Loving Later Life

Carole Montgomery is a respected veteran of the stand-up scene nationwide. She has over two dozen TV credits, has headlined clubs across the U.S., starred in two Las Vegas production shows, did eleven comedy tours with Armed Forces Entertainment, and has been a featured performer for Montreal Just for Laughs and Boston and New York Comedy Festivals.

Carole is also a director and producer. In 2017 she created the live stand-up comedy show Funny Women of a Certain Age which premiered on Showtime and became the network's highest rated comedy special for 2019 making TV history as the first comedy special to feature six women over the age of 50! In addition to her hilarious self, Carole has brought to the show some of the most respected names in comedy including Fran Drescher, Janeane Garofalo, Caroline Rhea, Julia Scotti and many more.

In this episode, Carole openly shares the funny, touching, jaw dropping stories of her career. Don Rickles gave her the ultimate compliment of dissing her. Richard Pryor brought her to tears in the best of ways. Her stories of how she has faced ageism, sexism, and how she continues to persevere are compelling. Carole is still going strong at 64 years old bringing laughter to audiences across the country.

The path to getting older is oh so interesting, isn't it? As we grow older we accumulate some wisdom along the way, which can be cleverly disguised as heartbreak, loss, pain, disappointment, sadness, embarrassment, hurt or growing pains. So, if we get wiser as we get older, why do so many of us, so often, look outside ourselves for the answers? Perhaps they're in a place inside us where we'd least expect!

In this episode, we experiment with a different way of discovering wisdom to find answers, feel emotionally safe, loved, and heard. Please join me, and I'd love to hear how it worked for you!

Nicole Aloni has had many lives and many losses. She is a French-trained chef (she cooked for Julia Child and Queen Elizabeth to name a few), was the director of catering of the Music Center in Los Angeles, founded a restaurant, catering company, food manufacturing business and photography studio. She was married to the love of her life, Ami Aloni, a prominent personality in the Jewish musical life of L.A., most especially revered in the synagogue world as a composer, arranger, pianist, and conductor.

After Ami's tragic passing, Nicole reinvented herself several more times. She authored articles and books about food and entertaining. She also wrote, produced, and performed her autobiographical one-woman show, Le Grand Fromage, which you can watch on YouTube! In this funny and poignant show, she cooks French food on stage as she tells the riveting stories of her life. It will have you laughing and keep you on the edge of your seat. Nicole is also a certified coach specializing in collaborating with creative risk-takers, entrepreneurs, performers, public speakers and those re-inventing. You are going to be glued to her every word!

Today I'm talking about what I believe is quickly becoming a lost art: Listening. I think it's also the biggest gift we can give someone else. When we aren't truly listening, it means that the person who is trying to share something with us is likely not feeling heard. Feeling heard, is one of the most universal human needs, and when that need is not met on a consistent basis, it just doesn't lead to anything good!

Whether we're 5 or 85 we want to feel that someone is listening to us. Do you always 'listen' with your head down in your phone? While watching TV? In this episode I share some stories that might just make you never want to do that again. It may also change the way you look at listening forever. I hope you'll listen. (See what I did there?!)

Join me and my special guest Kathryn Nicolai. Kathryn is the creator of the enormously successful podcast Nothing Much Happens and the author of the book of the same name. Nothing Much Happens is consistently ranked in the top 1% of all podcasts in the world and has received over 65 million downloads.

As an architect of cozy, she leans on her years of experience as a yoga and meditation teacher to seamlessly blend storytelling with brain training methods that build better sleep habits over time. And imagine …wait till you hear about this… doing all of this not being able to picture a person's face or see things in her mind. Kathryn lives in Michigan with her wife and two dogs.

This is an unplanned episode. My efforts to be organized and plan somewhat ahead got thrown off course a little as I felt 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.

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.

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!

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 help me 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!

--LOVING LATER LIFE SHOWNOTES: https://nancylanggibbs.com/shownotes/

--LOVING LATER LIFE INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/lovinglaterlifepodcast/

--LOVING LATER LIFE FB PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/lovinglaterlifepodcast

--DOWNLOAD "The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life" at https://nancylanggibbs.com/

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 while we kick this 'ism's' butt!

--LOVING LATER LIFE SHOWNOTES: https://nancylanggibbs.com/shownotes/

--LOVING LATER LIFE INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/lovinglaterlifepodcast/

--LOVING LATER LIFE FB PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/lovinglaterlifepodcast

--DOWNLOAD "The First 5 Steps to Loving Later Life" at https://nancylanggibbs.com/