This is a conversational YouTube interview (hosted by Betsy Guerra) in which an older coach reflects on life after major loss and how she reinvented herself around age 60. The speaker emphasizes the value of second (and third) chances, describes her coaching brand "Life Take Two," and presents a concrete coaching framework called the "BRA method" (Breakthrough, Revamp, Attain). She uses personal anecdotes (marriage, in-laws, empty nesting, learning new leisure activities, AARP membership) to show that later-life transitions can lead to renewed purpose and fulfillment, and closes with an encouraging message that a whole new life is possible and often unimaginable until experienced.
Questions this video answers
B = Breakthrough; R = Revamp; A = Attain.
Chapters
When I think about my life now, looking at, you know, from 60 years old back, I wouldn't change a thing. I absolutely. And there have been very hard times along the way. I've missed huge pieces and chunks of the story that mattered. I thought the world was over and it wasn't. The things we think are emergencies usually aren't. Some are, but they usually aren't. But I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't have not fallen in love with that incredible guy that I met on that plane. I mean, his mother and father are parents to me still. I love and adore them. I still say my mother in law and father in law and a friend of mine will go, well, your former mother in law. I'm like, no, no, no, no. My mother in law, my father in law. I hate saying X and I do say it sometimes, but we're still a family. If you were married to a complete, horrible jerk, you're part of the puzzle. Can be the best part. It's all about you. You never say a bad word about their other parent. You never do. The kids always find out, fortunately or unfortunately, but it should never come from you, ever. That's my feeling. Yep.
Amen to that. Okay, so I know you're big on second chances, and I would love to hear a little bit about how is that playing on in this new journey that you're in where you're intentionally coaching and sharing your gifts and your experiences and your wisdom with the people who you were assigned to.
I am all about second chances, third chances, multiple chances. And my coaching, my. My kind of, my niche, my specialty. I call it life. Take two. So I loved my first take. Loved it. But it had to change. I don't want it to change. It had to change. And we all need second chances. We can always reimagine, revisit. You know, if some of the dreams don't happen or they break, you can have new dreams. So I call my my brand of coaching life take two. And I have a very special method in my coaching called the bra method. Like bra. Like you wear a bra on your boobs. And the bra method is B for breakthrough, R for revamp, and A for attain. Because first of all, who doesn't like a good lift? We all need support. You know, it's all about the bra. But it's also because we have to break through. We have to just know that we can get somewhere that we want to be. It doesn't have to be a big change. It could be something so small and so minor that can have this huge ripple effect. So. So if you are one of the people thinking that your best time is behind you, or you lost your great love, or your kids are gone, they're independent, they don't call so much. Whatever it is. There's so many things that happen a little bit later in life. If you've been a member of AARP for a few years now, like me, there is a whole other life out there waiting for you. I learned to play golf. I learned to play mahjong. I learned to play canasta. I learned to play pickleball. I did all the things that empty nesting women did, and I was still working. Those things did not fill me up. So it was being intentional about my coaching, learning about my coaching, becoming a part of the coaching academy, and now paying it back. It is the most fulfilling thing ever to think that I can help a woman going through a divorce or somebody with their adult children or. I mean, I could. The clients I have, they have all different kinds of issues, but it is the best feeling to help somebody when they're in pain and when they just can't see through the storm. They cannot see through the storm. The storm is gonna end. It'll rain again. But it's.
So if there was one message that you wanted to end with for a person going through transition, whether it's empty nesting or divorce or whatever life take two looks like for that person. Cause I will say life take two was after Fofi passed for me. I'm Betsy. Before and after.
Right.
So what would you say?
I would say the thing that I've already said, and that is there is a whole life out there waiting for you that you can't imagine. You couldn't imagine being happy without your beautiful daughter alive on earth? I couldn't imagine being happy without my husband and an intact family the first time around. I couldn't imagine living my life without my children at home and having them having to, you know, run the trains on time. I couldn't imagine all of the things, but now I don't have to imagine them. I have them. It's still hard. I still miss being a mom with little kids running around and cookies and crumbs on the floor and all of that. I miss it. You were at my house. It's pretty quiet, right? But I'm very comfortable and very satisfied and very grounded with where I am. And you can be, too. There's a whole life out there waiting for you. You can't imagine.
