Loving Later Life

Is there a secret to finding love after 60?

Join me in this final wrap-up of the Golden, well perhaps slightly tarnished Golden Bachelor, plus another kind of rap I created that tells the story of my most recent bachelor adventure.

Lastly, a comment or two on a big feature in the Wall Street Journal entitled "The Secret to Finding Love After 60," which led me to discover and create what possibly could be actual secrets. Hint: They're hidden in the downsides.

Please join me on this journey as we take another crack at understanding that intangible thing we call love, in later life.

Welcome bk to a very special episode of Loving Later Life, and if you are new, I hope you will continue to join me moving forward by clicking to 'Follow' LLL wherever you get your podcasts!

Today, I have an incredibly special guest joining us! Now, before I tell you all about her, you must do yourself a favor and make it a priority to listen to the entire 50 minutes. If you can't do it all at once, be sure that you make the time to finish the episode! My guest today is Dr. Stephanie McClellan.

Dr. McClellan has a 30+ year career as a practicing, board certified OBGYN advocating and caring for the needs of women while integrating the world of research and academia with frontline care delivery.

Trained at the University of Southern California, she quickly began creating innovative care models for women as she founded the Doctor's Office for Women in Orange County, CA in 1987. Dr. McClellan practiced in this setting for 17 years, before starting another private practice bearing her name in 2004.

As a result of the success of the Doctor's Office for Women model, she collaborated with Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, CA to design and develop a premier women's healthcare program.

Her evolving interest in good health and vibrant aging led to co-authoring a book on the science and clinic effects of chronic stress published by Simon & Schuster called "So Stressed: The Ultimate Stress Relief Plan for Women".

Recently Dr. McClellan served as the Chief Medical Officer of Tia, and the first practicing OB/GYN at Tia's NYC Clinic — an outpatient gynecology, primary care and wellness practice.

Following Tia she served as Co-Founder and CMO for another growing tech-driven, women's health start-up, Plenish.

Dr. McClellan continues to see patients in her private practice, while serving as a consultant and Medical Advisor for companies across the country. She is sought-after on both the speaking and consulting circuits for her expertise in women's health, hormone therapy and menopause. And, last but not least, she is my very own gynecologist! You are going to learn so much and also be very surprised by some of what she has to say!

Welcome back to the 60th episode of Loving Later Life! 60! And this was recorded hot off the press after the airing of the most recent Golden Bachelor.

But first, before I share the spoiler alerts (if you haven't seen Thursday's episode be warned!) and my observations about our Golden Guy Gerry and the ladies, I have my own not-so-golden updates to share with you!

The messages, the date that never actually happened because I am strengthening my boundary lines muscles and not tolerating shit I don't need to tolerate!

All of the above inspired me to share a quote from Brene Brown that ties this all together.

I hope you'll come with me!

My special guest in this episode of Loving Later Life is Cathi Colas.

Costco magazine did a cover story on 2nd chapters of life. It was about people, as they said, had one thing in common: a mindset open to opportunity.

Cathi was one of those people featured. So, because I'm a lifelong proponent of the "it never hurts to ask" club, I looked her up and reached out to her asking if she'd join us on Loving Later Life!

I am very happy to report that she said yes. Cathi has done many things in her life but it wasn't until about 8 years ago that she found what lights her up. And then she made it a reality.

Cathi is a professional Audiobook Narrator, Coach, and Voice Actress. She currently has over 60 audiobooks on Audible that include everything from Self-Help to Horror. She also has many notable voiceover credits on TV and video games.

I hope you'll join our conversation because you will be inspired by her journey to finally finding her passion and purpose in later life. And then we went even deeper about what keeps us from believing, trying, seeking, and doing anything that may give us joy in this chapter of our lives. Don't miss this!

With all that is going on in the world right now I was second guessing whether doing an episode on dating and all the comedic aspects of the process is somehow disrespectful or tone deaf.

However, as I thought about it a bit more, I remembered that we can feel sad, we can feel scared, and we can feel joy and still laugh.

So, this episode is what the title says! My first Golden Bachelor review with some of my thoughts and observations. Then, I have an update for you on a few of the experiences I have had thus far in the dating pond, and the frogs in said pond who I absolutely did not kiss!

If you could use a fun distraction, I hope you'll join me! And if you know someone who would enjoy this, or any episode, please share!

Dr. Laura Ricci has a doctorate in Physical Therapy. She specializes in women's health and pelvic floor PT, she's a National Board Certified health and wellness coach specializing in women's health and functional nutrition.

She is also a DoTerra (essential oils) wellness advocate with an international team.

In her words, Laura is a wounded healer. She had a rare cancer journey, lots of orthopedic surgeries for adult hip dysplasia, she's had chronic Lyme disease, a hysterectomy in her 30's, and various auto immune issues. She went on a journey to heal, and found that when you help others you heal in turn.

Laura reclaimed her health and wellness, found weight training, "became a beast," and has become the heroine of her journey.

You will learn and be inspired. Please join us and listen in on our conversation. I promise you'll be glad you did.

With the premiere of the Golden Bachelor starting later this month, I thought I'd start my own parallel experiment of dating right here and now (even though the very idea makes me queasy) and report back to you. I will also be commenting on the Golden Dude and all that goes on with is bevy of women. It promises not to be boring, so please come with me!

I also want to say Shana Tova, to those who celebrate the Jewish New Year. I'm sending wishes for a year of good health, love, peace of mind, fulfillment, and joy.

Lastly, I want to tell you how exciting it is to see so many women joining in community in the new private Facebook Group: Loving Later Life Listening Community! If you are a woman over 50 listening to this and would like to have a safe space to connect with other women, to feel a part of a community to feel seen, heard, understood and connected please join us! Just go to loving later life listener community on Facebook!

Welcome back to Loving Later Life! This is the first episode after the first ever break after 54 episodes.

This was not the episode I had already recorded and planned to drop on this the first Monday of September 2023.

What happened? I got Covid. This was my first experience with this virus, and it was not fun. However, while I was down for the Covid count, I was inspired by an older movie I was watching and picked up my phone to record what was resonating with me and how it relates to later life.

I also share with you some news regarding Loving Later Life moving forward, so I hope you will listen. I thank you for being here, for listening, sharing, for your ratings and reviews. If you haven't yet, please do so?!

Hello Loving Later Life family. Before I tell you about this very special episode in more detail, I must tell you if you don't already know, that today, is a milestone day. Today is June 26th, 2023, and on June 27th 2022, Loving Later Life's first official episode was born, making this the official one year anniversary of Loving Later Life!! I suppose this could be a very good excuse for a cake, yes?!

Well, the gestation for this baby took a lot longer than 9 months. If you haven't listened to the very first full episode, I hope you will go back and do so as I share the story of its conception leading up to the date of birth. Click here to listen!

Cranking out one episode a week has been so much fun, and pretty intense. You may or may not know that I am a one woman band including writing, recording, editing for sound, sound effects (that episode # 12 was fun to create),… creating a page for each episode on the website: https://nancylanggibbs.com/shownotes/ , submitting it all to the podcast hosting platform, creating visuals to promote each episode, the weekly email and more.

On this anniversary day I am cognizant of walking the walk and taking moments to acknowledge my accomplishments without diminishing them by focusing on what could have been better or different. (But you know I'm going to go there for a second!) In my wildest dreams I wanted each episode Loving Later Life to be in thousands of listeners ears by this time, with wanna-be-Loving Later Life sponsors blowing up my phone. I should insert a record scratch sound effect here, because that didn't happen…yet!

If I had to grade myself tho, I'd say that I did what I set out to do as far as sharing my experiences, talking with experts, and amazing women telling their compelling stories. And I hope that you have felt heard, understood, valued and connected.

The part I intend to continue to grow is the creating a safe place where we can connect, ask questions, get answers and feel inspired, part.

What do I mean by that? I want to grow this community of women in later life, both virtually and in real life. Or, IRL as they say!

I have some super exciting ideas that I'm working on, and I want to hear yours. What would interest and excite you? Would you like to see in person events, perhaps a monthly or by-monthly virtual way to connect with me and other Later Life listeners where we can share, learn, laugh and grow? What about a trip with fellow Loving Later Life listeners? These are not rhetorical questions. I would greatly appreciate your input.

After all, it has been a year now and you know me pretty well, so this is no time to be shy with your thoughts. Please, write me and let me know if you have ideas and/or interest in any of the above!

We all need community. Feeling a lack of connection with other women, especially at this age, is a recurring sentiment. Those of us with kids know that they have their lives. The landscape of our friends changes as we get older. Help me create this community with your feedback. It takes a village ladies.

When I do episodes myself, I share my thoughts, experiences and stories.

We've talked about love, loss, life after loss, and is there life after death. I've shared horrifying/funny dating experiences, my personal challenge of singing with a jazz band, pacifying perfectionism, tweaking the Golden Rule, listening with your whole face, talking with our younger selves, being afraid of joy, accepting the help of others, how the stories we tell ourselves are holding us back, getting out of our comfort zone, how setbacks and quitting may not be a bad thing, and so much more.

The episodes with guests have covered topics like reinventing, love stories, death and dying, techniques and insights for better sleep, living with Alzheimer's, Medicare, finding your superpower, hormone therapy/menopause/libido, real estate, and the value of positive affirmations…on your socks! I talk with a TV Emmy winner NYT best-selling author, a financial advisor, real estate expert, a veteran of the stand-up comedy scene, a CBS Sunday Morning correspondent/ author, anti-ageism activist, America's premiere dating expert, and yes, my mom!

As you may remember, with each guest, I ask the same 3 questions at the end of each conversation:

1. What for you have been the most rewarding things about getting older?

2. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned in your life.

3. With all that you have learned, what life advice would you pass along?

So, I thought it would be neat for today's anniversary episode to do a sort of highlight reel of their answers, taking one question at a time. It's fun to hear similar answers expressed differently, and fascinating to also hear totally different answers.

Putting this together was a lot of fun…for the most part! Anyhow, I hope you'll listen to them all because these women are smart, insightful, funny, loving, caring humans. And to all you ladies who gave me the honor to speak with you…I must confess, I was humbled by your yes, to being my guest!! I am so very grateful to each and every one of you, and anytime you want to come back and visit Loving Later Life Land, I will welcome you with open arms.

Please listen until my parting words at the end which includes some very important information.

And….I want to thank you Loving Later Life Listeners….for being here not just at the beginning… for showing up with me week after week. While there may not be thousands of you yet, you are my core founding Loving Later Lifers! Without you, I wouldn't be here and I hope you know how much I appreciate you. And now that we're at the year mark, let's move forward together.

Please remember to let me know how the Loving Later Life community can be there for you! What would interest and excite you?

Lastly, while I await your responses, I have decided to take the months of July and August off to regroup. I want to provide the time and space for ideas to perculate, cook and rise up so that I can create more opportunities for us all to love later life. And I hope you'll add some ingredients into the mix by contacting me with what you'd like to experience.

The next episode of Loving Later Life will drop on Monday, September 4th, Labor Day.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping that if you are new to Loving Later Life, or you need to catch up on some episodes, this will give you time to listen to any of the other 52 episodes while you're on summer vacation, on a road trip, or just chilling on a nice weekend. And if any of the episodes are helpful for you in any way I'd so appreciate if you would share them. Remember how viral covid became was when it was 1:1. Simply letting one other person know about Loving Later Life and asking them to do the same will help to grow this community of women exponentially.

Thank you so much, and let me hear from you!

Hello and welcome back to Loving Later Life! Everyone listening today is in for a very special treat and her name is Jan Kreidman.

For those who have been listening to Loving Later Life you know that the episodes will be a combination of my thoughts/stories and experiences, talking with experts, and also brave women telling their compelling stories.

Well today, I am talking with one courageous woman. I knew that her story would be an important one to share with all of you. I also knew that Jan met her husband in later life and not long after he was diagnosed with early dementia.

What I didn't know is about her incredible journey prior to meeting her beloved Steve. I didn't know about her contagious outlook on life. Her courageous choices that went against the societal grain, her love for taking risks, for embracing the unknown and ability to embrace the valleys. Her skill in listening to what is right for her even when it meant zigging when she was expected to zag, and how she lives her life with a drive to thrive, feeling all the feelings and not letting anything steal her spirit.

And then there is her love story. Jan didn't meet Steve until she was 66. And you'll just have to listen to know how long she had been single prior to that. You'll also hear about their unique story of how their relationship escalated, and what has happened since they've been married. This is not a story that will make you sad. If anything, you just might have a more positive outlook about life's possibilities.

Please join us. I promise you will be glad you did!!