, before the credentials, there was creativity. There was an awareness of presence and expression of how people communicate beyond words. My work as a beautician and cosmetologist taught me on how transformation, both external and internal, can change the way someone sees themselves. Sitting across from clients, I listened to their stories. I learned how confidence can be restored with care, attention, and trust. Those moments reminded me that we are all performing roles, all hoping to be seen. Still, for many years, I told myself that certain dreams had an expiration date. Then, at 57, I decided to stop believing that. Starting acting lessons later, and life was both terrifying and exhilarating. Walking to that first class, I was surrounded by people younger than me. But I carried something they didn't yet have, life experience. I have lived heartbreak, responsibility, joy, loss, success, and reinvention. I realized that every moment I have survived had prepared me for this new chapter. Acting didn't feel like starting over. It felt like coming home. I discovered that everything I had done before, nursing, motherhood, leadership, cosmetology, had trained me for storytelling. I understood human emotion, not for theory, but from lived experience. I knew how to listen, how to respond, how to be fully present. I wasn't chasing fame. I was answering a call that had waited patiently for me to be ready. Being signed to an agency was a moment of quiet validation, not because it meant that I had made it, but because it proved that it was never too late to be taken seriously, to be seen, to begin again. I'm building something new now. Not in spite of my age, but because of it. Today I stand as a woman who has worn many titles: mother, nurse, leader, mentor, petition, artist, actor. None of them cancel the other. They coexist, strengthening one another. My story is not about perfection. It is about perseverance. It is about choosing growth over fear and possibility over limitation. I am still becoming. And for the first time, I'm doing it fully, unapologetically, and with gratitude for every chapter that brought me here. Beautiful. Wow, Barbara. So, so beautiful. Thank you. Oh, wow. You said so many great things. First off, hearing your essay read out loud, how do you feel right now?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

I'm surprised I wrote that. It's it's all true though. Like, but you want to know what started off my acting thing? Yeah, what started you there? That I was on the prices right and I won the showcase showdown. Wow. Okay, we love that. I had a lot of fun being on camera, and so I've always wanted to do acting, so that was I I just decided that I can do everything. Yeah. You know. And actually, and um I've been working where I work for um twenty twenty-six years, and I can retire next year and I probably will and go find another nursing job, um, but collect my pension. And I'm definitely pursuing like modeling and acting jobs too. Um But I'm lucky I can I can do I can do a lot of different things. You know, I I do hair, I do I do nursing, I'm a mom, a grandma, dog owner. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I want to start from your early responsibility before you before you got into this world. Multiple lifetimes in one body from all the careers you've had, like you said, mom, doctor, nurse.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

It started like on this day 40 years ago. This is my son's 40th birthday.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Um Wow Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

So when I had my son, I realized I could do anything. I mean, I didn't start out like saying, Oh, I'm gonna keep getting more and more and more stuffed, but just with with being, you know, I w I got married after I had him and had my daughter and like he he drank a lot and we just went our separate ways, and it it was necessary for me as a single parent to provide an income for our family, you know. Um and I I got lucky all along the way. I got into a LPN program. Well, before that, I I got my cosmetology degree. So I always had an another little job that was boosting me up to my next one. So like I worked worked as a barber and on a barber shop as I was going to LPN school. I got my LPN, then I kept going and got my RN. And like I've done that for so many years. And just I think all my different, all the different education things that I've done all along the way have like built well onto each other. And I I feel like they they complement each other, all of them do. That's what it sounds like.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Responsibility didn't break you, it built you, it led you from one thing to the next thing to the next thing. And it seemed like you used it as stepping stones, you know, where people would have sought like heartbreak and the divorce, you know, maybe wasn't as favorable or it wasn't what you wanted at the time, but it was what was necessary in order to maintain your mental health as well as your children's. And then that led you to something else. You were able to have that side job. I think that so many people are listening today and they're probably wondering, like, well, how am I gonna get here? This is a big goal, this is a big dream. And like you said, you got your LPN that led to your RN. And it's those stepping stones that keep the momentum alive. Do you feel like that was it for you?

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yeah, I, you know, everything that I've ever done, I have to say, go back to my kids, to providing a good future for my kids. And both my kids have turned out to be great people. My son is a computer engineer, and my daughter is a ward secretary at at the ER where I work. So I work with her frequently. They are the ones I like, I wouldn't have been as motivated. Like, if I didn't have my kids, I wouldn't be as motivated to keep building us a future. And I'm married, I'm remarried now. I we've been married for 26 years. And he he's a really good stepdad for my kids. So that's good. Yeah. I'm lucky. Lucky in love, the second children. Oh, you are. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

The kids are proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

The kids are the whole reason I did everything. And like coming from the small town that I came from, I don't know if you're familiar with how small towns are, but a lot of gossip, a lot of um people that are not always so nice behind your back. And I just felt like I always had to prove myself. And like I I had my son when I was a senior in high school, and I wasn't gonna have that be the reason that I didn't achieve whatever I wanted to achieve. It just made it uh having my kids made me more motivated than less. I mean, it yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Yeah, that's exactly what I was gonna say. It feels like motherhood didn't shrink your dreams, it sharpened them, it motivated them, it ignited the fire. And you know, I think that it's not like the most favorable situation to have a kid during high school, but you didn't let it stop you. And no, I think that that's a testament of his own. You know, I think there's probably some young mothers out there, like my mom also was pregnant with me, her senior year in high school as well. And to just see like what type of fire and drive that it gives you, you know, you're leaving childhood, entering adulthood and motherhood at the same time. And I want to applaud you for that because I think that could be so difficult. But you kept going and you didn't let go of your dreams. How did you feel like becoming a mother changed your ambition?

SPEAKER_00 12:05

I mean, I was scared to fail because I didn't want my kids to fail. You know what? I didn't feel like my kids should have to pay the price for me. Like they shouldn't have to have a decreased standard of living or whatever, like a decreased standard of living just because they were born to somebody who wasn't educated yet and was younger than she, you know, I shouldn't have had a a baby when I was 18, but I wasn't gonna let that impact their lives. They they didn't they they grew up not um having to be a product of like just somebody who, you know, I like I I felt like I had to keep going. I had to have I I had to do everything I had to do because what else would I do? How else would I survive with them, you know? And wanting them to have the best, um, it motivated me.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Yeah, I love that. I think that's so beautiful. What was that transition like for you when you got into nursing? Because I find it so beautiful that you did that, because you said like you held hands with basically fear and grief at the same time. And to me, that's very sacred work. And it takes a very special, warm kind of person to get into a career that is so selfless. What did you what was that career option for you that decided that nursing was the right thing for you? What made you want to get your LPN that led to your RA?

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Um, there was a uh opening for a satellite program. You know, I I'm from North Dakota and there was a satellite program. It was a brand new program where you could do distance learning. It was now it's all the thing, but I mean, back then it was like the first that anybody had ever done that up there. And I got into the program. My mom had gotten into a program like that, and so she encouraged me to apply. I was even through high school, I was a nursing assistant at the nursing home. So I've always liked taking care of people. I mean, I'd and my sister is 12 years younger than me, so I've always liked taking care of younger people in my life or like at the nursing home working. Like ever since I was old enough to work, I I worked, you know. And and like my dad, when I when I got pregnant with my son, he wouldn't talk to me for about six months because he was so ashamed. And he said he was just, you know, talking to a friend one night about how hard of a worker I was, and then he found this out. That really made me feel bad, you know. Like um, I'm still the same person, you know, but I just really disappointed him. Kind of some of it was to try to fix that disappointment in him.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yeah, you're trying to get acceptance.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Yep.

unknown 15:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

When did when in talking about that when your dad was disappointed at that moment, when did you feel like you he finally accepted you or the fact that you know you were gonna have his grandbaby regardless if he liked it or not?

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Like this was this was it. As I got like almost to the do like towards the end of the pregnancy, uh, he really came around and he was a over-the-road truck driver and he was there when when my son was born, and of course, he's like the apple of his eye, you know. He just loved him. And and my dad my mom and dad are both past now, but um the they they were their only grandkids, you know, until my sister had she had two kids, but that was after my mom had passed, my dad was he only got one of her kids when she was like a baby. So my grand my kids were the grandkids of the family for a long time. Yeah. Like my my son would go truck driving with my dad every summer. They were really good friends, you know, good buddies. And so, like, it wasn't long after I had my son that I had my dad back, you know. Oh yeah, he got better.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Yeah, that's beautiful. I would love to know, like, what do you feel like nursing taught you about humanity? I think like Hippocrates said, wherever the art of medicine is loved, there's also the love of humanity. And I think that obviously, like you've always loved people, you always cared for your child and children. And we were just talking briefly before this podcast about, you know, you caring for ICU patients. What do you feel like most people don't understand when a person is like at that lowest point, you know, maybe for the patient, and then also maybe as a nurse's perspective?

SPEAKER_00 17:12

I feel like um sometimes some of my nursing colleagues can be kind of judgmental to people, like they come in and they're very unkempt, maybe big beards, like not taking care of themselves, um, teeth missing, but those those people are still people inside. And so like I always try to um treat each person like an individual and not just as the shell of what they show on the outside, because they're still still the person on the inside, and I like to layer like get through the layers of stuff and find the person on the inside. I I just love I love that. I love getting to know people and like even like my coworkers, like the other day I was just saying to my coworker, we were talking about somebody, I said, Oh, I just love them. I just love them. And then it wasn't that much longer later, and I I said, Oh, I love her, she's just awesome. She said, Do you love everybody? And I think I do. I think I do love everybody.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

That's so beautiful, it's so sweet and so warm, and I'm so thankful that we have a nurse like you on our side. And thank you, you know, these patients. Because I think it's that you're you mentioned in your essay, it's like such a vulnerable place to be in when you have to go to the hospital or you have to go to the doctor, and you don't want to be there. And I think the last thing you want to be mad with is judgment. And I appreciate you for like, you know, making it a judgment-free, lovable zone. And I think like there has to be some love because like this a person's life is on the line. And exactly, you know, and also at the end of the day, like I think this world is such a lonely place and it's such a such a um really it's just a lonely place. And people don't really receive care and love, not even from their family members or close friends. And the older they grow, the more they're left alone, and the more that that builds up on them and they're already in like a dark spot of life. And I think like even if they had to come to the hospital to get light, you know, or to find relief or find some joy, no, if that's of course in the healing of it, but more even if it's in the people of it. And I I I'm so happy they have you.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

I think well, that's sweet. Thank you. I I think um some people do like to be in the hospital, they do like the care that they get, you know what I mean? Like they kind of like the attention sorta. Um my husband is uh he he's a maintenance man at a 55 plus apartment. And um he he's actually 12 years older than me, so he's 70. So he's kind of in that he goes and has coffee with his friends every morning. And uh we we get really attached to the people that live there. Like when when my Price is Right show was on, we had a watch party at the at that place, and a lot of those people are lonely. And my husband is just wonderful. He one of them is on hospice right now, and he has been bringing them food every day. You you just gotta reach out to your community and try to help as many people as you can. Whether it's at work or whether it's at in your community, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Yeah, that's so beautiful. Oh, I'm so happy that your husband and you are like a matchmate for sure, you know. And for you all just to have these beautiful, warm hearts. And I hope that it truly inspires someone that's listening today. Um, absolutely. I love that you mentioned in your essay that dreams don't die. They wait. And I feel like, you know, so many people need to hear that. Like starting over at 57, you said, I'm not starting over, I'm beginning new, I'm coming home to what has been waiting for me. This could be a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Because all this time, all this time I've had to be so serious. And like I do keep getting certifications at my work, you know, like I study and take more certifications to be, you know, prove my skills and stuff. But I've always wanted to do this side of my, you know, the acting side, and I just never could really, but now is the time in my life I can, you know, and um I'm just gonna go for it.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Did you ever feel like you had to bury that creative side of you?

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Very much so. Very much so. I mean, I didn't have time for that, or you know, and like I even told my husband the other day, like, I don't like I'm 58. I just turned 58 and I don't feel looking amazing.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Hi. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Thank you. Um, so like I don't feel like, oh my god, I'm getting so old, I don't want to get older. Like I look forward to 59 is gonna be cool because then I can start taking money out of my bouquet and like I I feel like every little step, even like just even getting older is just exciting because there's always there you don't have to stop dreaming just because you're a certain age.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Like yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

I I feel like they still need older people too in everything, you know?

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Absolutely, yes, they do. And I love that I think so many people are so afraid of getting older, and it's so it frustrates me. I'm like, you know, like can you imagine? Like we unfortunately the people die every day, and death is inevitable, and we can still be six feet above ground, and it's beautiful over here. And I'm not saying that, you know, death is not beautiful because it has its own identity as well, but I'm saying, like, while you're here and you're able to go after and chase these dreams and find joy that to roll in that. And I'm so happy that um you said, yeah, like, girl, draw that money out of your 401k, IRA, all of that stuff when you get older. I think also so many people don't take advantage of that. They're like, oh, I'm gonna do it at 65, I'm gonna do it at 70. No, like go live your life, have fun.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Like, yeah, my husband is like, he's scared, I think, because like, you know, I I like money and I have a bunch of gay money. I'm like, oh, that's gonna be dangerous, really.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

No, go check out. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Um, I I love that you didn't. I I wanna I think somebody might be listening right now and saying, like, okay, see, uh, they might be in their 30s or they might be in their 40s, and they might hear and like, well, she didn't start until she was 57, then do I need to take on a serious career first and then like put my dreams on the back burner and then do it? Or what would you say to that person, that a person that might be a little younger? Do you think that they can simultaneously do it at the same time? Or do you think they should go all in? Because maybe they have responsibility, maybe they have children, or they're caring for a parent. What do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 24:18

I I feel like God only gives you what you can handle. And like, I don't think you have to wait for one thing than the other. I think you can do simultaneously two different or more than one different thing. It's just that you have to be a solid, smooth person for your kids. Always do that. Always be your, you know, whatever you need to do to be your solid, smooth person for your kids when they're growing up. And then um when when they're done, you know, when they've grown up, I mean they still need you, they still uh need stuff, but um then you can kind of branch off a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Um, but I don't think I don't think just because you're 30 and you haven't done this or that, I mean that doesn't that shouldn't hold you back. I don't think age is a thing that should hold you back ever at all. Period. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

I love that. I feel like age isn't a limitation, it's leverage. Like it is, and with more experience, like you mentioned as you got into acting, you came with more experience than the younger people, and that lived experience definitely helps drive the story and moves it forward and gives more context. I would love to talk about that. What did it feel like walking into your first acting class?

SPEAKER_00 25:33

No, it was scary, very scary, because like I was, I mean, I'm 58, and the next youngest person was, I think he's like 24, and they're all younger from there, you know. And it was intimidating because like, well, each week you learn a different thing. Like they they, you know, we te we learn about commercials or you know, how to present a commercial and and monologues and all the different there's so many different things like improvisation, and it's very intimidating to get up in front of a whole group of people and say your commercial and um feel at ease about it. And I still feel nervous even though I know the people in the class. Um but and actually I just went to Hollywood about a month ago and did an audition like for agents, and it was a contest, an acting contest, and I got honorable mentionment for my acting in a commercial and for my headshots. And so it's never too late. Nothing is too late. It's just it's scary to do that first step. But once you do the first step, you know, you've got it.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Yes. Once you do the first step, yeah, you got it. I love that. Yeah. Um, yeah, you just gotta take the first step. I always say one day or day one. Like today could be day one, tomorrow could be day two. And if you keep making steps, you'll be on day 100 before you know it. But unless you make that first step or you make that first move, it's never gonna happen.

unknown 27:04

Right.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

You just say, one day I'll do it, or you know, or if you let fear swallow you.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

You know, I I um also like I I like to do a lot of creative things. I do a cricket. If you've ever heard of cricket, you know, yes. Um and then like I got a sewing machine a couple years ago during COVID, but I didn't know how to thread it, and I would just sit here and just almost cry because I I was like telling my husband, I don't know what to do. I want to sew so bad, but I don't know. I finally got somebody to show me, and now I've got like a fusion dollar embroidery machine, and I just did a quilt for my friend with you know, her mom passed away, so I did her t-shirts into a quilt. And sewing can be frustrating too. Everything can be frustrating that you're learning that's new, but just because you're a certain age doesn't mean you can't learn. And even if you make a mistake, you just back it up and do it over again. I mean, like if you're in nursing school and you fail a test, or if you're I don't know, if you're cutting somebody's hair and you didn't do that great a job and somebody has to cut it over again for you, or you know, they come back in and complain. So you back it up and do it again. You just keep on trying, you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Yeah, you don't give up just because you made a mistake.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

You know, you check mistakes are inevitable.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Yes, mistakes are inevitable. I agree with you.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

So, like it's never too late for you to begin again, kind of.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Um Yes, absolutely. And you Yeah, never too late to begin again. But you also mentioned like signing with the agency, and you said, like, what did you feel like it represented for you? I think that so many people are so excited when they sign with agencies, but we know it's not your go ticket to Hollywood per se, but it is your it's like your entry play. Like you it is you get more access.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

I got when I went to that contest in Hollywood, I got an agent in LA and an L agent in Atlanta, and I have one here in Minneapolis, and I have an interview with one in New York coming up here. Um, and I've truly I'm getting more audition requests than I can even handle. I I wish I had more time to like, because my husband is bad at reading lines with me, and so I have to wait for my daughter or somebody to do that with me.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yeah, you know what? I'm gonna recommend you. There's this amazing, amazing platform called We Audition W-E-A-U-D-I-T-I-O-N. I'll send it to you after this. And I have a question. Yeah, can you email that to me? Absolutely. Yeah, we audition.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

It's it's so hard, and I can't like there's so many little parts I'd like to really try to pursue, and it's frustrating because I don't have time to do all of it. But part of it is because yeah, I don't have anybody to read with me.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Yeah, we audition. There you'll have a reader in a matter of seconds, as well as if you use the app and you need to look off the lines, they all put the you can do it a scroll future where you can see the lines on the screen.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

That's another thing that's so hard too, is like I get all these cool scripts, but like it's hard to really memorize all of them to do, you know, like on a self-tape. It's so hard. So hard. But yeah, I I'm just trying to wing my way through it. I love that. Well, you're gonna do it. I will, yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll be uh TV stars together.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

We will, absolutely, absolutely. And look, you might even be playing something that you've already done before. The way that you are already in the nursing field. There's so many doctor shows and a lot of opportunities in the medical field.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

The the show The Pit. Yeah, and and um the mayor of Kingstown.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Um, I I have been trying to get a role with, you know, like background or whatever, and uh a lady reached out to me and asked me if I would be willing to think about being a medical consultant for one of those shows. So that was pretty cool. That's great. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

But you know, one thing leads to another. A hundred percent. And that's what people need to understand, especially in this industry or any industry, is that one thing does lead to another. Taking that opportunity can very well put you right there on set where you have an opportunity to say something to the producer or the director and say, if you're ever looking for a nurse, exactly a few lies that knows terminology, I'm right here. And yeah. As we wrap up, we talk about becoming a lot on this episode. What do you feel like right now in your life? What are you still becoming?

SPEAKER_00 31:55

I mean, I feel like I'm always becoming a nurse. Like, and I kind of like shot myself in the foot. I I I left a job I kind of liked, you know. I was mentoring young nurses on the med surge floor, and now I'm on the float team, so I I go to a different place all the time. Um, so every time I go, I I kind of have to adapt to that units. There there's certain personalities of every unit of the nurses that work there. So you kind of gotta always keep becoming like to fit into that. Um and I mean this acting thing is really I got a lot to learn. I'm really learning a lot. So I'm I'm working on becoming that all the time too. Yeah, that's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Your life is proof.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Sorry. I'm probably not even making sense anymore because I'm tired. No, you're fine. You're doing just great. And I think that your life is definitely proof that evolution has no expiration date, that you can always continue to get better. You can always continue to get more credentials, you can always continue to evolve. And if that's taking on a new dream that you wanted to do at 57, or if that's like doubling down on the career that you currently have because you love it so much as well, like whatever that is for you, that as life continues to evolve, you do too. As long as you accept it and you decide to put one foot in front of the next. I always say that resilience is repetition. Every day you'll find something to be more resilient on. And you can always have joy in that moment of resiliency. Resiliency doesn't have to be hard, it doesn't have to be tough. As we begin to wrap up this episode, I always ask everyone, what would you tell your younger self right now? Like younger Barbara, what would you what would you tell her?

SPEAKER_00 33:47

I would tell her, look at me, look, look what we did. Look what you know, there's gonna be scary times ahead. Um, but you're gonna come through it okay. You you're gonna do well. And don't doubt yourself. Um and failure is just another I feel like a failure on one thing is just a w another branch to grow off in. You know, I mean, I don't feel like failure is ever a lost lesson. It's just another way to go. You you just figure out another way to go. I would tell my younger self, just strap in. It's a been a bumpy ride, but you'll get there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

I love that. Well, you all heard it. It's never too late to become and don't let failure stop you. Let it lean you in, straighten you up, and have you stand stronger on more higher steps that tried to take you down. You got this. I'm Carrie Vernon's. This has been so wonderful here at the Brazilian Spouse Podcast. If you feel like this episode motivated you, inspired you, if you know someone who feels like they want to just give up on their dreams, that they are tired, exhausted, that they don't even see it anywhere in sight, send them this episode. Let them know it's never too late.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

You can contact me anytime too. I'd be I would love to have people contact me. I would love it.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Okay, yeah, Barbara, how do people get in contact with you?

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Um my um I'm I think I I think I'm at um Blum Six Seven for my Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Thank you so much visiting.