Life Doesn't Happen to You...You Happen to Life | A Living to100 Club Conversation with Sandy Weston

Well, good day to everyone. I'm Joe Casciani, your host for the Living to 100 Club podcast. Our conversations are all about aging well and doing what it takes mentally and physically to live longer and healthier. Our guests share insights and recommendations about successful aging, stories of perseverance, and inspiration about our future. Our program today is entitled Life Doesn't Happen to You, You Happen to Life. Our conversation focuses on the importance of mindset and overcoming our limiting self-beliefs. Our guest is Sandy Weston, an exercise physiologist and someone who has hosted her own podcast for 10 years focusing on removing our negative beliefs, fears, and anxieties. We discuss how longstanding fears and beliefs can hold us back and how it's never too late to tackle these beliefs. We'll tackle many important questions on our program today. First, let me give you a little background. Sandy Joy Weston, Master's in Education, is a keynote speaker, podcaster, 3 times published author, and entrepreneur. She's owned and operated health and wellness companies for over 30 years. Sandy is the founder of SJW Productions, whose main mission is to highlight all the positive in the world. In addition to her speaking, she does it through her podcast, her books, Train Your Head and Your Body Will Follow, My 30-Day Reset Journal, and Recess to Reset, and her coaching and workshops. Sandy's mission is to spread pure joy and inspire others to see their true power. Welcome to our program today, Sandy.

Oh, I'm so excited, Joe. This is going to be fun.

Great. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well. Uh, you know, this is something I talk about all the time, self-limiting beliefs and how important it is to let go of those as we age, face advancing years, and look at some of the challenges that come along. So this is really, um, something that I'm very aligned with. I always like to open by asking our guests to tell us a little bit about the journey you've been on, a good long journey. Tell us a little bit about what brought you to where you are today.

Hmm. So my entire life, Joe, my entire life, I always thought my mission was to spread joy. That, that's all I— my middle name is Joy. But I thought whatever I could do to spread joy would help others, at least in that moment, not to feel the pain and suffering that was going around them in life, wherever it was.

Sure.

So whether it was through dancing, podcasts, teaching classes, keynotes, that was my whole objective. And I used to say for many years, fitness was my vehicle. For spreading joy. And then I said, I really don't care about your triceps. If they get in shape, great. I care more about mental fitness.

Yeah.

Now it's like all the rage, but back then that's all I cared about. Like, where was your mind? How can we get it in a more positive, powerful place? And I knew that they would get results with their body that way. And it just wasn't in me. It's something I did. I can't tell you it's something I learned in school. It's just a belief I have. And I kept thinking, you know, why doesn't everybody else get this? Like, you know, these are such basic things. It, you know, it's all connected, the mind, body, and spirit. And then it wasn't too many, many years later that I realized I was using words, movement, and laughter, which my friends call my wonderful life system, that I was using simple things like words, movement, and laughter to escape the everyday traumas of my entire life. And all I knew as a kid is by using words, movement, and laughter, it allowed me to get into this positive, powerful headset so that I could envision where I want to go or dream big. But I had no idea why I was doing it and that I would make a career out of it. So let's just back up there a little bit. So I think you and I had talked about it previously that I grew up in the projects, which is, you know, okay, it has its struggles, but I had my peeps. But the more difficult part was my mother, uh, battled a lot of mental health demons and spent about 50% of her life in mental institutions. And my dad, he really wanted to do the right thing, but he wasn't really strong enough to stand up against her. And my brother, I mean, he's great now, but at the time, all he knew to escape was, you know, get stoned and play rock and roll music. And I can't blame him. I can't blame him, you know. For me, I just, like I said, I knew there was something bigger that I was a part of. And I thought I had to come up with a system that was gonna work for me. And I can remember from the age of 9 moving when I, you know, I said words, movement, and laughter is that I remembered for movement, I would just dance and I loved to dance. So I put on whatever jam I had and I would just dance even just for a minute and I'd feel better. And then the W, words. I would tell myself, well, okay, let's just focus in on one word. I loved words. And that would be the word I had to— that I wanted to show up with today. And if I could think of that word, whether it was peace, joy, laughter, love, power, and what could I do to get there, and then combine it with movement, it could really help me escape the situation and get into that mindset that would, you know, really help me dream and really focus on where I wanted to go.

Wow.

And then I just accompanied it with laughter, meaning I would always tell the goofiest, dumbest, silly jokes that maybe no one else thought was funny, but I thought was funny. And I had no idea at the time how far it would get me. I just knew, Joe, in that moment it really helped me survive this situation and that it really worked to clear my head.

Sure.

And, and that's what I've done my entire life. And I think now when you go fast forward and all accomplished in my life, I wasn't even putting two and two together that I've been doing that since a kid.

Yeah, you didn't know it at the time, but it was a very, very effective way to dealing with stress and releasing some of the tension through your dance and using the words kind of as mantras almost.

Yeah, yeah.

So you had this triad of laughter and movement and words, and that was a pretty strong foundation for you. Yeah, yeah. And then later on you identified it. Hey, that was, that was kind of smart of me.

Well, I was trying to think about it. Why is this coming so— not easy every day, but why is this easier for me than most? And then I realized, well, movement, words, and laughter I've been doing since a kid, but it's for years. It wasn't until like maybe my late 20s, I'm like, wait a minute.

Yeah.

You know, and then my colleagues called it my wonderful life because they said, you know, movement, MW. And I was like, it was funny.

Yeah, yeah, I can see that. That's kind of the three-legged stool for you. That's, that's what, uh, has kind of propped you up. And then looking back, you can see how it, you know, was a real advantage for you and how effective it was. So you, you got into, um, operating health clubs. Um, you were owner of health clubs for many years. Um, I'm curious, what did that teach you about The Human Spirit. People came in to exercise it. What insights did it give you about people's attitudes about staying healthy or not healthy?

Ah, well, you do have an advantage when you own a health club because you're seeing like 1,000 people a day and so many different people and members come and go, but you still have your studies. That are there. And let's just start with, I absolutely love people. I love humans. I love everything about them. I love the messiness, good, bad, or ugly. I just love them. I find them fascinating. I find their minds fascinating, how they— why they do things and their journey. So for me, I was like a kid in a candy store. Like, I get to work with all these people So keeping that in mind, and I think people basically are loving good people and they want to be that. They might do some things that don't serve us well, don't serve them well. They might go astray, but for the most part, most people are loving good people. Now, the people that come in my gym, let's even take it a step forward. They're already wanting something. They're coming to you, but you don't have to go to them. They're saying, I want to be healthy, I want to— they're already taking that action of I want to move.

Sure.

I want to feel better physically, I want to feel better mentally. And my— even my first health club was back in 1993, said body, mind, and spirit. So I always was connecting that and drawing those kind of clients in. And what I found is, yes, we had a large amount of people, more so than most health clubs, because we really, really took an interest in them, wanted to know their needs and their names. And it was, you know, it was a really family-friendly pace. So we did have a higher set of people that did come in, stay with us, and reach their goals. But there are many people, even though they have good intentions and they walk in the door and they want change, after a few weeks life just gets in their way. And especially if it's coming in, which we made a lot of money from, New Year's resolutions, because they're coming in and they're reaching for the sky and they overshoot and then they can't live up to it. And a lot of people are all or nothing, and so then they don't come back. So I really spent— when I saw this pattern occurring, I didn't want that. Like, a lot of people, they say, well, the business model for health clubs is, you know, you don't want as many people to come, you want them to join and not come. And that maybe is for some models, but not for— I'm not a big chain, and that's not what I wanted. I wanted people to utilize the gym. So I would try to figure different systems programs that we would create for different individuals so they would utilize the gym more. And like I said, we did have a higher utilization than most, but still there are a lot of people that you're going to miss because they're not privately training, they're not taking classes, they're just coming in on their own and they've set themselves up for something that maybe they didn't even want for themselves, but they think they should have. Society wants it. And then they, they don't keep up with it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fascinating. Yeah, so you could see the initiative that people would take the action to actually sign up and, you know, get started on some program, and many people would continue, but others maybe reach too far or reach too high. And, you know, I think that reinforces the notion of setting small goals rather than big goals.

Absolutely.

Small goals are easier to tackle and It's what I want to do tomorrow, not what I want to do next year, but what can I do tomorrow to bring me exactly to where I want to be eventually. So that's the— that's interesting. You, you could see that. And you know, that, that whole idea of goal setting is, is so important because we got to feel that they're our goals, right? They can't be from others, or others are saying, hey, you got to do this, you got to lose some weight, or you got to get in shape. They've got to be for us. Yeah, and you saw that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So, uh, you, you eventually got into, or maybe along the way you were always recognizing these beliefs that people would have, the self-limiting beliefs, and I can't do this, or no, that's not me, or no, I don't have the background, I don't have the skills, whatever it is. So where do they come from? Why do we have these limiting beliefs. I, I've heard that. I was just at a conference last week, and the speaker was saying when we're thinking positive, this is from our own natural kind of inner awareness. And when we have the negative thoughts, that's what— those come from others. Those come from teachers or parents. Or— I never heard that before. I don't know if it's true, but it's, it's, it's, it's a nice approach. Anyway, where do you think— it's a nice approach because blame others that way. Yeah, so the positive. So what do you think about these self-limiting beliefs? Where, where do you think they come from?

Ah, I call them those negative buggers, Joe. Yeah, actually I was just talking about this, uh, yesterday, and they're very sneaky. I call, you know, those negative buggers, they get in there and you're not even aware of it. So Let's break it down, because I want to answer the first part of your question, which is what that guy said. I truly believe, and many believe, that our pure essence, how we were born, how we came into the world, and it's less of a struggle, is when we are coming from peace, love, and joy. So that's our innate nature— peace, love, and joy. And there are many that believe that the brain actually has to work harder when it's coming from the fear-based emotions. It's It's not what you came in to be. So that's probably what he was referring to. So you have on this side the love-based emotions and all that come with it after that, and then you have the fear-based emotions. When you're working from love-based, everything is flowing, and that's your innate— like you said, that's how you're supposed to be, that's how you came in the world. But as human beings you have all the other two. So you don't want to deny it. Like, you don't always want— you can't always be in love, peace, and joy. You're going to come from all those fear-based emotions. It's just recognizing where you are and now what. And like I always say to people, it's not about being happy all the time, it's just being aware of where you are. It's not good, it's not bad, it's not right or wrong. I'm having these thoughts, and these thoughts are human. I mean We're wired that way. We, you know, we're fear-based. So I'm angry, I'm jealous, okay, fine, I have anxiety, but now what? And do you want to stay with that feeling and emotion and get stuck there, or what can you do? Which there's many things to do to shift out of it so that you can be more in the love-based emotions, you know. And so, yeah, as far as what you're saying, the negative to the second part, the negative buggers getting stuck in there. You can't be sure how they got there. I mean, yes, we weren't born, we didn't come out that way. But whether it's from well-meaning people, and I mean, let's even go with the well-meaning ones, parents, teachers, society, they do put those limiting thoughts, behaviors on us. And part of it is they think they're protecting us, you know, or they don't want— and we're going with the well-meaning ones, you know, forget the other ones, you know. And they, they feel like they're teaching us the right way not to shoot too high because they don't want us to get disappointed, or don't do that, you could be let down. Or even they don't even mean it. Oh, you're, you know, you're so clumsy. Oh, that kid's the smart one. All these little things that get in your head and you start believing it. And since you're a child, especially in your home, the little things that creep in there that, like I said, your parents may not even realize what they're teaching you, you start adapting those belief systems. So I always say, you know, the brain, it likes the devil it knows, whether it serves you well or not. This is what the thoughts are, and it doesn't like shifting it because it feels it's safe there. You know, it's, it's safer there. But what I found out— now remember, I'm not a psychiatrist, and I'm not a therapist. I've just studied people. I've taken tons of courses in human behavior. But I was able to study people and while I trained them and see which ones were successful, what worked for them? Why did these people see results and not the others? And which people exuded more pure joy, no matter what their lot was in life. And what I found out is all these people, they gradually, every single day, the ones that I felt exuded pure joy, and I studied them for a year, over 100 of them. I bribed them with trainings and memberships. What I realized is those people all every single day, Joe. Their secret sauce is they did not start their day unless they did their little routine to get themselves in a positive, powerful headset. As we talked about, life doesn't happen to you, you happen to life. They were going to decide how they showed up in life. Now, they all named it different things. And like I said, these were CEOs, CFOs, moms, dads, professional athletes. The average Joe, but like you could see they felt worthy of having a life they wanted to live and they exuded more joy. And again, it was all different and it was all different times. But how they started their day before they walked out that door, they had a routine that they did to get them in that powerful mindset, whether it was working out, meditating, journaling, petting their dog, baking muffins, playing the violin, hugging a tree, making lists. It was all different. But every day they did it to get in that positive, powerful, what I call headset, and that they were going to show up. And this is how they were going to show up in the world and not just let it bang them around each way.

Yeah, yeah, that's great. That's great. That reminds me of a line I heard, and I can't remember who said it, but it fits with what you're saying. When you own the first hour, you own the day.

Oh, I love that. I've never heard that.

Yeah, so it means taking control, putting things in order. Yeah, taking the initiative again for that first hour or early part of the day, and that's what sets you off for the rest of your, your journey.

Yeah, and Joe, I was only asking people for a few minutes because if you already— here's, here's another thing. So I found that out. It took me a year, and then I met with the powers to be, uh, who were like neuroscientists, exercise physio, you know, every which way but sideways you could think of people, like gurus, to create a journal to help people get in this headset to start their day if they already didn't have the system.

Right?

And I was lucky again to have these people. I didn't know a lot of times what they were saying. They debate, they would argue, but to help me. And I created a journal that would take people 5 minutes a day, and that, that was going to help them, a guide to shift them to get in to start before they went out to the day. And in a year, only one person did it. Nobody did it. And I was picking very productive, highly motivated people because they were members of my gym. And then I went back to my powers to be. And one of the professors said, well, of course they're not. No one's going to spend 5 minutes a day to improve their life if they already don't have that belief system. Make it a minute to 3 minutes. So see, here's the tricky part. If you already believe it and see it works, then some people will spend 5 minutes, an hour, 2 hours because they know nothing is more important than that. But I had to get people— I call it, you know, entry level. That are willing to even try that. So I made something that only took a minute to 3 minutes and went back now for another year, and people did it.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, because they had to see the result. Now, I'm not saying they didn't go from there, they didn't add in, but at least it was something. And once they saw it work, then they might do other things, but they weren't going to do it until they had that belief system. Just like I told you about all those other people that would come in the gym And you'd say, okay, you need to do an hour, did it done. And guess what? They're not doing it. I say, just move 5 minutes a day for 30 days and then see.

Right, right, right. Yeah. So they could see the results. Um, is the journaling done typically at the end of the day or what do you recommend?

Well, this, what the, what I, what I believe is it's a guidebook for you to start your day. So it's not that you, can't do it midday and night, but the most important thing is morning. So it could take you a minute in the morning, minute midday, minute night. But there, if I was going to pick, it would be again before your feet hit the floor, before you go out the door. Let's start the day off this way and remind yourself of your goals, your power statement, what you want to achieve. And so you can reflect on it throughout the day. Journaling at night is a whole different thing. That's a reflection of what do you want to do the next day. But I want to get masses of people that, you know, don't really believe that it matters how you show up and that what's the point of journaling. Like, there's so many people that just weren't willing to do it. Even to this day, I have friends going, yeah, I don't have time. And I go, do you have a minute? Like, do you have a minute?

Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's good, that's good. So it is that Again, kind of making a record of your plan, maybe a short, simple idea, but something that says, here's what my plan is for today. Here's what I need to accomplish. Here's what I want to go after. Yeah. And it's done again to help set the day off the positive frame of mind, right? Yeah.

To remind, like, so for example, everything is both you set up, let's say, for your next 30 days. Let's say you pick an area of your life or something you want to achieve. Maybe it's your, your body, your health, or the 3 main areas: your body, your health, money, career, or love relationship. And you go, okay, I want to work on that. And what is it you want to achieve? I want to feel better in my clothes. I want to change my job. I want to have financial freedom. Whatever you are going after, and you set it up, and what, what is it you're willing to do to get there? Now you're planning it out so that every day you don't have to keep rewriting it. You're just reflecting upon it, Joe, and you're going, okay, this is what I want to accomplish, this is what I want to do. And then, like you said, you break it down. This is what I want to do today to get closer to that. None of it takes a lot of time. And then let's say your word is— maybe you're, you've been really down, so you can't get to joy and powerful, but it might just be calm, peace, ease, and flow. You put that word in your intention, and then throughout the day, like I said, every hour you could set something, go, or stand up, go to the bathroom, move around. Am I really coming from a place of ease and flow? And if not, what could I do to change my mindset? Or what could I say to get closer to that? And it just brings you back into awareness of what's really going on without judgment.

Yeah, yeah, it is the awareness that's so important.

Yeah, whatever it is, without judgment, without judgment.

I'm stressed, I'm not stressed, I'm calm, I'm peaceful. That is that awareness, because that's where you start to make positive moves. Um, You've talked with many people, Sandy, and, you know, on these wavelengths, so to speak. Can you share a story that, you know, of someone that comes to mind who you helped with these limiting beliefs and kind of unlock that kind of potential and genius?

Let me pick one.

Yeah. Okay.

So this is rare. I always call them Sally Bell because I don't have a Sally Bell in my life, so my client can be invisible. One of my clients, actually this is recent, named Sally Bell, has been trying everything to feel not only physically fit and, and lose weight, but also she wanted to reduce the amount of anxiety she was having in her life. She wanted to be mentally healthier. She wanted to have more positive thoughts about herself. And she found me on— which is— usually all my clients are from word of mouth, so keep that in mind. Word of mouth, or they watch my podcast. She bought one of my books, my guidebooks, and it resonated with her and she reached out, which this has never happened in my life, Joe, through my website. And she's like, do you ever coach people virtually? Because she didn't live near here. I said, sure. And I had her fill out the questionnaires and what's going on. And, you know, she's been someone that her whole life is, you know, lost weight, gained weight, lost weight, gained weight. And also came from a very tough background and was struggling with self-worth and, you know, can this ever be accomplished? And, you know, just self— so many self-doubting thoughts. I had one meeting with her and she was telling me her habits and what she does, and she was saying that she gets up in the morning And it was so simple. She gets up in the morning, she makes coffee, and then she only works 2 to 3 days a week. So the other, she just sits there and scrolls through her phone and starts eating, answering emails, or, you know, social media. And she was just doing that. And then once she did that, she just couldn't get up and move. And she hasn't found anything she likes. She goes to these classes, she doesn't like the classes, she quits, she stops, she starts, she goes to trainers. So I say to her, I know, like, everyone's different. So let me just keep this in mind. I knew when this was going to work for her. And everyone's so different. So I said, okay, this is what I want you to do. Let's just start out with this. I said, I just want you every day to do 4 minutes of movement. She was like, 4 minutes? I go, yeah, this is all I want you to do. I want you to do power moves. I want you to do 1 minute of like a cardio, like jumping jacks, whatever. 1 minute of squats, 1 minute push-ups, 1 minute sit-ups. If you feel like doing another round, fine. But that's all I want you to do. She's like, oh, isn't that your 8:30 workout? So like, I don't want you to do 30 minutes. All I want you to do is once you got the coffee, before you start your day, all I want you to do is this. And then before your feet hit the floor, on top of that, I want you to think of just for 30 seconds, What's one word that day how you want to show up? Just one word. Joy, peace, love. Just one word. She goes, you got— that's all I'm going to do? I said, yep, I just want you to think of your word before your feet hit the floor. Think of the word. And then I just want you to move for 4 minutes a day, and then I'll check back in next week because it was a 6-week program. Joe, I, I, I can't even believe it. She was like a whole different person. That one little tweak, it got her from the routine of sitting on the sofa, and then she did more after that. Then she wanted to do more. It's the craziest. She got on and she was like, like, oh my God, Sandy, I feel this. And it was not anything complicated. I didn't give her an hour every day, you know what I mean? We've since have moved on in the past few months. She's like, how did that work? I go, because you were a perfectionist. I could see it. And if you didn't move an hour every day and you didn't do this, you didn't do anything. So by me telling you, after all my years of experience, giving you permission to move for 4 minutes, you wanted to do it more. Yeah. And that's what I'm saying. Lots of times I— when I teach people, I'm like, whoa, well, what diet should I be on? Well, let's not even go there. Let's do this. Let's see success. Your brain loves to see success. If now let's say a week later she didn't do it, then we'd go back to it. Like, I'm not going to move her forward until she sees success. And everything I do, that's why I teach few minutes, because I said, if you— I call it the BAM. I don't know if you can say the bare-ass minimum. Like, what's your bare-ass minimum? If you do more than 5 minutes, great. But your goal is to do this. And I'm telling you, that's the way you get results.

Yeah. Well, it's like the group of people that would come into your health clubs and have these overarching goals, and you're, um, you get in your own way, right? Yeah. Yeah. Get in your own way. And, um, that's a powerful story in helping someone to break this down into smaller objectives and see the little tiny successes. The, you know, I call them turtle steps. These are, yeah, tiny steps, and we're making progress. And, you know, eventually that progress builds up our confidence, right?

Absolutely.

That's right.

And it's resetting your brain to go, ooh, yeah, not like failure, failure, failure, then you give up.

I now have control. I, I'm in control. Yep. We're much more effective. And that confidence kind of feeds into more momentum and it kind of builds on it. And we change, we start to see ourselves in a different light. Yeah, that's a, that's a great example, a powerful example. Yeah. Um, you know, Living to 100 Club is all about successful aging. So I wonder what, how does, um, age fit into your work? How does a person's chronological age, their, the belief, um, How old they think they are. I mean, we have psychological age, health age, chronological age, but, um, yeah, does it matter that we're 90 years old and we're looking at self-limiting beliefs?

It does. Yeah, it does. And here's the thing, I, I've been very, very fortunate, Joe, that I never cared that I was getting older and That is rare for being in the fitness field because a lot of women care, especially in my business. Most my staff was at least half my age.

Oh, sure.

You know, I never thought about it. I was always like, well, listen, I, I'll tell you my age. I just want to feel good wherever I am. I want to have vitality and feel mentally and physically healthy no matter what my age. And when people say Oh, you look young for age. I'm like, over my age. I'm like, depending on who, like depending on someone that got a facelift or not a face— I would always joke because I, I don't think of it that way. I just think, you know, I'm happy to be here. I feel good. And what can I do right now for what's going on now? Of course, I don't do the same things that I did within my 20s, but up until 2019, I was teaching the same intense classes I did as a kid in my 20s because I just kept doing it, you know, and it felt good and I loved it. Now with limiting beliefs as far as, oh, oh my goodness, it drives me crazy. Well, I'm getting older and I hear people in there— I was just at a party, they were 35, and I said, I'm gonna smack you.

Yeah.

I'm like, oh, that's what happens when you get older. I go No, it doesn't. It happens to you. But I think the dialogue of the stories you tell yourself, not like I'm young, I'm old, whatever. I just want to enjoy life. I want— I feel great. I feel great now. What can I do to take care of myself? And it's going to change. My girlfriend, oh my God, I'm not kidding you, just Sunday she went to her godfather's 103rd birthday, and her husband was saying, I had a 3-hour conversation with the man. He has a better memory than me, and I like talking to him better than any other person at the party.

There you go.

Now, I don't know why. I wasn't there. I, I would have loved to have been there because, man, the stories he could tell living all these years. Yeah, but, and I'm not saying I'm going to be that way or you're going to be that way, but All I know, when you start training your head, well, I don't know if you should be running now. Well, I don't know if you should do this. And that's what happens. And then on top of it, like you and I were talking about when we had our little interview, is that as you get older, people leave you and go to the next life. And so it's hard, you know, to stay in that positive, powerful mindset. And then, oh, did you hear about Sally? Did you hear about Johnny? So you have to do everything you can to counterbalance that.

Yeah.

You know, be around your grandkids, little kids. I don't know, go rent kids, go take yoga because you don't wanna get sucked into that. And it's so easy as you get older. You know, like when somebody says, did you hear about Betty? To me, I go, do I know Betty? Well, she lives 8 blocks down the road. No, I don't. I didn't hear about Betty, but I'm okay. I don't need to hear about Betty. Yeah, sure.

Yeah, well, that's great. I appreciate that. You know, age is only a number, and you know, the fact is, um, the 103-year-old individual, we really shouldn't be surprised that the person can carry on a cogent, uh, bright, smart conversation, right?

I mean, I remembered everything since he was a child.

Yeah, yeah, I don't.

Like, so what's that got to do with age? I'm like, I can't remember. I said to my husband, just so you know, I'm just happy I remember your name. So when I get older, don't think it's age. He goes, believe me, we know you. I'm like, hey, I lived there. That's a good day.

Well, that's so true. I mean, age is, you know, it, uh, we're all different and we're going to see these age-related declines and limitations, but that still doesn't say anything about how we can still get up in the morning and you know, move forward and have purpose.

Have purpose.

No matter what those hurdles are, we keep getting up and getting over those hurdles. Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. Well, great conversation. I wish we had more time, but looks like we're out of time. But let me just ask you, what would you like our audience to take away from today's conversation?

Don't let Anyone, anybody, social media, society, well-meaning relatives tell you you're too old. Because when they do, you say, are you sure? Are you really sure? And then you say what I said at the beginning, because I believe life doesn't happen to me. I happen to life. Take back your true power. Before your feet hit the floor every morning, think about how you choose to show up in the morning and then try to surround yourself with those 5 people that really are on that same positive, positive, joyful path as you, because that really will make a huge difference.

Yeah. Well, that's beautiful. I always like to tell people when I'm giving a presentation about aging well and You know, we have this, this drive, this spirit, this fire inside of us, and sometimes it— we feel like it's gone or it gets locked away and we, we lose, you know, resilience, whatever you want to call it. And I always tell people my closing message: look, we have this spirit and this is ours forever. Don't let anybody try to take it.

Absolutely.

Don't—

absolutely.

Parents, adult children, our doctors, nobody. Can take this because this is ours. This is— as long as we're taking a breath, we have this, we have this spirit inside of us.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Great, great conversation. Loved it. Thanks very much, Sandy. But it looks like we're out of time. And before we wrap up, I just want to remind our listeners to visit my website, livingto100.club, sign up for my email list, and download a free copy of my 9 Tips to Make Living Longer Enjoyable. While you're there on the website, be sure to peruse the library of blogs and podcasts, and you'll also find an email address where you can contact me. I'd love to hear your comments about this episode. Let me know what you're thinking. And finally, if you're interested, reach out to me to schedule a presentation for your group in person or online. I think there's value, real value, in helping older adults feel inspired about their future. So, Sandy, thanks so much for being a guest on our show today. For those who might want to contact you, how can they do that?

They can reach me through sandyjoyweston.com. Weston is with an O-N, W-E-S-T-O-N.com. sandyjoyweston.com is my website. Everything is there. How they wanted to coach with me or book me for a keynote or my books, it's all there. And on all social media sites, the same thing, Sandy Joy Weston.

Great, terrific. Thanks very much. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome, Jeff. Thank you.

On my program. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. Hope to see you next time.