115. Grab That Dream and Never Let Go! | Ignite Your Start for the Best Midlife Ever

This favorite early episode is coming full circle as I gear up to present a series on valuable visioning for your giant leap to go from stuck to successfully engaged. Listen now to this timeless inspirational podcast that first aired in May of 2023 and still rings true. So step into your ruby-red slippers (hint hint) and hear how to spark your start with new eyes!

To reclaim your potential with guidance for the midlife-plus dreams and goals mean the most to you, come work with me one-on-one! Just send an email to hello@laurieadamscoaching.com to schedule a no-pressure conversation/Q & A about individual coaching. We’ll specifically explore the desires that have eluded you most, and the problem-solving actions that will be best, will be doable, just for you. That’s what I’m here for.

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hi, and welcome to the Fire Up at 55 Plus Podcast, a show about how to put yourself first in your second act of life. I'm Certified Life and Weight Loss Coach Lori Adams, here to empower you to let go of guilt, take charge of your health, then find and fulfill your dreams. It's never too late, so let's get started. It's never too late to ignite your potential and transform it to a picture of the best life that you can almost see and touch. This is Lori with a timeless repeat episode, now retitled as Grab That Dream and Never Let Go. Let's get to it and grab for what you want now. This favorite early episode is coming full circle as I gear up to present a series for you on valuable visioning for your giant leap to go from stuck to successfully engaged. Listen now to this timeless inspirational podcast that first aired in May of 2023 and still rings true. So step into your ruby red slippers, hint hint, and hear how to spark your start with new eyes. Step into your ruby red slippers and listen up. Today I'm channeling Glinda the Good Witch, well sort of, to support you in the successful pursuit of your dreams. Dorothy didn't know what she wanted, the shining emerald city of Oz or back home Kansas comfort. Do you have an inkling of the dream you really want to fulfill? How do you ignite your imagination to follow your own unique rainbow of desires at midlife and beyond? Let's find out. But first, in what's becoming a fire up podcast tradition, I'll launch today's episode with a quote because I always love one that resonates. So here's an impactful quote from one impactful person most of us recognize because of her sixty years of delighting us in show business. Quote, when you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go, unquote. It likely won't surprise you that Carol Burnett said this. She's still acting at ninety years young. To me, the focus of that piece of advice from Carol Burnett is not the word dream, but instead it's the word grab. She said you've got to grab the dream and never let go. Words matter as I say again and again. The word grab is a feeling as much as it is an action verb. It conjures up an intense desire you can visualize. You grab something and you own it. Do you have a dream now for your transformed life at Midlife Plus? Is there a dream you had or maybe just vaguely recall that you want to grab now and fulfill? You might have been a daydreamer, like the younger me at her school desk, not really committed or able to clearly envision any one thing. I often share that the fifty five plus generation of women, born in the sixties, fifties, or even nineteen forties, were expected to, were taught early to be polite, to be seen and not heard, to tamp down their own dreams in favor of brothers, boyfriends, a boss, or at the behest of the head of the family. The father who knew that girls just didn't do, well fill in the blank. Then there's the mother who modeled that behavior and set her own standards for a quote perfect unquote daughter, putting others first and ourselves last. At school, we were required to wear dresses that didn't actually inspire Olympic dreams, but then there weren't organized school sports for girls anyway. Okay, before I get on my soapbox about that or any other goals we were not encouraged to pursue, the point is just like you, like me, we might have had a pretty tough time coming up with a vision of the true future self we wanted to be. I would draw a blank in visioning exercises or meditations, but as I now say again and again, words matter. So my breakthrough in grabbing a dream, a vision for my second act of fifty five plus, you might have heard me on a prior podcast say that I prefer and understand the word identity over the two word future self description. That is because identity to me is easier to envision. You can see her and the life she is creating. You can begin to become her now as you step onto your own yellow brick path to a happy ending. So how to start? Well you're listening to this soil, I will assume that you want to grab and hold onto an image of you in the identity you desire at this transition time in your life. For example, I wanted the authentic me to release people pleasing and be inside and out, the strong woman with mojo, generosity, and autonomy working. Yes, still at my age, working, in a career of my choice that gives me the time to spend with those I love and to practice self care. That's a fairly general statement, but it travels over time into specific characteristics that I've adopted. Now, three years after I began that process, by releasing overwork and lack of engagement in the things I love, I am living into that powerful woman identity. My family, especially, will tell you I've changed. My new colleagues will tell you I'm immersed in being a life coach. My doctors and healthcare providers have evidence in their appointment books, and ordered lab tests how I stopped putting my health off, and even relentlessly pursued the solution to a very unusual respiratory condition I had last year until, well, after months it was resolved. Happiness wasn't the end game, but an identity of positive outlook and the ability to show up the way I admire in challenging circumstances is my growth process, and I've come a long way, largely due to my commitment to learning, a more fulfilling life, and coaching by those I respect immensely. I'm not here to boast, but to proudly offer that by envisioning the identity I wanted, still want and act upon, well it's possible at this age, at any age. So to release old stories and create a new one where you grab your dream with powerful emotion, begin to imagine who you want to be going forward, and how you want to show up for yourself and in the world. Maybe start with a role model who is standing in her power as she ages, perhaps your mother, her mother, a favorite teacher or spiritual advisor or performer, you know, someone you have always admired. How does she show up? Maybe start with a diary or journal or just pondering gratitude, quieting your thoughts and then processing them. Maybe start with understanding what you know you don't want, but don't get mired in that, just do it to get positive juices flowing. The essential part of this is to set a foundation for your life changes. By discovering the identity with which you resonate, the authentic you ready to release your potential. For that foundation to be strong, you'll need to build upon it. The doable way to get going is to adopt now, today, some characteristics of the identity you're creating. Live into it a bit at a time but regularly. For example, if you see yourself as a hiker in forest preserves, on trails, or in state parks, or with a group, well then just begin to walk outdoors a little. Then more every day, rain or shine, and know that you are doing so for you, your self-care, and your life now and life ahead, something you really resonate with and want. To empower your identity, you add building blocks that you want, you choose, over time, and again consistently. In the hiker example, what do you eat to fuel yourself? What hiking shoes or boots do you wear? How do you scope out trails and plan for location-inspired weekend walks? Author and podcaster Brianna Weist in her book on overcoming self-sabotage titled The Mountain Is You explains, quote, You want to clearly envision the most ideal version of yourself so that you know how your own life needs to grow, shift, and change. Psychologist and best-selling author, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, whose most recent book is titled Be Your Future Self Now, is also a proponent of detailing all the ways your identity will be different in your new identity, specifically your habits, your envisioned situation, goals, friends, hobbies, and so forth. So don't hold back. Over time get really granular on who you are becoming every day. In the Life's Coach School training I had, along with many other guests I interview on this podcast, founder Brooke Castillo taught us the additional importance of releasing limits from your past. To quote some of her training, this example specific to financial identity, she said, quote, I'll say to someone, how much money do you want to make? They'll say, I want to make fifty thousand dollars a year. I'll say why? And they'll say, That's all I've ever made. Future focus, Brooke teaches, is a start to imagining a future much better than our past, with a deeper level of emotion. Can you imagine a life where you exceed, and perhaps by a lot, the financial identity you've always had? Perhaps just always settled for. Now, in the pursuit of change, some of you may have taken an emotionally fun vision board class I know I participated in several. We brought in photos from home and searched through magazines in the class, chatting while cutting and pasting scenes and people and things we think would make a great poster, a vision board, that we can hang on the wall, walk by and look at every day. First, the trouble for me in these situations was well, did any of these images on the board truly inspire me to grab them? And the well meaning facilitator who was trying to explain, simultaneous with the noisy cutting and pasting, went unheard as she or he was speaking to us, trying to present the brainy advantages of a vision board to our minds, the science behind it, and why we would do so much better by having a vision board to look at. Visioning with intention means it is tailored completely to you. It's not a hodgepodge of pretty magazine pictures that could be a one size fits all in a group party situation. This is all for you. Please remember your unique story of renewal is authored beautifully by you. And let's edit it together so you'll never want to put your storybook down. I can't wait to see how your 2025 transformation tale continues to unfold with the utmost fulfillment. Again, I'm Lori Adams and I love podcasting here, but I love even more working with women like you as your own life coach to reclaim your potential with guidance from me for the midlife plus dreams and goals that mean the most to you. Come work with me one on one. Just send an email to hello at LoriAdamsCoaching dot com to schedule a no pressure conversation and Q ⁇ A about individual coaching. In that call, we'll specifically explore the desires that have eluded you most and the problem solving actions that will be best will be doable just for you. That's what I'm here for. And to keep the transformational information coming each week, please follow FireUp at fifty five plus wherever you download your podcasts. And if on Apple, share a review in a star worthy rating. It's much appreciated.