First the blog, now the podcast!

With Chip Conley in El Pescadero, Mexico after a week at Modern Elder Academy

My new podcast, Gap Year For Grown-Ups, is ready for prime-time! I invite you to listen and to subscribe via iTunes (or your favorite podcast app).

It’s a podcast for those who believe you can take a timeout to reinvent your life, to explore, to find meaning and purpose – and yes, happiness! – especially when you are 50+ and figuring out what comes next.

Think of the word gap as a metaphor for a transition, a portal, a threshold, a liminal space. Your timeout doesn’t need to be for a year. It can be a week, a month, six months, a year or longer. Gap Year makes a catchy title, so that’s why I used it.

Yes, grown-ups can step out of their default life for a reset, for a change and for bucket list adventures. But it’s a bit more complicated than it is for students who only have to sling a backpack over their shoulders. I talk with guests, including Sam, about the money question, decision-making, the process of change and the pursuit of happiness.

Interview with New York Times best-selling author Chip Conley

Listen to the latest episode where I interview NYT best-selling author Chip Conley

In the latest episode I interview Chip Conley, a New York Times best-selling author, rebel hospitality entrepreneur and a rock star of the mid-life transition movement. After selling Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second largest boutique hotel brand in the U.S., Chip was invited at age 52 to work for AirBnB as an advisor to the young founders. He soon found himself to be both mentor and intern; the result was his newest book, Wisdom@Work, The Making of a Modern Elder.

In January 2018, Chip founded Modern Elder Academy, the world’s first mid-life wisdom school, in Baja California, Mexico. This episode is broadcast from Mexico where I spent a week at MEA as a student. We talk about MEA’s mission, which is to help mid-lifers mine their mastery, repurpose their wisdom and reset their mindset for the third third of their life.

We also talk about my experience as a Modern Elder student. I learned about throwing away bad habits that no longer serve you; in my case complaining… and being judgmental (of myself as well as those around me). A second revelation was to focus on being kinder and gentler (to myself and others) as well as to being more mindful and to being a “first-class noticer,” as Chip likes to call it. Chip and I talk about all this and more in the interview. Listen here.

Interesting links

More about the podcast and all the episodes so far

Episode 1: Why Gap Years Are Not Wasted On the Young
(Interviews with my father and with our three adult children)

Episode 5: interview with Sam on becoming a first-time author

You can subscribe on iTunes, as well as Spotify, Stitcher and Google Podcasts.

Yours in possibilities… and maybe a timeout from your default life?

Debbie

P.S. And if you like the podcast and are inspired, please take a moment to leave a review on iTunes!