Rethinking Retirement: Why It’s Never Too Late to Reinvent Yourself
Featuring Louise Olson
What happens when you step away from the role that once defined you? Why is this thing called “retirement” such a challenge?
For many, retirement feels like an ending. But in this episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon, my guest Louise Olson shows us something very different—it can be the beginning of a bold, expansive, and deeply meaningful next chapter.
Louise’s journey is not a straight line. And that’s exactly why it matters.
She didn’t begin her professional career until age 45. Before that, she was a stay-at-home mother in a traditional family, where the expectation was clear: care for the home, raise the children, and leave career-building to others. But life has a way of nudging us forward.
And Louise listened.
Starting as a secretary at Motorola, she stepped into opportunities she didn’t even know she was ready for—eventually becoming an international meeting planner, traveling the world, and working on global programs including those with Interpol.
And here’s what makes her story so powerful:
She didn’t wait to be chosen. She raised her hand, took bold action, and learned as she went.
Reinvention and Retirement are not Just a Moment—They are a Mindset
Louise’s story is a masterclass in what I call rethinking retirement.
When she stepped away from a major global client after 16 years, she faced the same question so many of us do:
“Who am I now?”
It’s one of the four essential questions I explore in Rethink Retirement:
- Who am I without my business card?
- What will I do every day?
- Where do I still matter?
- Who is my community?
Louise didn’t rush to answer them. She explored them.
She leaned into curiosity, not certainty. She experimented, not perfected.
And she reminds us of something we often forget:
You are not a victim of your circumstances—you are the creator of them.
The Courage to Begin Again (At Any Age)
At an age when many people slow down, Louise sped up.
- She climbed Machu Picchu at 63
- Built an international career after 65
- Launched retreats and community programs in her 70s
- Continues to travel, teach, and inspire women globally
Her message is simple, but profound:
It is never too late.
Not to learn something new.
Not to build something meaningful.
Not to become someone different.
What holds most people back isn’t age—it’s mindset.
Retirement should be your
From Structure to Self-Design Your Retirement
One of the biggest challenges people face in retirement is the loss of structure.
For decades, your calendar is filled for you. Then suddenly… it’s empty.
Louise sees this not as a problem—but as an invitation.
“You are going to have to create your retirement,” she shared.
“And you’ve never had to do that before.”
That blank space?
It’s where your next life gets designed.
But design requires intention.
Louise starts her days with a simple practice:
- Gratitude for the day ahead
- Clarity on what she wants to create
- A willingness to try something new
It’s not about having all the answers.
It’s about taking the next step. And retirement is a great accelerator for you to redesign this next stage in your life.
Finding Your Tribe Again, and It Is More Than Other Retirees
Perhaps one of the most powerful insights from our conversation was about community.
When we leave our careers, we often lose more than a job—we lose our network, our daily interactions, our sense of belonging.
Louise recognized this early. Retirement meant she needed a new community.
So she didn’t wait for a community to find her—she built one.
Through her “Wise Wandering” retreats and meetup groups, she’s creating spaces where women can:
- Explore new identities
- Share their transitions
- Build meaningful relationships
- Feel seen and understood
Because retirement without community can quickly become isolation.
And none of us are meant to navigate this stage alone.
What Can You Learn from Louise?
Louise’s journey offers a few powerful lessons:
- Say yes before you feel ready
- Follow curiosity—it will lead you forward
- Don’t wait for permission to reinvent yourself
- Build your community intentionally
- Design your days with purpose, not habit
Most importantly:
Retirement is not about stopping. It’s about choosing.
Ready to Rethink Your Next Chapter?
If Louise’s story resonates with you, I invite you to take the next step.
Join me for my upcoming Masterclass, where we’ll explore how to:
- Redefine your identity beyond your career
- Create meaningful structure in your days
- Clarify your purpose and impact
- Build a community that supports your journey
Or start with the book: Rethink Retirement—available now.
Because this stage of life isn’t the end of something.
It’s the beginning of what’s next.
Have a story about your own transition? I’d love to hear it. Share it with me—because together, we learn to see, feel, and think in new ways.
Connect with me:
- Join my Substack Newsletter Rethink Retirement
- Website: www.simonassociates.net
- Book Website: www.andisimon.com
- Email: info@simonassociates.net
- Learn more about our books here:
Now–it is time to share our new book with you!
Rethink Retirement: It’s Not The End–It’s the Beginning of What’s Next
Out on Amazon and WalMart, and in your local bookseller and Rethink Retirement: The Workbook
Listen + Subscribe:
Available wherever you get your podcasts—Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and more. If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review and share with someone navigating their own leadership journey.
From Observation to Innovation,
CEO | Corporate Anthropologist | Author
Simonassociates.net
Info@simonassociates.net
@simonandi
LinkedIn
If you would like to dive into the text, read on…
Andi Simon 00:00:02 Welcome to On the Brink with Andy Simon. As you know, my job is to get you off the brink, and I enjoy bringing to you people who are going to help you do like an anthropologist, see, feel and think in some new ways. Because unless you can hear a story that can help you see it in a new fashion, you don’t know what we’re really talking about. So these are great opportunities for me to bring to you. People are going to help you begin to understand this wonderful world called retirement. Now, I’ll do a bit of an advertorial at the beginning here, because we just published a new book called Rethink Retirement. And as you open it, you’ll realize I wrote it because neither my husband nor I want to retire. But what we do want to do is understand why this is such a desirable next stage in so many people’s lives. There are 75 million boomers. I know there are many of them who are enjoying the next stage, but many are not. And what I’m finding is that this nice balance of bringing you stories to share about these life journeys of people are going to help you better prepare yourself for what comes next.
Andi Simon 00:01:10 Today, I am absolutely delighted to have Louise Olsen with me, and Louise is here to tell you about her own journey and what she’s planning on doing after she. I’ll call it retire, sort of, because she’s already preparing for what the next stage is going to be. And what you’re going to hear from her is a methodology for thinking ahead about what you don’t know, and making sure it’s something that you might like. The one thing actually, there are many things, but here are the four things that are important about rethinking retirement. When you leave what you’ve been. Who are you? You were your business card. Now what? What am I going to do every day? What would be an ideal day for you? Third, what’s your purpose in meaning? Who do you matter to? And last. Who is your community? Who are you going to talk to? You don’t want loneliness to replace all the busyness that had been work. Louise, thank you for joining me today. It’s such a pleasure to have you here.
Louise Olson 00:02:08 Well thank you, Andy, I’m so delighted to have met you through that organization, luster, which is wonderful. And I’m just delighted to talk to you today.
Andi Simon 00:02:19 Let me tell the listener or the audience or the viewer who is Louise? I’m going to do her short bio, and I won’t tell you how she created this bio, because it’s a great bio. Her name is Louise Olson. Through most people call her cookie, which I wouldn’t know. And she’s an international meeting planner, retreat leader, and energy alignment coach. What surprises people most is that she didn’t begin her career until she was 45. Before that, she was a stay at home mom of three, raised in a traditional Sicilian American family. Women were expected to care for the home and family and not build global careers. They also made great spaghetti. Today, at nearly 80, she’s planned programs and she looks fantastic. Planned programs in over 25 countries worked with organizations like Interpol. And now these transformational retreats for women around the world through her company Wise wandering, you’re going to really enjoy listening to her.
Andi Simon 00:03:17 You may want to sample it. Her work today blends two worlds decades of global business experience and over 40 years of personal growth through energy, work and the Law of attraction. So there’s some basic science here that’s going on. Her mission is simple to help women realize it’s never too late to reinvent themselves, rewire themselves, step into the power, and to create a life filled with joy, purpose, and adventure. Don’t you love it? Welcome, welcome, welcome. Now your turn. Tell us about your journey. Because I can read that and I love it. But I also know you’ve had many different flavors of who is Louise? So your listeners, how has it all happened?
Louise Olson 00:03:58 Well, I just love your point about who am I, which I’ve asked myself several times in my life who am I now? And is following the traditional path of, getting married very young, having children young, and then the kids grow up. And then I was a grandmother and stay at home mom. And, you know, your role changes every time your situation changes.
Louise Olson 00:04:26 I was married and divorced, and every time it’s, well, who am I now? And I actually asked myself that question very seriously last October when I, handed over my largest international client to the gal I’ve been mentoring for 20 years. And, and that was after 16 years on that international, very big global program for Interpol. It was hard to leave. It was really the hard adjustment stepping into, okay, I’m retiring from this. Then what does that make me? Because that was really my identity up until that point. But I didn’t start out, ever wanting a career or believing I could have a career. Because I am the oldest boomer wave, as you know, 1946, right after the war. My father came home very badly injured. He was in the hospital for over two years, and I was born after that. And so the expectation was of myself that I would be a mom, maybe a teacher. I went to college for two years and quit to get married young and have three kids, and I was very happy and I always kept myself very busy.
Louise Olson 00:05:42 I volunteered, I threw parties and did all the things, of a stay at home mom. And my husband at the time, who was an attorney, literally pulled me out the door and not very happy to say. God. Time to go to work. Kids are going to go to college. We’ll need more money. So, I wasn’t thrilled about that. But I have to tell you that simultaneously, over those 20 years that I was raising kids, I also felt accidentally on the spiritual path. And the reason I did that is I was looking for relief from panic attacks. Anxiety symptoms probably started with postpartum, which we didn’t know about at that time. And way back then, this was not a popular topic. There were not a lot of people that, like we have today that talking about this energy work. So I was a very reluctant seeker. I would say that’s what you might call me. But in doing that and discovering, Law of Attraction through somebody actually at work who recommended it.
Louise Olson 00:06:52 I think that that is the foundation that helped me create the life that I did, and the paradigm shift is realizing that I was not a victim to circumstances, that I could actually create the circumstances. This is really huge; in the way I think and approach things even today.
Andi Simon 00:07:13 But I’m going to pause you for one second because I want to emphasize that point, because retirement is exactly that opportunity where there’s no structure. Nobody is telling you what to do. You are going to have to create your retirement, and you have never had to do that before. You learned it early. But most people move along through that whole course of, I’m going to go to college, I’m going to get a degree, I’ll get a career, I’ll have my family, and on we go. And now I’m retired. How do I do this next? I didn’t want to stop your thought, but please continue, because I think let’s emphasize that it’s time. I think.
Louise Olson 00:07:54 That yeah. And that’s true for our generation, possibly the next one behind us.
Louise Olson 00:07:59 I don’t think probably it’s going to be as difficult for the younger people because they already have a mindset that they have many options and they don’t have, you know, we really sort of did what we should do. We followed that little track. We should do this; we should do that. And now I don’t believe that that’s the case anymore. But,
Andi Simon 00:08:21 That’s okay. We have a long way to wait before we have to worry about them. We have a lot of us to worry about.
Multiple Speakers 00:08:26 I know there’s a lot of us, but,
Louise Olson 00:08:29 So as I was doing the energy work, I was also the really big, shift came when I joined Motorola in 1990. I was 45. My youngest was entering, middle school, and the others were in college. And I entered as a secretary from a newspaper ad. Wow. Now, this was Motorola’s headquarters in Schaumburg, which is. And at that time, Motorola had 120,000 employees global around the world. And I entered as a secretary, and in nine months, a job came up for a meeting planner.
Louise Olson 00:09:07 And as a secretary, sometimes you do a little meeting planning. You don’t know what you’re doing most of the time. But the day they told me that I got that job over 40 applicants because I was the lowest cost just coming in as an admin. The others were internal. I literally had vertigo for two days as first time I ever got that. It’s like the universe said, your world is now shifting. Your whole life will shift. And the ten years I spent there were absolutely amazing. I had a manager who was a mentor to me and is still a very good friend, and she sent me to be educated as a meeting planner. So that was very interesting because you don’t know what you don’t know when you’re just doing it. And Anyway, so, does somebody starting the printer? Can you hear that? Oh, okay. so anyway, I then I went back to school. I only had two years. In fact, to this day, I was just amazed that I had that I was empowered to do this career.
Louise Olson 00:10:18 It was just incredible to me. And remember, as a secretary, you’re taking orders. You’re answering somebody else’s phone. Now, I had my own extension to this day that four digits is my passcode every time because it was, oh my gosh, I’m a person and people are calling me to talk to me. I did so many amazing things at Motorola and I just caught on that, if I could propose it and I could do it. So it’s it was learning how to jump in to creating my own experiences without even knowing what I was doing at the time. Like, I think I could do that, So I’m going to try. I’m going to try to do it. And in that way, I went to China by myself in Beijing in 97, and I taught a class of a of, Motorola people over there, and that was nothing. They didn’t come to me and say, we think you should do this. I saw the opportunity and I said, I think I can do this.
Louise Olson 00:11:16 Let me do this for you. I went to Europe for six weeks, and so I just really got on the road simultaneously meeting, planning, training people to do meeting planning. I developed a course that I taught to Arthur Andersen. It was just like incredible experience, and I just got a lot of confidence during that time in, and amazing light bulbs came of what I could do. Motorola also paid for me to return to school so that I got my bachelor’s degree at age 50.
Andi Simon 00:11:47 Wow.
Louise Olson 00:11:47 So I was really rolling in that and having a great time. The, The metaphysical work helped me to get over with fear of flying. So I was on the road flying all the time, and I, until that point, had panic attacks getting on an airplane. So this is to help you understand how different, you know, this work made my personality, my, my level of comfort into doing these things. and also during that time, my marriage kind of fell apart. So I had a very long marriage and was suddenly divorced.
Louise Olson 00:12:24 And after that, at age 63, I really at 60, 63, I really got into the metaphysical work. And I climbed Machu Picchu at age 63 without even knowing what the heck I was doing. So, the work that I was doing spiritually also helped me with the idea that anything that you do now benefits you long term, because we’re long term beings and it’s not just in this body. And that’s a real kind of a key concept for me that I don’t feel anything is like almost over, or there’s no use to do that because I’m 50 or I’m 63. I was with some women yesterday. I think I told you I took them to a I have a meetup group now, and I did that to create my community. So that was last year I started that. I thought, I need more friends, you know, my friends aren’t doing what I’m doing and if I stop working then I won’t be around the younger people. So I created a meetup group, and yesterday we went to this wonderful balloon museum in Chicago, and I was telling them my story at dinner, kind of practicing for you.
Louise Olson 00:13:33 And, you know, there some of them are they’re young, they’re in their early 60s. And I tell them I didn’t start my major traveling and the greatest part of my career until I was 65.
Andi Simon 00:13:48 Yes.
Louise Olson 00:13:48 And I really hit the road. And I’ve done meetings and events in 25 countries. So when I worked for Interpol, that was another. That was a huge stretch. and I didn’t know I was going to do that. You know, I didn’t know the subject matter, but it’s, the kind of meeting planning I do is more of a consultant. I’m the project manager for the all the departments of the client and the groups and getting everybody together. And they would send me in country, for instance, the first one I did, I went to Hong Kong and sent me a loan to or to sit down with the host. The local host was the Hong Kong Customs official, and I sat down with 25 of them and just me. And this takes a lot of guts.
Louise Olson 00:14:34 So one of the things I.
Andi Simon 00:14:37 I you are not bold. You are bold, brave, courageous and not full of ego.
Multiple Speakers 00:14:42 no. They said they say, take a look.
Louise Olson 00:14:46 There’s the saying. Take bold and something. Action. You know, just do it. And that’s kind of what I was doing. And it’s what I try to do in my retreats and work now. For instance, the retreat I have coming up in June in Sweden. The theme is the Nordic Goddesses, and I always kind of pick a goddess. So why that? Because we’re focusing on the retreat, and the personal growth and awareness part will be about courage, building your inner resource of courage and bravery, and doing things that you don’t think you can do because you’ve never done them before. And this is for like all ages. because that’s what happened to me. You know, once you do it, I didn’t even know what the heck I was getting into when I said, yeah, I’ll go to Machu Picchu and Climate Trail.
Louise Olson 00:15:32 And then afterwards people said, do you know what you’re doing? You’re not even in shape. You know, it was amazing. But that’s I’ve done a lot. That is my personality type as well. I have to say, not everybody has that, but just let’s jump into that. You know,
Andi Simon 00:15:48 But let’s talk a little bit about you now. Went into training. I love your story. It’s not all that different than my own. People will say, have you thought about? And I said, sure, I can do that now. You know, I got into banking by chance. It was at a cocktail party with my husband and a bunch of executives at Citibank, and they said, come help us change. And I said, okay, you don’t know what I do, and I don’t know what you do, but let’s do it. And so there’s an attitude that helps us get over obstacles that really aren’t obstacles at all. I mean, they’re self-created or you knock them down, but I love this.
Andi Simon 00:16:24 What you’re doing on the retreat. So talk a little more. You went into train and, well, what.
Louise Olson 00:16:30 You know, for all these years I was studying the energy work. I’m a Reiki master doing all of that. Many teachers, many gurus, many retreats that I went on. I have a shaman, Native American woman that I study with. I’ve studied, you know, Peru and Machu Picchu, many different modalities, many different teachers, a Korean master, I mean, I really do cover the bases. So I was doing that and then and I was also working crazy. Lots of trips until Covid. So that was just, you know, six years ago. So I was, what, 72 or 70? What it was eight years ago? 74, I guess it was 74 or 6 years ago, where maybe most people would say, oh, it’s Covid. You know, my programs are done, now’s the time to retire. But and also, by the way, simultaneously, I have to tell you, this is so important.
Louise Olson 00:17:22 I had manifested a wonderful new husband and more trips and beautiful new homes. So all of that is part of my journey. So there I am at 74 Covid starts and my grandchildren had all grown up already, you know, so I wasn’t spending time helping to raise them. So what are you going to do for a social person like me? What happened? This is synchronicity. I have to tell you; things pop up when you are open to notice them.
Andi Simon 00:17:52 Yes.
Louise Olson 00:17:53 Stay open and then something pops up. So on Facebook. And I love everything technical. Somebody advertised a retreat leader’s course, so I had all of the. I had a lot of knowledge in the work of the energy, the concepts and the modalities and all of that. I had all the knowledge in the logistical planning of the places and the things that you do in creating it. But I had this was a course that would put it together and say, well, this is what you this is your audience. How do you find your audience? How do you sell your retreat course? And I and that was in 2020.
Louise Olson 00:18:30 Perfect timing. There I am sitting at home. You know, I actually kept working because we ran a virtual Interpol meeting, sort of virtual. I did have to go to D.C., but we took it out that everybody was taking their conferences virtual. So I had learned that. And then I learned I also am a constant learner. So, you know, that’s another thing. Still, to do that to this date, which I think it’d be really important for your book as well. I think you do mention that learning, just learning something new all the time. And so I took I’m still taking courses of those courses and I, I had previous before that I had run like a few workshops, but I did my first retreats in I think 2023. It’s at the end that we were just coming out of Covid, not completely yet, and I took a group to Costa Rica. So I like them small 10 to 15 women. And I do focus on women because I feel like I understand what they’re transitioning through.
Louise Olson 00:19:26 Women in transition was going to be my key thing, but there’s a lot of women even younger now. I’m finding who are gravitating toward me, who are going through some kind of transition.
Andi Simon 00:19:38 Okay, that’s life. I mean, it keeps going through transitions. It’s not just retirement. You’re going. No. Described your whole transition.
Louise Olson 00:19:46 Yep, yep. So, so I’ve ran I don’t know, I’ve been running them like a couple of year, because that’s all the time that I had. And, and then this year, I’m. I only have one plan so far. The international, the international ones have been to Greece. This one is in Stockholm. That’s coming up because I also have a work trip. My one of my last work trips is back to back. So two programs back to back. So those trips are very fun there for women who maybe their husbands don’t want to travel or they’re alone. And so not all the women who have come to me are attractive to the spiritual work, but then they do become aware.
Louise Olson 00:20:24 So it’s focused on culture and feeling the city, feeling the environment, getting the energy. Because for me, every place has energy, you know? And where are we going? Like, what’s that unique energy there? And what can we do that’s different than you would get on another.
Andi Simon 00:20:39 And Stockholm and Greece are very different cultures. My goodness.
Louise Olson 00:20:43 Can.
Andi Simon 00:20:44 Very different feelings are very different. The energies are very different. How interesting.
Louise Olson 00:20:48 In Stockholm, you know, it’s, the ocean. You’re on the Baltic Sea. All of that. The midnight sun. All of that. The energy and nature. It’s just really, it’s very powerful. Any, you know, all of those places? Well, any place. Sedona. You know, I’ve been to Sedona. That’s always the wonderful place for that. So, so that’s what I’m doing with the retreats. And then I have I created, as I said, meetup groups that has called me, my Other sides of the name of my business for retreats and energy work is wise wandering.
Louise Olson 00:21:23 and so I have a wise wandering media group for women that want to get together and maybe just have fun. Because when you’re having fun, you’re raising your vibration, you know? Yeah. And also to talk about things a little bit deeper, you know, to talk about these things. Do you happy where you are? Do you know why you’re getting what you’re getting? Do you think there’s a different way? You know. So I actually have in next week, I have about 20 signed up for my kind of explanation of law of attraction and anyway, through that, I’ve gotten some made some really great friends.
Andi Simon 00:21:58 You know, these all in person or are they also remote? Virtual? Yes.
Louise Olson 00:22:03 Virtual and in person? Yeah. So, So anyway, so that’s what I’m doing right now. And,
Andi Simon 00:22:12 Well, let’s talk about the wisdom for people who are looking into retirement, because what you’re talking about is, there’s no date. There’s no particular date. Although socially or culturally, we somehow think that 65 is this magical number, mostly because of how your Social Security may work or your Medicare may start.
Andi Simon 00:22:33 But by and large, you started not retiring. But business at the end stages. And you know, we wrote this book because neither my husband nor I intend to retire. But what you’re describing is life. And life is full of different stages, different energies, different purposes. And the trick is to make every day a gift. And I’m convinced that once you begin to think of every day as a gift, how can I be kind? What can I do to help somebody? How can I add some value to our life or our family? You begin to find ways to grow, and the other part is that don’t wait for someone to come and knock on your head and say, you want to become an event planner. You look and you apply, and next thing you know, you got to meet up. I mean, everything you’re talking about is taking action. I think you had a great quote here. It’s never too late. You’re never too old. It’s her mantra. Well, that is exactly what we’re preaching, that you don’t forget retirement as the end of.
Andi Simon 00:23:30 It’s the beginning of this next stage. And now the question is, who’s in charge? You are. And now how are you going to build what you like? You know, it’s around you now the question is putting it together, so it really works. This is really cool. Go ahead. You’re now you’re not even calling this retirement, are you? You’re just leaving that and moving into this, and that’s a long reach.
Louise Olson 00:23:52 Well, you know, if you notice people that don’t retire, who are they? They’re the people that love what they do. They’re actors or writers or they’re passionate about what they’re doing. And the people that can’t wait to retire is because they don’t like what they’re doing. That’s right. So if they realize this is an opportunity to see what I what am I really passionate about? So it’s finding the passion. And I do have a lot of passion and a lot of curiosity in life, which I do have. But a lot of people, everybody does really. It’s fighting the passion.
Louise Olson 00:24:23 What would I really what could I have been doing or what, you know, and then really? Oh, I should have, you know, I would have liked to learn how to play the piano, but it’s too late now because I’m 75. No, it’s not too late. It’s not too late. Go take piano lessons. Whatever it is that you’d like to do. and, you know, travel is really broadening. This is another thing. Because I started traveling. I was by myself. I went to China by myself. You know, I go to these places. Like, how did South Africa, you know. How did you do that? You know, just find my way around. Well, it is so empowering. You really feel like you’re superwoman. You know that you can manage it. Maybe you’re afraid. Yep. I was afraid. A lot of times I didn’t know what I was doing. but it’s really a chart. It really gives you such a charge. And so it’s.
Louise Olson 00:25:16 That’s kind of what I find. there are women who are looking are men as well, but I don’t work with men as much because I find it a little more resistant to their role, you know, to leaving their role. But those that are willing to, like. Let me just try that. Let’s see if that if I like it. You could try this. If you like it, try that. You know, just play with it. And that’s the thing every day. And then you said it is the difference is setting an attention like I do a morning practice to say like you say, I’m grateful for this day and this is what I want to accomplish on this day.
Andi Simon 00:25:52 Yes, you know, you’re talking about men and women. the research isn’t as robust as I would like, as an anthropologist about how men and women approach the stage in their careers, their lives. And, What I find interesting is that the, the I’m seeing in the stories they tell that it may be about being male or female, but it may be also about the roles they’ve played before they were reaching this point.
Andi Simon 00:26:20 And what troubles me to your point is the men who I’ve been shared with, people telling me about my friend retired, and his problem is he has no one to have lunch with. So he calls the guys back in the office and they don’t have any time for him. And he doesn’t understand why all these good friends he has have no time for him. And then they’re the ones who sold their business. And two years later they buy back a business, or they go and try another and they’re not sure that’s good for them. They don’t quite know what’s good for them. And this kind of being lost, it worries me because nobody’s going to help you find yourself unless you have a good companion or could be a guy or gal or a good community. And it doesn’t matter. One fellow in the book, I love it. Stillman, retired at a young age of 55, and now he’s 80, but he thought he’d get his golf score down his handicap. He was going to bring it down from, I don’t know, 14 to 4, only to find his guys were all alcoholics and he started to find the 19th hole was their favorite place to be.
Andi Simon 00:27:21 And next thing you know, he’s drinking and drink. And his wife said, you failed retirement. You got to find something to do. because and he wasn’t he said to me, I wasn’t really seeing what was happening to me. I thought I was becoming part of the club, and only to find that that wasn’t my club. And so these are harder. The women that I’m finding have a similar and different. The one who I really love. Her story. She left the wealth management firm after 38 years, only to find out that she had no friends. These were all her friends, but now she was an outsider. People don’t understand this inside and this outside. Once you hit the outside, you’re become the barbarian at the gate. They don’t have anything in their mind that’s common with you. It’s like one woman I met, and she is also becoming a retirement coach, said I. I helped this other person increase her status or her stature, and I left her my job, and I can’t even get her to return my phone calls.
Andi Simon 00:28:20 this is a very interesting time for us. I’m curious. You said you were curious. So my curiosity is, how are people managing this? I love your stories because you never really stop managing this. This is all another part of life’s transitions. And it’s not a special kind of transition. It’s a special kind of transition. It’s like it’s not an end of end. The start of its I’ve prepared. I know what I love to do? You’re following your love.
Louise Olson 00:28:49 For me, it’s an easier transition than some of the other ones I went through. You know, from going to. From wife of 40 years to a divorced woman. That was that was much worse. You know, that was much harder. This one is more playful. It’s better. And but I really do have a completely different mindset than, like, my mother’s generation. I’m completely different. It’s like, so what I had to do was I had to go find younger friends. You know, I really did.
Louise Olson 00:29:18 That’s what I because nobody really that I know few there, a few, there are a few, around my age are doing what I’m doing and want to do that, you know, and I think what I find is if I find somebody who is willing to entertain, if I find somebody, for instance, and says, oh, I don’t like technology, I never do this, I never oh, I would never touch that, you know, or whatever. The thing is, they don’t like it. They want to do the old way. Oh, it was better the old way then.
Andi Simon 00:29:47 No, not my friend.
Louise Olson 00:29:49 That’s where you are. You know you’re not. You’re not my tribe. You’re not. You know.
Andi Simon 00:29:53 Yes. But you know, you’re finding your tribe one at a time. Which is great, because nobody’s putting out a big flag that says, hey, I’m. I’m here looking. Although luster is a little bit like a tribe looking for its members, which is cool.
Andi Simon 00:30:06 I’m about ready to wrap up as much as I could keep talking to you. It’s really been wonderful wrap up with helping the folks understand how they can find you, and if they’d like to understand your retreats or how you help them energize themselves. I think this is really an important time to share. I would.
Louise Olson 00:30:22 Love to. I have a website wise wandering.net. And my emails. louise@wandering.net. And then there you can see what I’m doing. I have two spots left for my retreat to Sweden in June, if anybody’s interested in that. We it will be maximum of ten women and it’s a wonderful Program. And, yeah, I would say that start with that because I’m posting things there all the time. And yeah, there’ll be more coming on now that I have more time.
Andi Simon 00:30:56 Well, I think that if, you know, if people come to you as almost a waitlist for your next one, it makes it interesting to begin to build it around their interest and all the places that you love to go.
Andi Simon 00:31:07 Are your meet meetups open for additional people to?
Louise Olson 00:31:10 Yeah, yeah, that’s also wise. Wise Wandering retreats for women is the meetup group. Why is wanting retreats for women? And yes, and I will. I will design other types of retreats. I think the whole topic around retirement would be good to have people find out, you know, what do I like? I mean, getting clarity about something that’s a big deal to you. You don’t really know sometimes to ask, what do I like? You know, deciding, what do I really like to do?
Andi Simon 00:31:39 Well, and I do think that from, you know, I have to do a, a radio broadcast about the health and well-being of the older adults. And I do think, you know, I started out with the four things who are you? You got to begin to define that the best way as to who do you belong to? That community. And the retreats become a way to find others who share with you some common understanding of where you are, and you don’t feel silly saying to them, this is how I feel.
Andi Simon 00:32:10 How do you feel? You know, you know, if you’re feeling purpose, there’s a whole.
Louise Olson 00:32:14 Support group, a safe place. Yes. And then to have some to work with people that, you feel safe and can give you their honest opinions, can give you. You know, it’s really, it’s really great.
Andi Simon 00:32:27 It’s great. And then you go off to the balloon Museum to have a great day. And I thought that was cool.
Louise Olson 00:32:33 You might be going to ABBA in Sweden. We might get our ABA going on.
Andi Simon 00:32:37 Well, I’m ABA in Sweden. I was in Sweden this past summer. It’s wonderful. The whole place is wonderful. Scandinavia offers you a whole different view of the world. You’re going to Stockholm. But I love Norway. Oslo was great in Norway as well. Yeah.
Louise Olson 00:32:51 In Bergen.
Andi Simon 00:32:52 Yes. Bergen’s marvelous.
Louise Olson 00:32:53 Yeah. Yeah. Did you take the train? That was.
Andi Simon 00:32:56 Yeah, that train is great. And then we went down to the water and went out to the fjords.
Andi Simon 00:33:00 And it is a spiritual and, you know, it really lifts you.
Louise Olson 00:33:04 Yeah. I should do what we treat there. That’s what I’ll do.
Andi Simon 00:33:07 And do it for retirees. I will join you. I’m on tonight.
Louise Olson 00:33:10 Okay. Retire. Let’s do it. Let’s do it. You retirees, I’ll create it.
Andi Simon 00:33:14 I’ll do it. Okay. We’re good. Let’s just figure out what time of year is best. We shall talk again. So for all my wonderful guests who come, you bring me wonderful folks to talk about. But you also send me your emails at, send it to info at Andy Simon. Com. You’ll find all my books on Andy Simon com and I’m doing a masterclass. I’m doing two day retreats that are really designed to help you rethink who you are after retirement. The first one I did. Actually, I got wonderful folks from Leicester to participate. Three women from across the country. And what did we discover? You can plan a perfect day now, but you have to plan it.
Andi Simon 00:33:57 You have to define who am I without my business card? Those are really. You never thought about who you were as you talked about it. The third one was, you know what’s my purpose? To whom? One woman had 18 things on her to do list. Not easy to get focused. And then I asked, who is my community and how do I build it? Because it may not be building it for me. I have to build it for others. And that’s all we’ve spoken about today. So my book is on Amazon Rethink Retirement in all its various flavors. All the others are as well. But come visit, tell me your stories and let’s share them. As you can tell, I love listening to stories, sharing them and that’s how we see, feel and think in new ways. Take your observations, turn them into innovations and have a wonderful day. Luis, thank you again for coming, I appreciate it. Take care now.
Louise Olson 00:34:43 Thank you.
Andi Simon 00:34:44 Bye. Bye now.
