Reinventing Yourself: A Journey to Finding Purpose with Wendy Battles

Wendy Green:

Welcome to Hey, Boomer.

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The show for those of us who believe that we are never too old to set another goal or

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dream a new dream.

Wendy Green:

My name is Wendy Green, and I am your host for Hey, Boomer.

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Today we're going to talk about reinventing ourselves, what it takes, what it means, why

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we do it. And it got me thinking about some of the reinventions that I have been through

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in my lifetime.

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And there have been many.

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But I started to think about when I was in my early fifties and I had just sold my

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business KidzArt.

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And I had gone back into corporate America working as a Director of Training.

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But I knew that's not where I wanted to be for the long haul.

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So I started working with a coach to figure out what is it that I really want to do,

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what's going to be meaningful in my life?

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And after we worked together for probably a couple of months, she said to me one day, you

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know, you'd be a really good coach.

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And it was like this light bulb moment.

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I was like, Oh, that's what I want to do.

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I want to be a coach.

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And then I realized, you know, as a young person, first year in college, I wanted to

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study sociology.

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I wanted to be a social worker, but I had to put that on the back burner for various

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reasons. So that's one of the things that seems to happen in this next act of life is

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that we start to tap into things that we may have dreamed about when we were young and

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then we put aside for various reasons.

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And so looking back into your life, into your history of what was important to you

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when you were young may be a good place to start.

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When you start thinking about reinvention and sometimes talking with people, even

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getting help from a coach can be helpful in that process.

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So today my guest is another Wendy.

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Her name is Wendy Battles.

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And by day, Wendy is a cyber security awareness expert at Yale University.

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But by night.

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And I venture to say on weekends, Wendy pursues her passion for celebrating,

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illuminating and elevating older women.

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As the host of the Re-invention Rebels podcast, Wendy interviews bold and

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unapologetic women 50 to 90 years old, who have reinvented themselves later in life to

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see new possibilities.

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In this way, Wendy shines a light on the notion that we can reinvent ourselves at any

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age or any stage.

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And she's helping to disrupt the limiting beliefs about the value of aging women.

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At 57, Wendy is a reinvention.

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Rebel herself, having reinvented herself many times during her life, including as a

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management consultant, a voice actor, a health coach.

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And now in her most recent reinvention as a cybersecurity awareness expert and a podcast

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host. And she says that the podcast hosting is by far the most rewarding reinvention she

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has come across yet.

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Along her journey of greater self awareness, she's learned the art of living on purpose

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and embracing life with more joy, ease and trust.

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So you are going to love Wendy.

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You are in for a high energy conversation.

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But before I bring her on, I want to mention our sponsor, Road Scholar.

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Road Scholar is the not-for-profit leader in adventure and educational travel for boomers

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and beyond, offering expert led adventures in all 50 states and over 100 countries.

Wendy Green:

I love learning with Road Scholar.

Wendy Green:

I've been on several of their trips, both as a solo traveler and with my grandchildren.

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And I am inviting you all to join me in Costa Rica this summer, June 2nd through the

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10th. I'm doing a private trip with Road Scholar and it's going to be amazing.

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So if you're interested in that, drop me an email.

Wendy Green:

My email address is Wendy@heyboomer.biz, and I will send you all the information.

Wendy Green:

Now, I need to bring on and want to bring on my friend Wendy Battles.

Wendy Green:

Hi, Wendy.

Wendy Battles:

Hi, Wendy.

Wendy Battles:

So weird to say that, but I'm so excited to be here with you today.

Wendy Green:

And you know, we were just talking before we came on.

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It was such a joy. Wendy and I met through a women's podcasting group and just been a joy

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to know her and share her delight and energy with what she's doing.

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But I want to let's start with reinvention.

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I mean, you've reinvented yourself several times.

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And so you know what?

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What have you been looking for with each one of those reinventions?

Wendy Battles:

That's a great question, Wendy.

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And I have to say that probably different things in each reinvention.

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I think when I was in my thirties, I reinvented myself as a consultant.

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So I was looking for new experiences and learning new skills and trying things out,

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which was great.

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I reinvented myself as a voice actor and that was really because people kept saying,

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Wendy, you have a great voice.

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You should do something with it.

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And I didn't even know what I was getting myself into, to be honest with you, which is

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sometimes what happens, I think when we reinvent ourselves, we might have this idea

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of it. And then there's sort of the reality of it.

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And for me, that was getting out of my comfort zone.

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That reinvention was about getting out of my comfort zone, building trust in myself that I

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could do something I'd never done before.

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Learning new skills.

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And also, I think it was the ability to work with different people because as a voice

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actor, you work with a lot of different producers.

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They have different very different styles and expectations.

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So it taught me a lot about flexing my style.

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You know, in my forties, I reinvented myself as a health coach.

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I had a corporate career. I'm not really a corporate person and I was really searching.

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And that was a great opportunity for me to figure out how to be an entrepreneur.

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And honestly, I wasn't that good at it and I became a coach.

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But then I realized I don't love coaching.

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So it was a lot of self-discovery in that reinvention about both what I liked and what

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I didn't like.

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And I think it's interesting because I think the things we do give us breadcrumbs and

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often hints about something bigger, even though when it's happening, we can't always

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put all those puzzle pieces together.

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But they really were all leading up to my current reinvention as a podcast host, just

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like you of the Reinvention Rebels podcast, because it really encompasses my voice acting

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work and all the years I've spent public speaking this idea of being in conversation

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with people. I love talking and listening to people.

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I love their stories, and I think it's very interesting that I was able to integrate in a

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very synergistic way many different skills gathered.

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Over.

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Time. And I will just add that in my thirties or my forties, I was always seeking like,

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what am I meant to do?

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And I would try something, but ultimately it wasn't it.

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And it took me until 54 to really feel like I'm truly living on purpose.

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And that's what's really different about this most recent reinvention.

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That's why I think of it as my best reinvention yet.

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So I love how you tied it together, you know, because when I was looking at some of your

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different reinventions, I was like, Hmm, where is the thread?

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But I love how you tied it together.

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And and your comment about finding yourself, finding your purpose or whatever at 54.

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In all the interviews that you've done, do you feel like that's common, that we find our

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purpose later in life, or do you think that's not as common?

Wendy Battles:

I think it's pretty common for a lot of people to find their purpose later in life.

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And for some of us, we have multiple purposes.

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You know, it could be it could have been that when we were younger, our main purpose

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was raising healthy, productive kids.

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And that's like a pretty important purpose.

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But I think that as people age, their priorities and values can change.

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So I certainly think that we can change our focus or perhaps we have a new purpose,

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something new emerges that we couldn't even see before.

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So I think it's a mix because I also know people who from the twenties have been so

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clear on their purpose.

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That was never me.

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I couldn't even decide what to major in.

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In college I changed eight times and it was sociology like you.

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But I could not figure out like, what can I major in?

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I'm a multi passionate person.

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And I'm raising it.

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That's right. Yep.

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So I think it's it's been for me this journey.

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And I certainly see other women especially that I meet that are on a similar journey,

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that are searching, that are looking for that greater purpose.

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And I do think that when we get to midlife and older, we tend to have more time and

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space. We have more opportunity to focus on ourselves as opposed to more outwardly

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focusing on our job, our family, you know, what have you.

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So I think it creates greater opportunity if you haven't figured it out to say, I want to

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make me a priority right now, I want to focus on what I want to do and see what might

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we might uncover in that process.

Wendy Green:

Of that. And Wendy, I want to talk a little bit more about purpose.

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Because some people think I have no idea.

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I mean, what purpose is so big, right?

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Like, if I'm not solving world hunger, then I don't have a purpose.

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And I want to find out from you what you mean when you say you're living on purpose.

Wendy Battles:

That is the great question.

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And for me, living on purpose means living with joy, getting up every day and doing

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something that is so inspiring to me that I'm willing to make sacrifices to do it.

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And by that I mean I get up every day.

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Since I do have a full time job, I get up every day at 445 promptly, and I cannot wait

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to get to work on the podcast.

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So something to me that I and it's the kind of thing that I would do for me that purpose

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means I would do without getting paid like I love it.

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So not that it wouldn't be a nice thing to get paid to do it.

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I wanted to say that, but I feel so inspired to do this.

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I feel like this is what I'm called to do.

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I feel like I finally stepped into the light and I'm doing something that that's what I

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came here to do. Where are the other things I've done in the past?

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For example, even as a health coach, like, I enjoyed it to some extent, but I quit my job

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to do that. And then I was like, Oh, this is really kind of hard and I don't really love

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it. But I didn't want to admit that.

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I didn't really love it because now I quit my job and I don't want to seem like I'd

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failed. So I didn't have that kind of thing where I this time I have this knowing this is

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how I know it's my purpose. I have a knowing about it.

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And the way that I got to this purpose, Wendy, is that I have been asked to be on a

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panel at Yale University for one of our affinity groups, the future leaders of Yale,

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and they had asked me to be on this panel about personal branding.

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Okay, so what do I know about personal branding?

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I used to have a business. I used to do that.

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I was kind of boning up on it, and I started listening to a podcast called Package Your

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Genius. Which I love the title of it alone.

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Right. This idea that there is something that each of us shines at.

Wendy Green:

Right.

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Sometimes it's a matter of uncovering what that thing is.

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But I got so enthralled with this podcast I listened to, like all these episodes that I

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bought her book. She had a workbook, and I started answering the question, What do you

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love to do? What have you always loved to do?

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What gives you energy? What don't you like to do?

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What would you do if no one paid you?

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I started like really thinking about these questions and the answers.

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And I think the key for me about that process is that I got really quiet.

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Oh, I started to.

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Write in white.

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You know, just cook in silence, clean and silence, just really being more with myself.

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So this really this path of self discovery.

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And it was in that getting quiet that one day I was meditating and I heard re and

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mentioned rebels.

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I was like, what, three invention rebels like this tiny little voice inside bubbled up

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and something told me, Wendy, you better write that down.

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And, you know.

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Sometimes you get ideas and you're like, I'm going to remember that in the morning and you

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wake up in the morning, you're like, I don't know what it was.

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Right? Right. So that for me was the start.

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And I think that's what's different, too, about for me, living on purpose is that this

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really came from within.

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This was listening to my inner wisdom to help guide me, and it just sparked something

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in.

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Me.

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That was like, Yes, that is it.

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That is me doing this.

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And it has just been fantastic.

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I love it. So living a purpose?

Wendy Green:

Yes. What a beautiful explanation.

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And I can totally agree with everything that you said there and that, you know, I do most

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of this for free because I love it.

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You know, I feel like the work that you and I are doing, Wendy, really helps a lot of

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people find that life is not over at 55 or 65.

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We can still live full, meaningful lives and reinvent ourselves.

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And, you know, in my beginning story I talked to when we were young, what we left

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behind, neither one of us could have thought about podcasting when we were young, right?

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But we had this idea of being helpful.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, right.

Wendy Battles:

Yeah, absolutely.

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Absolutely. And I will tell you that, yes, I think that is one of the keys for me, because

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I've spent a lot of my time over the course of my even as a teenager volunteering.

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I remember I was my first volunteer job was the candy striper at our local hospital.

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And, you know, I've always been very involved in whatever community I lived in

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volunteering, whether it's direct service at a soup kitchen or being on a nonprofit board.

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But I come from a family where there's a legacy of service and giving back.

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And I really feel like what we are doing, to your point, is being of service to other

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people. And I think that's one of the reasons why this feels very fulfilling to me,

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that it's bigger than just me.

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It's really, to your point, helping other people see what's possible and right.

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I feel like you and I are a testimony to the idea that anything is possible.

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We can do and be anything we want to be.

Wendy Green:

I agree.

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So a couple of comments have come in.

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Somebody says to you, don't forget Kumba Collective, I'll speak to that.

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That's my friend Denise.

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Hey, to me, it's about I've always had this entrepreneurial spirit, even though I'll say

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I haven't always known what I was doing.

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But that great creative ideas and Denise and another friend, a mutual friend, and I got

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together with this idea because we were all creative souls and we started this this

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company where we would make these we would do a lot of crafting and make these things

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that I made jewelry. And Denise is an amazing milliner, and she made the most

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beautiful hats and Kathy made beautiful textiles, and we would work collectively

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doing this. So so I think in so many different ways we can express our creativity.

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And even if things don't work out, I feel like even when things don't work out the way

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we want them to, and it can feel very disappointing that it's not for nothing, that

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all those experiences are helping us get to that next thing or ultimately where we're

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supposed to be. Because from Kumba Collective, from being a health coach, from

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doing it consulting independently, I learned a lot about marketing and how to show up, and

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all of those things have really helped me with this endeavor.

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And the other thing I noticed is in the past I've given up really easily on things like I

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thought, Well, how hard can this be?

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Well, things are.

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More difficult often than we think.

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And then I would kind of give up.

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Like when I started voice acting, I thought, Oh God, this is so hard.

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It's hard to find work, but it's like being an actor.

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You've got to keep at it, right?

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You've got to be persistent.

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So all of those things have served me so well because this is something that I'm going

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to do forever.

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So I know have that much broader perspective in this endeavor to know I'm not giving up.

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I'm going to keep going.

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It takes a while to build your audience and to grow something.

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It doesn't happen overnight, at least not for most people, and that you have to just

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keep at it. So those are all incredibly important things I've learned from these

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other reinventions.

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Even if they didn't pan out the way I hope they would.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. And and that there's another comment here that really reiterates that he says

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Steve says there's a lot of pressure to find our path early.

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But for so many it takes longer.

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The discovery journey can be exciting and it's so true.

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So you mentioned creativity and I'm wondering as as the podcast host, right.

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So you and I interview people, where do you get to express your creativity during

Wendy Green:

reinvention Rebels?

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And a lot of different ways.

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One in talking to people and being in conversation and asking them interesting

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questions. A lot of what I do outside of the interview, the actual production of the

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podcast is writing.

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I write a lot.

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I and I love writing.

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And one thing I was thinking about recently is that.

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Growing up, I was terrible at athletics.

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My my whole family, like, were were more intellectual people than athletic people.

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Like, my dad was the manager of his high school basketball team and I enjoyed was the

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manager of my high school track team.

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Like, I just had no athletic ability whatsoever.

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However, one of the things I uncovered, though, when I was in middle school is that I

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was a really good writer and that continued in high school when I was really good at

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expository writing, not creative writing, not writing short stories, but writing

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research papers, doing research.

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So my creativity was expressed in that way and that my love of writing has continued

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throughout my life and everything I've done.

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I've done a lot of writing and I've always been really good at writing.

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So one of the things that I do in this role that's very creative is a lot of writing from

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writing, writing posts on Instagram or Facebook or linked in.

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And I think because I'm open to ideas, coming to me again, being quiet and more still ideas

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come to me. So I'm able to take that little kernel that shows up as, Oh, this would be a

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great Instagram reel.

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And then I just have fun.

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Also being creative, like even making videos, I have a lot of fun just making

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videos, sometimes 15 seconds, sometimes a minute, but kind of be in this space of being

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playful with what I'm doing.

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I think that's a way to express our creativity because I know that sometimes I

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take myself, like, way too seriously.

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So I'm having fun just seeing what unfold and also thinking, Well, some things work and

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some things don't. Like, part of being creative is you're testing out things, right?

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What things work, what what resonates with people, what doesn't.

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So I'm having fun kind of playing with that with the graphics.

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So I think in a lot of different ways I'm able to express my creativity in doing this

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and and it makes it really a lot of fun.

Wendy Green:

It does make it a lot of fun.

Wendy Green:

So I have to ask you this, Wendy.

Wendy Green:

Sometimes I have found in my recreations my reinventions.

Wendy Green:

Some people have been a little bit skeptical, like, really, you're going to do

Wendy Green:

that now?

Wendy Green:

Maybe that's not the best way to go.

Wendy Green:

I'm wondering. Well, and I should say the other side I mean, other side, people have

Wendy Green:

been like, oh, that's a great idea.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, you should go for it.

Wendy Green:

So I'm wondering if you in your reinventions have had a champion or if you've had

Wendy Green:

naysayers and how you how you approach that.

Wendy Battles:

I approach it by having as many people around me that are my champions.

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For example, my friend Denise that is watching right now.

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We're each other's champions.

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We are each other's cheerleaders.

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We remind each other that we can do this because we something that's very similar.

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We are both multi passionate people with lots of different interests.

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And I certainly have heard people say before, well, you really have your hands in

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many different things, don't you?

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Kind of thing. The kind of thing that it's not necessarily like a.

Wendy Green:

You know, an.

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Overt criticism, but the kind of curiosity that's like, whoa, okay.

Wendy Battles:

Well, that's interesting. And it's true.

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I, I have an interest in so many different things.

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I would say that there have been some people that have been skeptical in the past or the

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kind of thing like, well, do you really think that's a good idea?

Wendy Battles:

Have you really thought carefully about that?

Wendy Green:

Wendy Right.

Wendy Battles:

Right. That kind of thing, which I think you know, I know we've talked about that, that we

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both have heard some of that in the past.

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But I think when we're living in this space of possibility and when we can find our

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allies, our champions, our supporters, and really surround ourselves with people that

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are our team Wendy or Team Denise or Team Steve.

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And it could even be having like a little mini board of directors, so to speak, for our

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dream, whatever that thing is, the people that can help you, that are totally

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supportive, but also can give you helpful advice or coach you or help you see things

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that maybe you can't see because, you know, you've you've got blinders on.

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So I think those supporters can also help us in many different ways.

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Not just cheering is on, but sometimes being a reality check.

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Because you don't have all kinds of great ideas. It doesn't mean I can make them all

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happen. And so.

Wendy Green:

Sometimes I.

Wendy Battles:

Need people to like, rein me in a bit too, which I think is also helpful.

Wendy Battles:

So truth tellers are also helpful, but in a positive way.

Wendy Green:

Right. Right.

Wendy Green:

And, you know, to go back to your comments about purpose, I think when I started the

Wendy Green:

podcast and I was having concerned family members say, well, can you make money at

Wendy Green:

that? And is that really the right thing to be doing?

Wendy Green:

I think the fact that I knew this was absolutely what I wanted and needed to be

Wendy Green:

doing it, it was I was easily able to say, Yeah, this is exactly what I need to be doing

Wendy Green:

and I appreciate your concern, but this is what I'm doing.

Wendy Green:

It gave me that courage, that strain.

Wendy Battles:

Yes, I love it.

Wendy Battles:

I love it. And I think when we're rooted in that belief, that self belief, that this is

Wendy Battles:

it. And even though I don't know the how yet, I know the why, I know why I'm doing

Wendy Battles:

this and I trust the how will unfold.

Wendy Battles:

I think that when we're in that space and we have that belief, it's easier to hear what

Wendy Battles:

people have to say.

Wendy Battles:

And your point, let it roll off us and not have to get defensive about it.

Wendy Battles:

Well, I'm doing this because whatever.

Wendy Battles:

It's just like, well, thank you for that.

Wendy Battles:

And I just know this is what I meant to do right now so we can write that simple

Wendy Battles:

acknowledgement of what they said, and then we just continue on doing what we're meant to

Wendy Battles:

do.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. So from all the women that you have interviewed, Wendy, is there a common theme,

Wendy Green:

A common. Action or common belief that has carried people through their reinvention

Wendy Green:

journey.

Wendy Battles:

There are a couple.

Wendy Battles:

If I had to boil it down, I would say first curiosity.

Wendy Battles:

There is a common thread.

Wendy Green:

Among.

Wendy Battles:

Everybody that I have interviewed that they are curious.

Wendy Green:

Souls.

Wendy Battles:

They are interested in themselves, in the world around them in continuing to develop.

Wendy Battles:

So they're willing to ask themselves questions, they're willing to try something

Wendy Battles:

new. They are willing to ask people for help.

Wendy Battles:

Sometimes I think, right, we have to do what we feel like.

Wendy Battles:

We do it all ourselves. But they're willing to have what I call a reinvention dream team.

Wendy Battles:

People that are we're talking about.

Wendy Battles:

Right. Those supporters.

Wendy Battles:

So that's one curiosity.

Wendy Battles:

The second one is courage.

Wendy Battles:

There is this theme among women that reinvent themselves, that they are courageous

Wendy Battles:

and courage shows up in so many different ways.

Wendy Battles:

For each of us, it could be small courage.

Wendy Battles:

It could be courage with a capital C, right?

Wendy Battles:

There's the courage by choice, what I call courage by choice.

Wendy Battles:

When we want to do something new, for example, and we're willing to put ourselves

Wendy Battles:

out there. And then there's that courage when you're forced into something or you're

Wendy Battles:

you are faced with dealing with something that you necessarily didn't want necessarily

Wendy Battles:

do, but you, you find the courage to address it.

Wendy Battles:

So either way, they have courage.

Wendy Battles:

And as one of my rebels says, do it scared.

Wendy Battles:

Just do.

Wendy Green:

It.

Wendy Battles:

Scared, do it. But right.

Wendy Battles:

We have to just kind of, you know, feel that fear.

Wendy Battles:

And just move move through it.

Wendy Battles:

Even if it means taking baby steps.

Wendy Battles:

Maybe it doesn't mean leaping off that cliff, but maybe it means just inching up and

Wendy Battles:

building your confidence.

Wendy Battles:

And as you have a little victory, then you it emboldens you to think, well, I could take

Wendy Battles:

the next step.

Wendy Green:

On my path to.

Wendy Battles:

So curious to encourage or to really big themes I see throughout the one other thing

Wendy Battles:

I'd say is self permission.

Wendy Battles:

I think for women especially, we put so much pressure on ourselves.

Wendy Battles:

There are so many expectations for us to do it all, which of course is totally

Wendy Battles:

impossible. But we don't always give ourselves permission to nurture ourselves, to

Wendy Battles:

create the space to grow.

Wendy Battles:

And these women have said, My dreams matter and I want to pursue that.

Wendy Battles:

So they really are giving themselves permission to go after whatever that thing

Wendy Battles:

is.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, I love that.

Wendy Green:

So tell me what you have learned about yourself by doing this podcast.

Wendy Green:

I've learned so.

Wendy Battles:

Much. I can learn so many findings.

Wendy Battles:

I've learned that when I really want to do something, I can make it happen.

Wendy Battles:

That when I have decided that this is it, I'm willing to put in the time and effort,

Wendy Battles:

meaning I'm willing to get up at 445 every weekday to work on this podcast.

Wendy Battles:

So I learned a lot about that.

Wendy Battles:

I learned a lot about being much more organized about it because there are a lot of

Wendy Battles:

moving parts to producing a podcast.

Wendy Battles:

And it's not just the production of what is the promotion, it's the.

Wendy Green:

Research.

Wendy Battles:

It's the research.

Wendy Battles:

It's building basically a business, so all of the things that go into that.

Wendy Battles:

So I learned that I'm a pretty capable person and, you know, I learned you that

Wendy Battles:

sometimes you're using new technology.

Wendy Battles:

So I realized, well, I can learn new things and it things don't have to be as hard as I

Wendy Battles:

think they do.

Wendy Battles:

And that's been a really important lesson.

Wendy Battles:

I've also learned that it's okay to let go.

Wendy Battles:

Some days I have these ideas of all these things I want to do, but it's not even

Wendy Battles:

realistic. So I have you know, I have a limited period of time, right?

Wendy Battles:

And so I've I've learned to let go of.

Wendy Battles:

Not everything has to be perfect, that you need to get started to move.

Wendy Green:

Forward.

Wendy Battles:

Because I in the past, I've been very stuck on doing everything perfectly.

Wendy Battles:

And between doing everything perfectly and being a people pleaser, those have been

Wendy Battles:

things that I think have been my Achilles heel.

Wendy Battles:

And I've been able to really overcome that with healthier boundaries, both for myself

Wendy Battles:

and other people, and letting go of this idea that everything has to be so perfect.

Wendy Green:

Right.

Wendy Battles:

And I will tell you, I think about that as I was listening back to some of my first

Wendy Battles:

episodes when I got started over two years ago, and I was thinking, well, you know, the

Wendy Battles:

sound quality wasn't that great, even though I had like a decent microphone, I didn't

Wendy Battles:

know. I didn't even know how to set the, like, the volume, the settings for it

Wendy Battles:

properly. But Wendy, I listen back.

Wendy Battles:

I was thinking, wow, you know, this was so, so wasn't terrible.

Wendy Battles:

But now it's so much more professional.

Wendy Battles:

And I see how I've grown just in my work as a podcaster.

Wendy Battles:

And that has been fantastic to see, you know, to look to reflect back on that and

Wendy Battles:

see. I've come so far.

Wendy Battles:

I really do. So far.

Wendy Battles:

So that's been that's been encouraging for me, to be honest.

Wendy Green:

I know. And that's a wonderful thing, as you know, an older adult to recognize that you

Wendy Green:

can learn all these new things and not just skills, but about yourself, you know, about

Wendy Green:

your abilities, about it's okay to not be perfect.

Wendy Green:

I mean, all of those things, I think, are so energizing.

Wendy Green:

I mean, like I was telling everybody about this show, the energy that you bring is it's

Wendy Green:

phenomenal. It's contagious.

Wendy Green:

I love it. You know, I want to be that.

Wendy Green:

Wendy Battles defines energy.

Wendy Battles:

Thank you. What can I say?

Wendy Battles:

What can I say? But you're right.

Wendy Battles:

There is so much learning as we age.

Wendy Battles:

And I think these words were freedom, too.

Wendy Green:

Were.

Wendy Battles:

Often lower, younger.

Wendy Battles:

At least when I was younger, I was so set on doing things a certain way.

Wendy Battles:

And one of the things I've learned is that there are many different ways to get to your

Wendy Battles:

goal. It's not always a straight line, and sometimes it is circuitous.

Wendy Battles:

Sometimes you run into obstacles.

Wendy Battles:

But I've also found, Wendy, that those obstacles or detours are always for a reason,

Wendy Battles:

and they always support me in the outcome being often better than what I might have

Wendy Battles:

even envisioned.

Wendy Battles:

So instead of thinking, Oh, I can't believe this, I really try to embrace.

Wendy Battles:

Oh, well, that's there's new possibilities here.

Wendy Green:

You did you have spoken about that before?

Wendy Green:

Yeah. And sometimes it's hard to embrace those things when delays happen out of your

Wendy Green:

control. So we have Ernest has asked a question and he he says, what advice do you

Wendy Green:

have for not just young people, but for all people wanting to take an example from you on

Wendy Green:

your reinvention Rebel Ride.

Wendy Battles:

That's a great question, Ernest.

Wendy Battles:

And I would say, one, don't be afraid to try because we never know what's going to happen

Wendy Battles:

unless we're willing to put ourselves out there in whatever way you're doing that.

Wendy Battles:

So I think making the attempt and trying, number one and number two, seeing failures as

Wendy Battles:

opportunities. I've had so many disappointments about things I've done.

Wendy Battles:

You know, there are things that have worked out really well, but there are things that

Wendy Battles:

haven't when it comes to like my reinventions.

Wendy Battles:

And of course, in the moment I was like, I can't believe this.

Wendy Battles:

It was disappointing.

Wendy Battles:

Sometimes it felt crushing because if you put your heart and soul into something, it

Wendy Battles:

doesn't work out.

Wendy Battles:

It's it's it's really you know, it can do a number on us.

Wendy Battles:

But I think wisdom is is taught me that I wish I could have learned this earlier when I

Wendy Battles:

was younger, that failures are opportunities for us to.

Wendy Green:

Grow.

Wendy Battles:

And they're often what we need to learn.

Wendy Battles:

Just like people come into our lives sometimes and, you know, sometimes you have a

Wendy Battles:

difficult person in your life and you're like, Why is this person in my life?

Wendy Green:

Why? But whether it's.

Wendy Battles:

You know, a friend or a boss or.

Wendy Green:

You know, a.

Wendy Battles:

Significant other, whoever that person is.

Wendy Battles:

But I always think those I learned the best lessons from the most difficult situations.

Wendy Battles:

Not that there are lessons I learned from when things go smoothly because I can learn

Wendy Battles:

lessons from that too. But the most impactful lessons for me.

Wendy Green:

Come from.

Wendy Battles:

The challenge, the difficulty overcoming something, because it always builds my

Wendy Battles:

confidence. It always reminds me then, Wow, I can do this.

Wendy Battles:

I can use that to look back and say, Well, if I could overcome that situation, now I

Wendy Battles:

have a lot more wisdom and experience.

Wendy Battles:

I should be able to overcome anything.

Wendy Battles:

So I think those things to me are helpful is to to really try and to embrace failures or

Wendy Battles:

even just disappointments when something doesn't go quite the way we want to thinking,

Wendy Battles:

Well, how could I do it better next time?

Wendy Battles:

How could I learn from this experience and use it to grow instead of.

Wendy Battles:

I know we can all do beat ourselves up over it.

Wendy Battles:

I mean, I've spent a lot of time and learn a lot much love up over things, but I feel

Wendy Battles:

like. Wendy, those days are less and less.

Wendy Battles:

The older I get, the more I can have more better perspective to realize the world is

Wendy Battles:

not going to end. I can get.

Wendy Green:

Through.

Wendy Battles:

This, and most things, quite honestly, aren't as bad as I make them out to be in my head.

Wendy Green:

Well, and you use good language.

Wendy Green:

You know, you you don't call things like failures and disappointments.

Wendy Green:

You you reframe them into opportunities.

Wendy Green:

And I think that's a wonderful thing.

Wendy Green:

And to be empathetic with ourselves, right.

Wendy Green:

We would never speak to a friend in critical terms of the way we sometimes might speak to

Wendy Green:

ourselves.

Wendy Battles:

It's so true.

Wendy Battles:

It was so where our own worst critics, no one that talks to me the way it's not for

Wendy Battles:

myself, nobody my boss, my friends, my husband, nobody talks to me in the way that I

Wendy Battles:

sometimes catch myself.

Wendy Battles:

Catch yourself talking to myself like, What were you thinking?

Wendy Battles:

This is crazy. That was a terrible job, you know?

Wendy Battles:

I mean, nobody else says that, so.

Wendy Battles:

Yeah, give yourselves grace.

Wendy Battles:

I think it's one of the most important things that we can do.

Wendy Green:

I do, too, as Steve.

Wendy Green:

That's great. He says he prefers the term second opportunities over second chances.

Wendy Battles:

Oh, I love that.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, I do, too. That's a good one.

Wendy Battles:

You know, And I can think of my podcasting as a second opportunity after my voiceovers.

Wendy Battles:

Yes, that's a great way for me to reframe that, Steve.

Wendy Battles:

I love that because that really is what it is like.

Wendy Battles:

I couldn't figure out how to make that work.

Wendy Battles:

And interestingly, even a few years ago, I was going to try to to start my voiceover

Wendy Battles:

career again and I just wasn't feeling it like I made a new demo tape and I just

Wendy Battles:

thought, I don't feel inspired to just make ads for people I, you know, or, you know, do

Wendy Battles:

that kind of thing. That wasn't my thing.

Wendy Battles:

But but this taking those skills and applying that to something that I can be of

Wendy Battles:

service to other people like now that is it, right?

Wendy Battles:

So second opportunity.

Wendy Battles:

Thank you.

Wendy Green:

Steve. I know.

Wendy Green:

I love that. Steve. Thank you.

Wendy Green:

All right. So I I'm wondering if there's any last things you want to leave us with because

Wendy Green:

this has been amazing.

Wendy Battles:

It has been awesome and I've loved it.

Wendy Battles:

And the thing I will say is that if you listen to the Reinvention Rebels podcast, if

Wendy Battles:

you're at all thinking, I want to think about second opportunities, I want to create

Wendy Battles:

something new.

Wendy Battles:

One of the things that you will get from listening to these stories is is a little bit

Wendy Battles:

of the how of how people did this.

Wendy Battles:

But really what you're getting is inspiration to let your path.

Wendy Battles:

It's hearing stories to remind you if Wendy can do this, if Mary, who started running at

Wendy Battles:

55 and at 72 is running in marathons around the world can do this.

Wendy Battles:

Well, I can have my own version of second opportunities in my own way.

Wendy Battles:

I just have to figure out what that is.

Wendy Battles:

So the possibility lives within all of us to create those second opportunities or first

Wendy Battles:

opportunities, whatever it might be, in whatever way lights us up.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, it's great.

Wendy Green:

Go check it out. It's on Reinvention Rebels.com.

Wendy Green:

And you can.

Wendy Green:

Reach Wendy Battles.

Wendy Green:

If you think you have a wonderful reinvention story, you can email her at

Wendy Green:

ReinventionRebels@gmail.com and possibly be a guest on her show one time.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy Green:

So, so much fun.

Wendy Green:

Wendy, thank you.

Wendy Battles:

My pleasure. And thank you.

Wendy Battles:

You is such an honor and pleasure to be here with you today.

Wendy Green:

Wendy Awesome.

Wendy Green:

Well, thank you. So just want to give a shout out to the Greenville Podcast Company

Wendy Green:

for their expert editing and production of the podcast.

Wendy Green:

So they take our live show.

Wendy Green:

Clean it up, make the audio just pop, and then we post it out to all of the different

Wendy Green:

podcast apps so you can find us on any of the apps that you listen to.

Wendy Green:

Podcasts. Also, I have what's called the Vitality Assessment, and it will give you an

Wendy Green:

idea of where you are on the scale of feeling completely full and vital or

Wendy Green:

completely depleted and then what you might think about doing to fill yourself back up

Wendy Green:

and certainly reinventing yourself, finding who you are meant to be is a great way to

Wendy Green:

refill yourself.

Wendy Green:

So go to HeyBoomer.Biz and download that vitality assessment, which is right there on

Wendy Green:

the home page.

Wendy Green:

Also, please check out Road Scholar, our sponsor.

Wendy Green:

We loved to support our sponsor.

Wendy Green:

So go to roadscholar.org/HeyBoomer.

Wendy Green:

And look at all the amazing trips that they have there.

Wendy Green:

And next week's story, my guest next week is a woman named Doris Blumenthal.

Wendy Green:

And Doris was adopted as a very young child, as an adult in her fifties.

Wendy Green:

She went on a journey to try and find her birth parents.

Wendy Green:

It's an amazing story, but there's more to it than that.

Wendy Green:

You know, so many of us.

Wendy Green:

Don't understand what it's like to be an adopted child.

Wendy Green:

And do you fit in or do you not fit in?

Wendy Green:

And why did my parents give me up?

Wendy Green:

And all of those questions?

Wendy Green:

So we're going to explore that with Doris next week, so be sure and tune in for that.

Wendy Green:

And I always like to leave you with the belief that you can live with passion.

Wendy Green:

You can live with relevance.

Wendy Green:

And you can live with courage.

Wendy Green:

And remember that you are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.

Wendy Green:

My name is Wendy Green, and this has been.