How to Reinvent yourself at 50!

Don't settle for a life that was determined by someone else's standards. You can break the cycle and create a life that your parents never dreamt of having, that your siblings and your friends never ever thought it was possible for you to have. You know, for example, so many times we settle for keeping the same job, you know, that we hate. We show up day in and day out because Generally, it's our experience that what's expected of us is to keep a 9 to 5, to bring in good money, to keep a roof over your head, clothes on your back, you know, food on your table, take care of the things that you need to take care of and not really think about much else. Not really think about what it really means to feel fulfilled, what it really means to live into your potential. You know, we show up to that same job every day and we, you know, we come home and we just bitch about it and we don't do anything to change it. We settle for relationships that are broken, that are full of conflict, that we never feel special in. You know, we settle for maybe a body that, that we're no longer satisfied or proud with. And then we just expect our partners to be happy with it just because it is what it is. You know, right now, maybe you're one of those rare individuals who's decided that you absolutely want more out of life. You've decided that you have dreams that you still haven't fulfilled yet. You've decided that you want more out of life, that, that you want to live a life that's so incredibly exciting, a life that's full of love and connection. Full of experiences. You know, and it's easy to just sit here and think, I want more. But what does more look like? And where do you even start? In this video, I am going to share with you the 5 keys that totally worked for me, that helped me shape my life and transition from living a life of mediocrity to living a life On my terms. I remember several years ago when I first started planting the seed that I was going to make a major change. I no longer wanted to be a high school teacher anymore, that I had more inside of me. And then I didn't start telling people outside of my spouse until I was ready to jump. I didn't start telling people till, you know, like about a year ago. And, you know, some people were like, oh my goodness, you could just go another 10 years or so and be ready for retirement. Or you could just go to, you know, just keep doing what you're doing and, you know, not have to struggle and start over. And then in 2020, when COVID started, oh my goodness, the more people that I told, I got the reaction that, "You mean you're quitting your job during COVID when so many people have lost their jobs? You're quitting a perfectly good job?" You know? And I just recall, you know, there were a couple of times when I doubted the decision that I was going to make, but I figured if I had the support of my spouse, and that I knew deep down inside of me that it was time to make a change, then why would I ever listen to people who weren't striving to do more than what they were doing, who were just satisfied with the status quo? You know, some of those people had been in their same jobs for decades and they saw security and sticking around, even when and if they were unhappy, you know, It's usual for people to, you know, I'm bringing in a good paycheck and I have medical insurance and I have a pension. But all of that I know is important. But for me, there was just more to life. There was just more to getting up every day and being excited about it. That was all great, but it just wasn't— the life that I was living just wasn't really fulfilling my potential. It wasn't making me feel like I am doing every single thing that I can possibly do to make my dreams a reality. So right now I'm going to share with you the 5 keys of how I made the bold decision of transitioning careers and taking my life to a different level. It didn't matter what age I was. I made this huge change at the age of 50. So the first step you have to do is to make the decision that things will change, that you are going to take action to change something major in your life. And it's never, it's absolutely never too late to pivot to something else that you really want. And here's some examples of that. You know, You know, I don't, I don't necessarily eat like this anymore, but growing up and before health became, you know, very, very important to me, you see that Kentucky Fried Chicken all the time, you know, well, Colonel Sanders had this dream that did not come to fruition until he was age 62. All of that time. And most people have given up and most people are just retired by then. Most people are like, oh, I'm going to just buy an RV and I'm going to travel. The actor Samuel L. Jackson, he didn't make a name for himself until he was 46. And at that time, he was in recovery from alcohol addiction— well, from cocaine and heroin addiction. Another one, Morgan Freeman, he's an actor. He had some small roles that— like, I think he was on a couple of soaps. And he could have easily given up and said, this isn't really bringing in a lot of money. But he stuck it out. Because why? He felt a passion. He felt a calling for this. And he didn't get his breakthrough acting role until the age of 50. And then the last one that I'm going to leave you with is someone that inspires me. Ernestine Shepherd is the world's oldest female bodybuilder. She once lived a sedentary life, and she did not decide to get in shape until the age of 56. Then she started training for her first bodybuilding competition at the age of 71. Today, at the age of 80, she still gets up and starts starts her day at 4:00 AM by running 10 miles. 10 miles. That's the kind of longevity and the kind of life that I want. And again, guys, those are just examples that it is absolutely never too late to make a huge change. So that was number 1, to decide that you are going to do it. Number 2, the second key is to take time to visualize exactly what you want. I remember when I was a teacher, I'd grown very, very tired of the exact same schedule, the Monday through Friday thing. You know, I, I, it got to a point to where I grew so excited for Saturday and Sunday that I felt, and I knew that I was rushing through Monday through Friday each week. And so it's like, I was just throwing those days away just so I can get to the weekend, you know? I envied people who had variety in their day. You know, whenever we would have in-service days where we didn't have to keep to a very specific schedule and like we would go out to eat lunch at, you know, these random times, you know, it could have been like 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock, 2 o'clock, whatever it was. But I remember I always looked around and saw, you know, all these cars on the road, all these people in the restaurant. And I always thought, what kind of job do they have to where they're in Chili's or they're in Olive Garden or wherever it is, you know, that they're having drinks, that they're able to have lunch, that they are, you know, basically doing things on their term. And so I remember that that was one of the first things that I was envious of. And I love the fact that my spouse could just drop everything that she wanted to do. And it's like, if someone, you know, you know, unless there was like a meeting or something, but I envied people who could just drop whatever they wanted to, whatever they were doing and go and have you know, lunch with someone, go and meet with someone, you know, go for a run, go work out or whatever. So the first thing that I knew I wanted to do was to create my own schedule. And so I wanted to not have someone else dictate when I would do things. And so I started visualizing what was something that I absolutely wanted to do. I wanted to do that. I wanted to get up and be able to work out first thing and not have it be 4:30 in the morning. I wanted to wake up without an alarm clock.. And so those are just some examples of things that I visualize happening in my life that became so pivotal and important to me. Step number 3, I had to change my mindset. You know, I never believed honestly that I had a fixed mindset, but for most of my life I did. I had a, a fixed mindset. I didn't really believe that that I could change, that things could be so completely different than they were in that moment. I thought the things that I thought and the things that I was taught growing up would always be those things. Like I remember it took me a long time to break out of the mentality and the mindset that from my mom, who I remember as a kid, I would always ask, can I have these Converse tennis shoes, these Nikes, these whatever. Can, you know, can I go on a trip with my friends? And her reaction generally was, where in the hell do you want me to get that kind of money from? And so I remember that stuck with me for a very, very long time. And it wasn't until I started doing the work that I realized your mindset, my mindset determines everything about your life. Everything that you think you're capable of, everything that you think you have the potential to do. And if you settle for, the status quo, if you settle for doing all the things that you've always done, basically confining yourself into that box like you always have, then it's easy to think that doing the same things that you've always done, you're just gonna keep getting that same life and that you're not capable of more, that you're not— you don't have the potential to do anything more because this is absolutely all that you know. There are lots of things that I'm sure that you believe about yourself that you feel like you can't change. Like, you know, for a long time, I never thought I could actually get the body that I wanted. I never thought that I would make the amount of money that I've always wanted to make, you know. And so, you know, with a fixed mindset, you have a tendency to believe that if you've done certain things all your life, that it's always— that right now it's too late to change. It's too late to change those certain habits and behaviors.. And so for the majority of my life, I didn't think having more was possible for me. I began opening up the possibility by starting my day with gratitude. You know, I've spoken on, on various podcasts about the importance that I believe from experience that gratitude has on everyone's life. And so being, coming from a place of gratitude and being appreciative for your life opens you up to such more, you know, just a total amount more possibility. And where you're happy, you're thankful, and you're not, you know, being stubborn, you're not feeling nervous and anxious, and you're not feeling hesitant. Creating a state within yourself to where you're grateful and you're happy opens yourself up mentally to expand your thinking, to expand your horizons, to actually go for it. And then number 4, after you visualize all these things that you wanted, after you have basically changed your mindset and allowed for the possibility to enter, you create a vision or a goal of where you want to go. So if you don't know where you're going, then you're just— you're sort of driving down the road aimlessly. So you want to create a vision, create a goal, whether that's big or whether it's small, whether it's 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. A year, 2 years, whatever that is. Just have a vision of where it is you want to go. And then create action steps and benchmarks so you can take action and incremental actions. Even if it's that you don't really know the big vision, you don't really know where it is that you want to end up, you just know that you want to change. So just start by changing small things. Start by changing things like, you know, I— I'm going to change how I'm going to eat. I'm going to change how I'm going to interact with you. Just start with something small that fits into your day that doesn't make you sort of reinvent the wheel or take you out of your schedule. Then it becomes work, right? So just changing one small thing at a time and creating those action steps to make that happen. And then— Number 5. Number 5 is go all in. Like, really jump. Like, don't pretend that you're going to make these moves, you know, and have one foot in the door and one foot out the door. You have to really burn the boats. You have to really commit to making it happen. And committing to making it happen, you know, gets you excited for the journey. It gets you excited for, you know, what life has to offer, you know, how it exciting this whole entire journey can be because, you know, one of the human needs is having certainty, but another human need is having a level of uncertainty, variety in your day that you want there to be a few surprises, you know, whether those are good or bad, you know, nobody wants to know exactly how things are going to pan out in their entire life. So having that, that level of uncertainty in your life adds for experiences. It adds to adventure in your life. It adds to going out and playing. In review, the 5 keys that I just talked to you about. Number 1, make the decision. You have to make the decision that you are going to change. And then in trying to figure out how you're going to change and what it is that you want, you want to sit and visualize those things. Maybe that's a little journaling. Maybe it's during meditation, but you want to visualize exactly what it is that you want, paying attention to some of the things that you have been envious of in your life, you know, envious that other people were able to do because you weren't, you know, and you weren't able to do because maybe because of your schedule, because of the type of job, paying attention to those things. And then number 3, changing your mindset from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset that expands your potential. To improve and grow and develop and live into your full potential, right? So you can make an impact in this world. And then creating a vision, a goal, something that you are working towards, whether that's something small or whether that's something big. And then number 5, the last thing was to absolutely go all in. So ask yourself, If you knew you couldn't fail, if you knew you were 100% guaranteed to get whatever it is that you wanted, what would you want? What would you do to get that? How much different would your life be then? And also think one year from now, how would you feel if you're in the exact same place you are today, if you're doing the exact same job that you're unhappy with, if you have the exact same body that you're not proud of. One year from now, how would you feel if you have not made any progress, any improvement? So as always, I encourage you to live today. Go for your dreams today. Because tomorrow's not promised to anyone. Don't put off for tomorrow what you can start doing today. So take a risk. Invest in you. It's never too late at any age to reinvent you. If you like what you're hearing and perhaps you're interested in having a complimentary conversation with me, click the link at the the bottom of the show notes. Thank you so much for listening. If you even want to know more about what I'm up to, head over to traviestewart.com. And if you like seeing the videos of the podcast, every episode is on my YouTube channel. Take care, guys.