Piloting Your Life: In-Flight Entertainment (You are Marvelous and 80 is the New 50) (Dec 11, 2018)

Welcome Back My Marvelous Passengers:

I’ve probably overused the words ‘fabulous’ and ‘amazing’ over the last few years so it’s time for a new word and I think ‘marvelous’ is just marvelous.

My inspiration is from the show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I love this show and not just because the sets and costumes are beautiful, but because it is witty and the main character is a woman (Midge) who unexpectedly has to reinvent herself, and she chooses a path that requires changes in beliefs on the part of her family, her friends, society, and most importantly, herself.

I am well into Season 2, desperately wanting to binge-watch but at the same time, wanting to savor each episode. I watched Episode 9 and realized that there are many lessons for women choosing to do or be something different. I then dashed off a blog post with some of the learnings and inspirations to be gained from the show.

I’ve also been listening to Lesley Jane Seymour (episode PYL066) on her podcast Reinvent Yourself as I do research for my book, Piloting Your Life. If you are over the age of 50 and looking to reinvent yourself, definitely check out Lesley’s podcast. One of her guests, Barbara Warren, has started something called The Perennial Project for this same demographic. I’m still 16 months away from this milestone but as I slide into that number (hopefully in good shape), the realization that I am most likely only halfway through my life is clearly top of mind.

I also came to the realization that I have a solid 30 years to be productive and make a difference. With some exceptions (due to the opioid crisis) we are all expected to live longer. The old rules around retiring at 65 and heading to the golf course or tennis court are passe. The Stanford Center for Longevity has been exploring this and it is fascinating to think about how our society will change as a result of the change in life expectancy. I’ve even seen a lot of startups attempting to capitalize on this and others who are attempting to redefine the definitions of work and careers.

I am now seeing life as a series of chapters and I am in the middle of my ‘book’ with so much left to be written. Where are you in yours? Does this view of life expectancy change what you want to be doing? Share your thoughts with me at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

As for my book, I am looking to interview women who decided to reinvent themselves or change direction after the age of 40. If this describes you or someone you know, please reach out to me at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com or make an introduction. Help a budding, new author out.

Speaking of which, I created a new Medium Publication and have organized my blog posts into categories: Piloting Your Life, Angel Investing, Solutions2Projects, Digital Health, Womanism, and Champagne Musings. It should be much easier to find something to meet your interests in the publication. A definite drawback of having a diversity of interests is that it makes it difficult for certain interest groups to find what they are looking for. Oh well. Totally not apologizing for this but I will try to make it easier for my readers to navigate (especially as I test out some material).

In-Flight Entertainment (Xandra Laskowski)

This week’s guest, Xandra Laskowski, has changed directions and charted new courses more than a few times in her life and she continues to seek out new opportunities. She too has a diverse set of interests. Xandra is an angel investor in Orange County, CA and launched OSEA Angels in January 2017 with a goal to activate and educate new female angel investors in her area. She has demonstrated that she is always looking for new opportunities and recently teamed up with a business partner to service a gap in her local area. I continue to be inspired by her energy and innovation and I know you will be inspired by her as well. Enjoy!