Blog

I Have a Confession to Make

This is an unplanned episode. My efforts to be organized and plan somewhat ahead got thrown off course as I felt a little blindsided by some friendly feedback. So, I deviated from the plan, (heaven forbid) and this, My Confession, is now episode 6. It’s my reaction, my feelings, my introspection about how something many may consider morbid is my motivator; and a whole lot more. I hope you’ll join me.

Not be missed take-ways:

1) I am still figuring out (as a friend of mine said), just how much personal stuff, stripped down, naked and unashamed I wanna be.

2) I fucking swear. And I did warn you in the first episode!)

3) “I don’t want to go to my grave and my final thought is I was not brave.” (My thought and articulated best by Viola Davis.)

4) Start dating. Write that book. Take that trip. Start that podcast. Have sex. Try a sex toy. Move to another place. Put on the damn bathing suit. Ask someone out. If you’re married, and your spouse doesn’t want to travel with you, GO ANYWAY.

5) The #1 regret of the dying was I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying”

6) “A voice is a powerful thing. It can shine a light on something that is hiding in the dark. It can change the way people think, which can change the way people act, but it can’t do anything if you keep your mouth shut.” …The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

And your mission, that I hope you’ll choose to accept…

1. Tell your ego, and whichever monster is talking to you that you’ve got this.

2. Go do what has been pulling at you to do. At the very least, take the first step.

3. Tell us about it.

 

Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!

 

Download The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life

Subscribe/Follow where you get your podcasts: 

And please…Rate and Review…if you liked it! 😊 A positive rating and review will help other women find us so they can become a part of our community.

It’d be great if you would like Loving Later Life on Facebook and Instagram!

Also: If you have a story you’d like to share for the podcast or have questions or comments for Nancy email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Last but not least: If you’d like to know more about having Nancy as a private coach, click here!

 

 

If you’d like to advertise with us, email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Ciji Ware: TV Emmy winner, Journalist, NYT Best-Selling Author at 80

I am honored and thrilled to share a conversation I had with Ciji Ware. Ciji is a Harvard graduate, New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist, Emmy award winning television producer, reporter for TV and radio, a DuPont award winner for investigative journalism, and sought-after event speaker.

In this episode, Ciji shares fascinating fun facts and stories you won’t believe. She grew up in Hollywood (and James Cagney was her godfather); as a married TV reporter for NBC, she was fired in 1971 because she got pregnant; just a few years ago she found out she had cancer with the help of a spider; and now at 80, she is writing her 16th novel. This book is the third in the series “American Spy Sisters” inspired by brave U.S. women secret agents who fought the Nazis in WWII.

Ciji has had many setbacks and challenges, and she persevered. Listen to this inspiring conversation and you will be reminded that you can make it through anything by accepting change, and staying both curious and grateful.

Not be missed take-ways:

1. Curiosity and gratitude are the two things that really, really, really save us from getting too down in the dumps.

2. Let go of the stuff that doesn’t matter.

3. Never say no until you know what they’re offering.

4. If you have something to do, do the hardest thing first and get it off your desk.

5. Find the joy! Why be miserable all the time?!

6. If you’re around long enough, you accept that change is the only thing we can count on and learn not to be so afraid of it.

7. We can choose how to think, and that’s the greatest give of all.

And your mission, that I hope you’ll choose to accept…

1) Look at your list of things you need/want to accomplish and pick the hardest one. Preferably one that will create change in your life, that makes you feel uncomfortable. Or if you are facing a challenging time, this also applies.

2) Write down all the positive things that doing this will create for you.

3) Write down your biggest fears of what may happen.

4) Accept that all are possible. Take a deep breath, and say, “I have got this.” 

5) Along the way, every day write down three things that you are grateful for in your life. When we focus on what’s good, it affects our thoughts, which affects our behavior, which affects our results. Remember: we get to choose our thoughts!

 

Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!

 

Download The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life

Subscribe/Follow where you get your podcasts: 

And please…Rate and Review…if you liked it! 😊 A positive rating and review will help other women find us so they can become a part of our community.

It’d be great if you would like Loving Later Life on Facebook and Instagram!

Also: If you have a story you’d like to share for the podcast or have questions or comments for Nancy email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Last but not least: If you’d like to know more about having Nancy as a private coach, click here!

 

 

If you’d like to advertise with us, email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Let’s Tweak the Golden Rule!

Are you more patient with other people than you are with yourself? Do you talk to (or about) yourself the same way you would a dear friend? Have you noticed what you’ll do for others but not for yourself?

I’m not going to give any spoiler alerts about how I’ve decided to change the Golden Rule! However, I will say that the main topic in today’s episode is about how we treat ourselves and how we talk to ourselves compared to how we do so with others.

 Please join me in tweaking the Golden Rule in a way you may not have thought about before, and let’s do it before we do any further harm to ourselves!

Not be missed take-ways:

1. Stop and listen to what you say to yourself.

2. Be aware: are you constantly putting other’s needs, wants, and desires, before yours?

3. Taking care of others and putting them first is like painting with watercolors. It can get out of control and run away from you, and you end up with an image that was not at all what you had in mind.

4. Let’s tweak the Golden Rule: (you’ve got to tune in to find out how!)

5. If you continue to treat others better than you do yourself, resentments will build and dock in your harbor.

6. Let’s not perpetuate a behavior that models not valuing ourselves.

7. Taking care of yourself is not selfish.

8. Compromising is different than neglecting yourself.

9. The irony is: the biggest favor you can do for those you love and care about, is to treat yourself well, and put yourself first. Then you are nourished and fueled up so that you can have a full tank to be there for those you care about.

And your mission, that I hope you’ll choose to accept…

1) When you notice that you’ve said something unkind or disrespectful to yourself: Notice it, Name it, Reframe it. You can read specific examples on how to do this by downloading The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life on the home page of nancylanggibbs.com.

2) The next time you find yourself about to take the burnt or broken piece of something; or you’re tempted to say ‘yes’ to something you’d rather not do… Stop. Ask yourself if this is what you really want.

3) Let us know how it went! Write me at nancy@lovinglaterlife.com so I can share with everyone. When we share our experiences, it helps us all!

4) Share this episode with someone you think needs to hear it!

 

Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!

 

Download The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life

Subscribe/Follow where you get your podcasts: 

And please…Rate and Review…if you liked it! 😊 A positive rating and review will help other women find us so they can become a part of our community.

It’d be great if you would like Loving Later Life on Facebook and Instagram!

Also: If you have a story you’d like to share for the podcast or have questions or comments for Nancy email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Last but not least: If you’d like to know more about having Nancy as a private coach, click here!

 

 

If you’d like to advertise with us, email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Important Tips from a Financial Advisor

I am so honored to have Cathy Brown as a guest on Loving Later Life. Cathy is a financial advisor and President of CB Wealth Management Group, which is a family-owned business in Palm Desert, CA. Cathy has her degree in Economics from the University of Notre Dame, has worked at Merrill Lynch, American Express, and Smith Barney until she realized her goal of creating her own independent financial planning company. She was also the financial analyst for the local CBS affiliate for 7 years, has received the Elite Advisor designation from her broker-dealer IFG for the last 7 years, and has enjoyed giving back to her community for the last 30 years. Cathy is also the proud mother of two sons and extra proud grandmother of two grandchildren. Last but not least, she is my financial planner, and I don’t know what I’d do without her!

Cathy has guided me over the years to create a nest egg for myself that I wasn’t able to start building until later in life because of my life’s circumstances. In this episode we cover many important topics including: how to choose a financial advisor and what to be leery of; what the most important things are for us to know and be prepared for; what to do given the stock market today; what if you don’t have a retirement portfolio—is it too late? What are some safe ways to invest our money right now? What are the most important things we should all have in place…and lots more! (P.S. this is for informational purposes only.)

Not be missed take-ways:

1. You need to know your budget. Understand your options, know what risk means to you, match your goals (short and long term) with the investing opportunities for those goals, diversify, and stick to your plan.

2. Don’t ever write a check made out to your financial planner or their DBA.

3. What, in her opinion, you should and shouldn’t do in general, and in this market.

4. The scoop about Long Term Care Insurance.

5. How to know when you can stop working.

6. Get your estate plans in order. Living Trust, Health Care Directive, make sure your beneficiaries are up to date, and plan for the unexpected.

7. The fastest growing segment of the working population are people over the age of 65.

8. How she handled re-entering the dating world after the death of her husband.

9. Life is too short to be around people who are cranky!

10. Don’t be afraid to take some risks, don’t take things too seriously, laugh as often as you can, and give back whenever you can.

11. Don’t be afraid to ask about things you don’t know.

AND MORE!

And your mission, that I hope you’ll choose to accept…

1) If you don’t have a financial planner/advisor, find one you can trust so you can be prepared.

2) Figure out your budget if you haven’t yet. (Know your number!) Many of us don’t want to look under the hood to see how much we spend each month because it can be a scary reality. However, if we don’t know, we can’t prepare for anything.

3) Make an appointment with an advisor to get your plans in order. It can be scary to talk or think about, AND we need to do it. Let’s do it together and keep one another accountable! Let me know when you do and what it was like for you! Write me at nancy@lovinglaterlife.com and I’ll read your experience on the podcast…anonymously of course!

If you have any questions for Cathy, you can email her at cbrown@ifgrr.com, check out her website at https://www.cbwealthmanagement.com/, find her on Facebook @cbwealthmanagement.

Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!

 

Download The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life

Subscribe/Follow where you get your podcasts: 

And please rate and review…if you liked it! 🙂 A positive rating and review will help other women find us so they can become a part of our community.

It’d be great if you would like Loving Later Life on Facebook and follow on Instagram!

Also: If you have a story you’d like to share for the podcast or have questions or comments for Nancy, email, nancy@lovinglaterlife.com.

Last but not least: If you’d like to know more about having Nancy as a private coach, click here!

 

If you’d like to advertise with us, email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com.

How to Give Up Perfectionism

Do you feel that everything needs to be ‘perfect’ before you start something, do something, or even think about it doing something? Perfectionism. How often do you allow this ‘ism’ to keep you from enjoying your day-to-day life by making perfect the enemy of progress?

To be honest, it almost kept me from doing this podcast. The perfection monster likes to take up space in our heads telling us things like: if you can’t do it perfectly don’t do it at all, don’t even think of trying something new because you won’t do it perfectly right away, just wait until the ‘perfect time’ when you feel ready, or don’t date or buy new clothes until you get to the perfect weight. If we allow it, this monster can rob us of doing what will bring us joy, fulfillment, fun, and from living whole-heartedly. I hope you’ll come with me to kick this ‘ism’s’ butt!

Not be missed take-ways:

1. Perfectionism is a thief and will keep you from being seen and from living a fulfilling life.

2. Stop caring about what other people think! As Brene Brown said, “You can’t ever do anything brave if you’re wearing the straight jacket of what will people think.”

3. We are all worthy and enough and deserve to live life whole-heartedly.

4. Don’t wait to do something you’ve been wanting to do. There is no perfect time, except now!

5. Love yourself, as is! Our belief in ourselves, just as we are, will be like water was to the wicked witch of the west and the Perfection monster will lose its power.

And your mission, that I hope you’ll choose to accept…

1) Think of 3 things that the Perfection Monster in your brain is keeping you from doing and write them down.

2) Pick one from that list.

3) Write down the worst-case scenario if you were to do it. And if it isn’t dangerous to you or anyone you know…

4) Come up with 3 baby steps that feel comfortable to start doing to get you closer to it.

5) Start with the first baby step—and let us know what happens!!!

 

Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!

 

Download The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life

Subscribe/Follow where you get your podcasts: 

And please…Rate and Review…if you liked it! 😊 A positive rating and review will help other women find us so they can become a part of our community.

It’d be great if you would like Loving Later Life on Facebook and Instagram!

Also: If you have a story you’d like to share for the podcast or have questions or comments for Nancy email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Last but not least: If you’d like to know more about having Nancy as a private coach, click here!

 

 

If you’d like to advertise with us, email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com

Finding My Voice Again; My Story

Welcome to the first official episode of Loving Later Life! Please join me, Nancy Lang Gibbs, Later Life Coach and published writer, as I share Who I am (I tried to keep it from sounding like a combo of my resume and dating profile), What this podcast is all about, Why the heck I’m doing it, When you can tune in on a regular basis, Where you can find it, and How the idea for this podcast was born.

You’ll hear how I’m finding my voice again. I share an overview of my journey including how, after the implosion of an abusive relationship I landed in a seat at Disneyland for a life changing ride, which led to traveling thousands of miles to begin a new life adventure only to be cut short by Covid. I also flashback to some other twists and turns along my path including my divorce, and then losing my home and moving in with my mom in my 50’s. I’m now 62 and it’s not too late for any of us to live our best Later Life! I hope you’ll come with me on this journey!

Not be missed take-ways:

1. Loving Later Life is a safe, fun space for women 50, 60 and older to feel heard, understood, valued, and connected. A place to ask questions, get answers, and be inspired.

2. I’ll be sharing personal stories that will relate to the topic of each episode. I’ll also be talking with experts on topics we all want answers to, and with wonderful women telling their compelling stories.

3. Each episode will have the main story/content, then a recap of the not-to-be missed take-aways, followed by some action steps to take regarding the topic that day…I call it, “your mission should you choose to accept it.”

4. There will be some 4 letter words, bad puns and direct and honest thoughts and opinions!

5. I knew I wasn’t the only woman at this stage of life experiencing some challenges and changes like feeling stuck, ruminating about regrets, worrying that the best of life is in the rear-view mirror, staying healthy, financial concerns, re-imagining life, re-building personal connections, traveling alone, navigating dating, helping aging parents, grown kids telling us what to do!

6. A new episode of Loving Later Life will drop every Monday.

7. Brene Brown defines vulnerability as “uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.” That is what starting this podcast is for me. I hope you’ll join and support me in growing a community of and for women in later life!

And your mission, that I hope you’ll choose to accept…

Moving forward, this is where  I’ll give some action steps to try regarding the topic that week. This week my action steps are to please do any and all of the below to help me get the word out about Loving Later Life!

Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!

 

Download The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life

Subscribe/Follow where you get your podcasts: 

And please rate and review…if you liked it! 🙂 A positive rating and review will help other women find us so they can become a part of our community.

It’d be great if you would like Loving Later Life on Facebook and follow on Instagram!

Also: If you have a story you’d like to share for the podcast or have questions or comments for Nancy, email, nancy@lovinglaterlife.com.

Last but not least: If you’d like to know more about having Nancy as a private coach, click here!

 

If you’d like to advertise with us, email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com.

Loving Later Life: The Trailer!

Hi! Welcome to Loving Later Life…the trailer, the sneak preview! I’m Nancy Lang Gibbs; a Later Life Coach (in later life), published writer, proud mom, and creator & host of this podcast.

I have found it challenging to find a fun, safe place to connect with other women 50, 60 and older.

So, I decided I had to start Loving Later Life literally, and, the podcast of the same name!

I am now 62 years old and it just doesn’t compute. But when I see the sagging of almost everything, hear moans more often from changing positions than from pleasure, and realize that I’ve become “Ma’am” instead of “Miss” in the eyes of many, it is a big bite of reality.

While I’m very grateful to be this age, I figured I couldn’t possibly be the only woman at this stage of life experiencing some challenges and changes like:

• Discovering a new purpose
• Loneliness
• Losing Friends
• Making new friends
• Dating
• Hormones
• Staying healthy
• Embracing aging
• Financial stuff
• Creating boundaries
• Regrets
• Worrying that the best of life is over
• Traveling alone
• Relationships changing
• Ignoring that negative inner voice
• …And soooo much more!

Loving Later Life is where women 50, 60+ can connect, feel seen, heard, and valued. A place to laugh, have fun, and feel inspired. I’ll be sharing my experiences, talking with experts, and brave women telling their compelling stories.

It’s an opportunity to share, ask questions, and get answers that are informing, and I hope, transforming.

Meet me here every Monday! And to be sure you get each new episode automatically, go now to Apple or wherever you get your podcasts and follow Loving Later Life. Please also share this with other women you know and care about so that our supportive, fun, non-judgmental, community of women can grow and thrive.

And I’d love to hear from you! What would you like me to discuss? Or talk about with others? I also want to hear your stories. I invite you to email me: nancy@lovinglaterlife.com, or DM me on Instagram @lovinglaterlifepodcast. The more we share, the more we’ll all feel seen, heard, and connected.

Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!

 

Download The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life

Subscribe/Follow where you get your podcasts: 

And please rate and review…if you liked it! 🙂 A positive rating and review will help other women find us so they can become a part of our community.

It’d be great if you would like Loving Later Life on Facebook and follow on Instagram!

Also: If you have a story you’d like to share for the podcast or have questions or comments for Nancy, email, nancy@lovinglaterlife.com.

Last but not least: If you’d like to know more about having Nancy as a private coach, click here!

If you’d like to advertise with us, email nancy@lovinglaterlife.com.