This special episode features three remarkable women from the Uplifters community who reached out to share their stories of transformation after 40. Elaine Perkins (64) packed up her life in Brooklyn at 60 to become a homeowner in Delaware. Adena Artale (47) looked herself in the mirror at 45 and finally pursued her childhood dream of acting. Tracy Keibler (64) became a nonprofit founder at 50 when her husband lost his job—and has since served over 8,000 lives. Their stories prove that courage doesn't have an expiration date, and reinvention is always possible.

What You'll Learn

• How to navigate major life transitions after 40 with confidence
• Strategies for building community when starting over in a new place
• Why "new" is an advantage, not a disadvantage
• How to distinguish between limiting beliefs and genuine wisdom
• The practice of listening to your body's signals about what you truly need
• Why telling the right people first matters when pursuing brave goals
• How to reframe failure and keep experimenting your way forward
• The importance of scheduling self-care like you schedule meetings
• Why following your dreams benefits everyone around you, not just yourself

Time Stamps

00:00 - Introduction: The Late Bloomers Series Finale

02:15 - Elaine's Story: Moving to Delaware at 60

03:30 - The dream of homeownership and her mother's passing

04:45 - What scared her most about the move

06:00 - Choosing allies and amplifiers to tell first

07:15 - The power of saying "I'm new here"

08:30 - How loss created space for reinvention

10:00 - Writing her worthiness story

11:30 - Rating herself on bravery: from 7 to 10

12:45 - Her next dream: Tamron Hall Show and spreading the worthiness message

18:30 - Adena's Story: Becoming an actor at 45

19:15 - Her sister's terminal diagnosis as a catalyst

20:30 - The mirror moment: naming her sacred dream

22:30 - Taking action immediately with Backstage

23:45 - The uncomfortable photoshoot and learning to accept her body

25:30 - Why she's not stopping for the next 53 years

27:30 - Her husband and family's unwavering support

29:45 - Building courage by telling the right people

31:30 - The myth of "not having enough time"

33:45 - Learning to listen to her body's wisdom

35:15 - Tracy's Story: Starting a nonprofit at 50

36:30 - What Start Senior Solutions does for seniors in crisis

38:30 - Learning one problem at a time

40:30 - Strengths carried forward from previous chapters

43:15 - Redefining failure as experimentation

44:30 - The importance of collaboration over competition

46:45 - How to support Start Senior Solutions

47:00 - Closing reflections on late blooming and courage

Key Takeaways

✓ Anxiety about NOT doing something can be a clearer signal than fear about doing it

✓ Being "new" is an invitation for connection, not a deficit

✓ Your body knows what your brain is still debating—learn to listen

✓ Tell allies and amplifiers first; protect your dream from skeptics early

✓ Worthiness isn't something you earn—it's something you claim

✓ Courage compounds: each brave choice makes the next one easier

✓ It's never too late to choose yourself

Guest Bios

Elaine Perkins (64) is a retired professional who, at 60, left her Brooklyn home of six decades to pursue her lifelong dream of homeownership in Delaware. Now an author and advocate for worthiness at all ages, she’s co-authoring an anthology and building a speaking platform centered on helping people recognize they are worthy of their dreams—no matter their age or circumstances.

Adena Artale (47) is an actor who returned to her childhood passion at 45 after a family health crisis reminded her that life is too short for “someday.” Since naming her sacred dream and taking immediate action, she’s booked multiple roles and continues training and auditioning while maintaining her corporate career and family life in New Jersey.

Tracy Keibler (64) is the founder of Start Senior Solutions, a nonprofit providing crisis intervention services to older adults and caregivers in critical moments—from hospital discharge to eviction threats. What began as a necessity when her husband lost his job has grown into an organization that has impacted over 8,000 lives, all while operating on a promise: “We will stay as long as you need us.”

Host Bio

Aransas Savas is a leadership and wellbeing coach, host of The Uplifters Podcast, and author working on her book Courage Capital. For over 20 years, she's conducted behavioral research and design for companies like Disney, Best Buy, and Weight Watchers. She brings a researcher's systematic eye to identifying patterns in how women overcome obstacles while applying a coach's practical tools to help others replicate those successes. Aransas hosts conversations with women breaking barriers and creating change, distilling their wisdom into practical insights about building courage and resilience.

Connect with Aransas:

Instagram: @aransas_savas

Podcast Instagram: @the_uplifters_podcast

TikTok: @theuplifterspodcast

Facebook: @aransas

Website: theuplifterspodcast.com

YouTube: @theuplifterspodcast

LinkedIn: Aransas Savas

Keywords

late bloomer, career change after 40, reinvention, life transition, courage, women over 40, starting over, pursuing dreams, nonprofit founder, acting career, homeownership, life transformation, personal growth, self-development, women's empowerment, midlife change, second act, senior advocacy, worthiness, brave choices, life after loss

Aransas Savas: [00:00:00] Hey Uplifters. I wanna take a minute to talk about something personal to me. In my forties, I started noticing my hair was shedding more so a couple of months ago I [00:00:15] started using neutrophil. I'm already seeing so much less shedding and my teenage daughter who notices absolutely everything keeps commenting on how thick my hair looks.

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So far, [00:01:15] you've met the incredible memorized Sir Boten who, who literally wrote the book about late blooming. You've met Lakshmi Run Garage on who is an expert. And host of the later Dater Today podcast and Todd is all about the [00:01:30] advantages of dating later in life. And you met the lovely Carly who Joggled.

Yes. I said Joggled. That's juggling and juggling her way to deeper connection and presence and [00:01:45] confidence in her life. Today we have a very special episode to wrap up this series and it features not one story, but three ine, Idina and Tracy. These three incredible women are part of our Uplifters community, and [00:02:00] they reached out to share their stories of change.

After age 40, each of these women faced a moment in their lives where they could have stuck with the journey they were on. Have stayed in their comfort zones, but instead [00:02:15] they chose to take a great big, giant leap into the unknown. We'll start by talking to Elaine Perkins, who at 60 packed up the life she had built in Brooklyn, New York, where everyone in everything she [00:02:30] knew was rooted and moved to an entirely new state to chase her dream of becoming a homeowner.

You'll meet Adina, who at 45 looked herself in the mirror one day and realized it was time to [00:02:45] place a big bet on the dream. She'd been harboring since childhood to become a professional actor. And finally, you'll meet Tracy Keebler, a stay-at-home mom, who at 50 when her husband lost his job. [00:03:00] A giant leap and became the founder of an extraordinary nonprofit.

Now at 64 Start Senior Solutions. The program she created has touched over 8,000 lives. These stories aren't just stories [00:03:15] about starting over. These are stories about starting exactly where we are with exactly what we have and discovering that it's more than enough.

Elaine Perkins: My name is [00:03:30] Elaine Claudette Perkins, and my age is 64.

Aransas Savas: Tell us about the big brave thing you did postwar. I packed

Elaine Perkins: up. From my home in Brooklyn, New York where I was born and [00:03:45] raised, and I moved to a different state and started a whole new life. My lifelong dream was to own my own house. And I didn't because I lived in Brooklyn. [00:04:00] My mom was there, she wasn't well, and I wasn't going to move without her, and I didn't wanna move her because of her doctors that had been established over years.

When she passed from COVID in [00:04:15] 2020, the spirit said, what about the house? And I said, yeah. What about the house? It was no reason really for me not to if I could afford it.

Aransas Savas: What were some of the [00:04:30] things that were scary for you about that move?

Elaine Perkins: Leaving my family. And moving to a whole new state. I knew one person here.

I didn't know the lay of the land. I didn't know how to get around, like [00:04:45] what am I gonna do? Who am I gonna get to know? But I was up for it. What

Aransas Savas: helped you move from thinking about it to actually doing it?

Elaine Perkins: When I thought about not doing it, I got anxious, [00:05:00] which is the reverse of what a lot people go through.

It was something that was in my spirit that said, this is for you right now. I was nearing 60. They're asking for this paper, that paper, [00:05:15] this, that, the other thing, right? This inspection and the whole nine yards. I said, I'm not doing it, but when I said I'm not doing it is when I got like, no, no. But when I said yes [00:05:30] is when the piece came over me.

Aransas Savas: So who was the first person you told?

Elaine Perkins: The first person I told was my son, and then I called a realtor and she was like, oh my God, this is so exciting. And I [00:05:45] appreciated that energy because that helped me. She didn't say, my goodness, are you kidding? Like at your age. She didn't say that. She was really over the top.

Wow.

Aransas Savas: I talk about in my work that it's [00:06:00] important to start by telling allies and amplifiers, and the allies are the ones who are like, I believe in you. You've got this, and the amplifiers are the ones who are like, how can we get it done? Let's go. Yes. Let's make it even bigger or faster. Right. And it sounds like you did exactly [00:06:15] that.

That was the realtor.

Elaine Perkins: Yep. The realtor was the amplifier. And my son was the ally. Yes. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I love that. I love that. And then I told my friends and they were like, are you sure? And some friends said, I don't know if that's a good [00:06:30] move because I was coming by myself. I said I'm, that is, I'm, I'm okay.

It was just something that I, I dunno. I had to do it. And now that I've been here four years and this was the move, [00:06:45] I feel like I'm home.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Elaine Perkins: I reinvented myself and people are like, how do you know all those people? I stepped out. It was an intentional moving Mm. I was intentional about [00:07:00] creating community for myself because I could have come down here and stayed in the house.

Mm-hmm. And right after COVID, I could have stayed in New York, but. I don't know what my life and with my mom not being [00:07:15] there, I don't know what my life would've been without her. I'm sure I would've continued do things, but this just feels new and I just

Aransas Savas: feel so much more alive. And you lost this very important person in your life [00:07:30] and you lost.

A very important structure in your life. Mm-hmm. The time that you were investing and caring for your mom. Mm-hmm. The time that you were spending preparing for her next [00:07:45] stage, all of that. Suddenly it's this big open space of time and. It can raise a lot of questions for us about who am I, what am I meant to do next?

And so instead of allowing your life to [00:08:00] just flow back into a routine, because what happens with time right? Is if it's freed up, something else is gonna absorb it. Exactly. And that may scrolling social media, or it might be work or childcare. [00:08:15] There's all these things that just absorb time like a sponge when it's freed up.

Mm-hmm. And what you are doing here that is so powerful and that we can all learn from, is that in those moments, those are the moments to step back and get really intentional. [00:08:30] That's right. What do I want for my next chapter? What do I need in my next chapter? And how am I gonna make it my mission to give that to myself?

What is your life like you in this reinvention, as you use the word Elaine?

Elaine Perkins: I am. [00:08:45] Free, and I am free because of a couple of reasons. I recently am my co-author in an anthology. When I came here, that was one step of the reinvention. Mm-hmm. [00:09:00] Because now I'm in a new place, I'm doing new things, I've met new people, and then that kind of helped me realize that I don't have to stay locked in.

The past, right? Mm-hmm. And when I [00:09:15] was asked to write the story, I said, Hmm, I'm not a writer. I'm not a author of light. She said, but I believe you do have a story to tell. And I didn't even know what I was gonna write about because it's a love story. I didn't know what it was, what I was gonna write about.

I just started [00:09:30] writing, writing, writing, writing, and the writing. My title is at last, because at last. I'm able to walk in my fullness at last, that I'm sharing the story, it's in the world, and at last I realized that [00:09:45] I'm worthy and was worthy all along. What was your love story about? The love story was about me coming to terms with the fact that my birth mother didn't raise me and [00:10:00] I was raised by my maternal aunt and.

Just going through life, feeling like I'm not wanted. I shared that earlier. I'm not wanted or I'm not loved, or whatever. Even though we had a very close knit family, but it was [00:10:15] very different in, I wasn't there. Right. So the story is about coming to terms with that and just the realization that I'm loved, I'm wanted, [00:10:30] I'm valued.

I love myself. I value myself, and I'm enough, and I'm, I was enough all along. It's my mission Aransas to tell people that they too are worthy. I am worthy of it. [00:10:45] And. I think everybody, regardless of their circumstances, regardless of how they start their situations, that they're worthy of the love, they're worthy of happiness, they're worthy of joy and [00:11:00] peace, and I'm one of those people.

Aransas Savas: Mm, yes. We don't often recognize our unworthy thoughts as being exactly that. [00:11:15] Being limiting thoughts. So what did some of those sound like as you look back on them? What were you saying to yourself that made you believe that you were not worthy of investing in your joy and [00:11:30] peace?

Elaine Perkins: You are not good enough.

I mean, I am a retired professional, but even all the accomplishments, there was something deep inside that. Nobody loves you. [00:11:45] Nobody wants you. I get emotional when I think about it because those are all lies. Those are all lies, and knowing that I'm helps me to show up differently in spaces that I go [00:12:00] in, I show up in my full self as opposed to entering a room and shrinking and thinking I have no presence.

And it's weird because other people will tell me how great and [00:12:15] wonderful and beautiful and all of that, but I had to really believe it and I had to walk in that and walk in that truth.

Aransas Savas: Looking back, do you feel like you were preparing for this move in any way before [00:12:30] your mother passed?

Elaine Perkins: I honestly don't think so because I had just renovated the whole apartment.

I didn't know I was moving. I didn't have a clue. And things happened exactly the way they were supposed to happen. I was able to rent the [00:12:45] space because I had just renovated it, Uhhuh,

Aransas Savas: so it all. So you were preparing for the reinvention, you just didn't know it. Exactly,

Elaine Perkins: exactly, exactly. I didn't know it.

And looking [00:13:00] back, I'm like, wow. Okay.

Aransas Savas: Part of what. Scares us about change. Mm-hmm. Is being the new kid. Mm-hmm. And so here you are after being in one town for your entire life, [00:13:15] having a community, having the same places you go for everything you do in your life. That's right. What has the journey of being the new person been like and what has that taught you?[00:13:30]

Elaine Perkins: I have been what I did when I came here because I want a community. I looked for a church, I looked for activities before I came, I researched what was in the area, [00:13:45] things to do. I found the senior center. And they go, you go to the senior center, those are old people, but there's a lady there that is 107.

She still drives. She lives by herself. That's the kind of senior I wanna be. [00:14:00] Oh yes. And they're very active and always doing things. I found the line dancers, and then just by interacting with people, they told me about other activities and things. I jumped double Dutch. I had a walking group in New York, so I [00:14:15] opened a chapter here in Delaware.

I created all of these spaces because I wanted community. When I think about it, I cried that I, I I'm loving life. So good. It's just so good. It's just so good. Yeah, it's

Aransas Savas: really good. How [00:14:30] incredible. Saying I'm new here. It's scary, but it's a way of saying, Hey, can we connect by letting you know how I am in this moment?

I'm saying I could use a little support. Mm-hmm. [00:14:45] And people wanna help people Exactly. As soon as we let ourselves be known, we actually set ourselves up to be supported. Mm.

Elaine Perkins: And asking for help for me is difficult. But [00:15:00] if I say I'm new here, and where do you guys line dance? That gives them the opportunity to say, oh, this is where we are, without me saying, I need help.

Can you help me?

Aransas Savas: So what would you say to [00:15:15] anybody who wants to make a change in their lives?

Elaine Perkins: Make the change. If that is what you want to do, whatever that change is, make the change because you'll find peace [00:15:30] in that change. I have found peace in the change I have found home in the change and change even when you are scared.

That is one of the [00:15:45] biggest lessons, do it Scared. If that's something you wanna do, and it could be something small or it could be something big, but whatever, it's make the change if that's what you

Aransas Savas: want. On a scale of one to 10, if you were to look [00:16:00] back mm-hmm. How would you have rated yourself before all of this on bravery?

Oh,

Elaine Perkins: I'm gonna say seven. This kind of bravery packing up and moving. I never would've [00:16:15] if someone had told me that. Prior to my mother passing, I probably wouldn't have done it. And

Aransas Savas: I'm here. And how would you rate yourself on bravery now? 10. What's the next brave thing you wanna do? Elaine?

Elaine Perkins: I wanna [00:16:30] be on the Tamron Hall Show and I wanna talk about worthiness, and I want people to know my story so they know that they too are worthy.

I wanna go on a world tour.

Aransas Savas: I [00:16:45] hope you'll invite us when the time comes. My friend Kara and I call it precision manifesting. Mm. Where we get really get clear on what we want. We ask ourselves, what is the feeling that you are precision manifesting with that [00:17:00] vision? And so what would being on Tamron Hall give you a sense

Elaine Perkins: of purpose?

I have been able to.

With the bravery, [00:17:15] with the move, with the writing, the story. I want other people to know that they too can do it. And I think that's my purpose. Like to let people know you [00:17:30] are worthy no matter what that might look like. I'm not a therapist or a counselor. I'm just a person who has walked that journey.

Through my life experience, so I want people to know that they [00:17:45] too, are worthy.

Aransas Savas: Yeah. Our dreams may not look like what we expect them to, but if we can hold that feeling of what we want and need to cultivate mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It [00:18:00] will become reality. And so it may not be Tamron Hall exactly, but by holding this vision of impact and purpose through [00:18:15] sharing your story and inspiring others, that will happen.

That's right. It's Uplifters. Yes.

Elaine Perkins: Uplifters. It ripples.

Aransas Savas: Anything else you want us to hear

Elaine Perkins: Elaine? You [00:18:30] are worthy. Worthy of the move, worthy of the dream you are worthy.

Aransas Savas: Those words from Elaine, we are worthy our next storyteller. [00:18:45] Edina also discovered the power of looking herself in the mirror and honoring her deepest desires.

Start by telling me your name and age please. Adina Arti. I'm 47 years old. [00:19:00] I would love to hear about the big, brave thing that you decided to do after turning 40 when I was in my

Adena: early teens. Early twenties, I, uh, had a dream of being an actor, but I come from a European family, they weren't well [00:19:15] off. So when my parents came to this country, their whole life was, if they ever had kids, they were gonna get a good job and work and be able to pay their bills.

And so talking about the arts and acting, that wasn't a real thing. This was something that existed within me and I didn't even know what to call it. When I got to college, [00:19:30] I ended up exploring some of this. I stopped when I was in my late twenties because it hadn't happened for me. Nothing happened.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Adena: And I met a wonderful man and I wanted to get married and have a family and I wasn't gonna be [00:19:45] in a cattle call. I wasn't gonna be one of 200 pe so I just, I stopped. I said, okay. It wasn't for me. I'm one of a million pretty faces at the time, not gonna work. Fast forward to 45 years old, my sister was [00:20:00] diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and.

After a year of depression, a friend of mine gave me this book called The Awakened Woman, and in the book, the [00:20:15] author challenges you to name your sacred dream, but not to just like lie to yours. You have to like look in a mirror. You have to name your dream. So of course, me, I was lying to myself at first.

I would look in the mirror and I'm like, I wanna be a farmer because I'm in corporate America my whole career. But [00:20:30] I love farming. I love growing food. So that was safe. That was something I was like, I want, so I'm looking at myself and I, I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror because I knew the answer.

The answer was, I wanna be an [00:20:45] actor. And I said it, and I started talking about it to people. I felt so emboldened and so empowered 'cause I had nothing to lose so far to that point in my life, the worst thing that could possibly happen to me has now happened where [00:21:00] I'm finding out this news about my sister and I'm touching through her mortality.

I'm understanding what it means for someone to tell you that there's an expiration date. And I didn't give a shit. [00:21:15] I was like, let's go. Can I curse on this? Mm-hmm. Okay. So I named it, and that was little over a year ago, so that was kind of like the bang. Wow. That put me into the position I'm in

Aransas Savas: [00:21:30] today.

Yeah. Wow. How did you translate that honest insight into action in your life? Do you recall any of your first steps?

Adena: By nature, I'm an action oriented person. If I want to do something, [00:21:45] I'm gonna try. I fail a lot. I fail so much. I failed so many times in the course of my life. I've tried so many things and failed.

So I'm not afraid to fail necessarily. There's bigger things going on in the world in terms of like, I'm the [00:22:00] breadwinner in my family. What does this mean if I try to pursue this? What about my day job? But as soon as I said that in the mirror, literally that day, I went onto a, a website [00:22:15] called Backstage.

It's a casting website, and I signed up for a year and I said, I have to know, I have to at least put myself out there.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Adena: I took some pictures in my closet of myself. That was a scary thing because I [00:22:30] hadn't been on camera. In this way in 20 years, I have a girlfriend who's a photographer. I said, Hey, can we go into your barn and just take some updated headshot of me?

I'm so uncomfortable. My body is different. [00:22:45] Everything is different, and I'm just looking at somebody on the screen. That is not the person.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Adena: I remember being so sweaty in this photography session. I had these jeans, they were too tight, but I was covering it with a shirt and I was trying to [00:23:00] turn, I was so uncomfortable.

Now, after a year and a half of really putting myself out there and having now booked work and really understanding, no, this is me. Mm-hmm. This is exactly what I look like, and am I gonna [00:23:15] accept that or not? Because if I don't accept it, I can't do this job. I am literally, I have to stare myself in the face every single day because this is, this is me.

This is what I can offer. And why is [00:23:30] that not okay? Who says, because I see other people that don't have makeup on it, and I see other people that are on camera that aren't perfect and I don't care. Yeah. I look at them and I'm like, oh my God. So entertaining. Why do I think everybody else is thinking about what [00:23:45] I look like?

Uhhuh. It's like that. All of a sudden you're realizing no. Mm-hmm. People want something real. Don't give a shit about your wrinkles.

Aransas Savas: Uhuh,

Adena: because they have them too. Uhhuh, uh. And what a [00:24:00] distraction. And I appreciate when Pamela Anderson, these people who are like showing you themselves. And at first you're a little like, you're not used to seeing Pamela Anderson without makeup.

No, no. But then you're like, oh my God, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for a lot. Showing [00:24:15] me it's okay. This is who you

Aransas Savas: are. Yeah. And it's so much more interesting a human being raw and real is the most captivating thing on earth. What a distraction. [00:24:30] Oh my God. To be all up in your head and be like, is my hair right?

Is my nose right? Is my neck right? When what you're trying to do is tell a story? Yeah. I just feel thankful.

Adena: I feel thankful that I figured it out. [00:24:45] This is my offer, this weird quirkiness. That's Adina. That's Adina. If you think about what people you know in your life, love about you or the people that really make you feel special and.

That's what they get every single day, and that's what they love, and it's [00:25:00] like, why wouldn't other people love that? Why would

Aransas Savas: I try to hide that part? As you look back at it, at what moment were you most at risk of turning around and saying, now I [00:25:15] don't want to take on this new challenge at this point in my life,

Adena: when I made this decision a little over a year ago.

One thing I did say to myself is now that I'm back, I won't stop [00:25:30] until the day I die. And it's maybe 'cause I'm a little older. Maybe it's because I'm not a starving artist. I have a successful career. I can say that I have the next, let's say I live till a hundred, I have the next 53 years [00:25:45] to book the role of my lifetime.

Aransas Savas: Mm.

Adena: And so, because I'm like a goal oriented person mm-hmm. My whole life is like, okay, write down the list of what you wanna achieve and you're gonna achieve it. You come on Adina. What are the things you want? You, you have to say them out loud. You have to give [00:26:00] yourself a deadline. I remember giving myself a deadline.

I have a talent manager, and I remember saying to her, the first few months we were working together, in three months, I'm gonna bi book my first lead. This is how I am, this is how I operate. It's gonna happen if I want it to happen. And it didn't happen. And I [00:26:15] realized this pressure I was putting on myself was why.

Mm-hmm. I have 53 years, maybe more. Yeah. To book the role of my lifetime. Yeah, I'm gonna do it forever. I'm not stopping. So I know that didn't answer the [00:26:30] question exactly. No, it did. But that's where I'm at now in life. I'm not doubting,

Aransas Savas: I'm not. Well, and I, I hear actually in it an answer, which is that you were at risk if only the role of a lifetime [00:26:45] was the reward.

Adena: Mm-hmm. It's the journey. Yeah. It's the little things. Even when I get nervous and I tell myself, I'm like, stop, this is it. This is. The dream. Mm-hmm. The dream, [00:27:00] somebody will take this tape and watch it.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Adena: They might shut it off in Tencent, but somebody's going to see it.

Aransas Savas: Yeah. That's the dream. That's it.

The dream is to show up for the dream. It's to create. Yeah. And to learn a hundred percent. [00:27:15]

Adena: What was it like to tell your family? So, my husband and my children are like the most supportive. My husband is the most supportive person you could ever meet from this perspective. He and I have this thing. It's just the way we [00:27:30] live our lives.

We do not tell each other that we can't go after like dreams and try big things. He went big three years ago and he started a business out of, no, he was a stay-at-home dad Aw. For over 10 years. And then wanted to do something and I was like, you're not going back to corporate. We're not doing [00:27:45] that thing.

That's not our, the way we are designing our life. And I was, what is the thing you really wanna do? And he's a music guy, he's a Hi-Fi guy, speakers, and amps and all that to set up. And he started his own business. And that's, that's our relationship. [00:28:00] So telling Tom was super easy. I knew what he was gonna say.

I knew what he was gonna say. Go for it. Do it. Yeah. I mean, I have to do auditions and whatnot. I need the house quiet. I need everybody to go out back for a minute. He's, they're all in. My kids think it's really cool, really cool. [00:28:15] They're, they're very. Especially my daughter. I have a 14-year-old. She's very, very proud of me.

My fam, like my mom and dad, I don't even know if I fully told them, but I did. 'cause they see Facebook, they see like my posts and they're [00:28:30] like, whatcha doing? And I wanna protect them 'cause I don't want them to worry. They're always, and so I share what I can, but that's definitely an area of my life where I, I wanna share more.

That's something that I'm

Aransas Savas: working on with them. There's something I hear a [00:28:45] lot in these stories that echoed here, which is that especially in the early days of dream making, it's really valuable to tell the people who are gonna support us, who are going to reinforce our dreaming. [00:29:00] And I think there's a lot to be said for building the foundation of the dream and our old, our own confidence and courage capital.

Before sharing it with the people who question it. Mm-hmm. [00:29:15] A hundred percent. I knew my go-to people who are operating from their own doubts and fears, which is what you're describing there. Mm-hmm. And of course they're gonna have those, we're not like, no judgment there, but we need to protect the baby a little [00:29:30] bit from the people who are gonna swat at it.

Adena: Absolutely. Yeah. And I even have my, those go-to friends that I knew. I knew they were gonna, and they always ask me, what's going on? What's the next thing? What are you doing? There's no threat. They're not jealous, they're excited. I was very [00:29:45] hesitant to share, even like Instagram and Facebook, I'm not like a big social media person in general, but in this business you do.

You have to share. I started sharing things online and I found random people that I haven't talked to in years would send me a quick, a personal message. I [00:30:00] love seeing your posts. I love what you're doing. So happy for you people that randomly outta nowhere. And I know what it's like when I see people.

'cause I'm not somebody who's threatened necessarily by, I guess 'cause like I'm confident and I'm good. Yeah. [00:30:15] That when I see people doing good things, I get inspired and I let them know you just inspired me. And so the idea that I could do that for people is like, oh my God, if I could do that. With the acting for a living, I'd be done.

I'd be [00:30:30] set to show people we have everything. Yeah. And we can do it. Yeah, we can do it. Yeah. Nobody told me I couldn't do it. I did. Adina did all those years. Adina said it. Nobody else said it, ever.

Aransas Savas: Wow. That's eye [00:30:45] opening.

Adena: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. So

Aransas Savas: one of the things that I think comes up as we think about doing big brave things is I won't have enough time.

And you talked about like the money aspect of it, but you are maintaining the [00:31:00] support systems, the, the other career as an enabler, both for your wellbeing and your.

Thought about and practiced your [00:31:15] time allocations. Mm-hmm.

Adena: When you wanna do something, you're doing it. Honestly, that's it. It was hard this summer just 'cause everybody's around. There's a lot happening. There's always noise. So it's very difficult for me to even sit and like I have a script sitting [00:31:30] right here that I know I can sit down and block out an hour and just sit with it.

Now that school has started, my kids are on the bus at six 50. 7:00 AM I'm sitting down at my desk, gotta go to Backstage Actors Access, gotta post, gotta [00:31:45] submit myself for all the new things that came in overnight. Like that is my priority. And then when an audition comes in again, I literally, I figure out in my day.

Because I am just like everyone else. I have a zillion things in my day that need to happen [00:32:00] with three kids and a family and blah, blah, blah. Two jobs. Essentially, I make sure I look at my calendar and if there's like an open two hours, I will block it from everything. Mm-hmm. And I will either go to a cafe or I will sit in this office, or I'll go sit on my [00:32:15] porch or whatever it is.

It's because it's that important to me. I've cleared other things out. I was a gardener and a farmer, and I had a beautiful, beautiful in central Jersey, and I had to let it go. I, I couldn't do it all. I [00:32:30] had to say goodbye to it, and I was heartbroken. I felt like I failed. I was like, what did I just do for the last three years?

I invested all this money into this greenhouse and planted all this stuff and did all this work. And I, I wasn't thinking about it. I didn't even want it.

Aransas Savas: You wanted something else [00:32:45] More truly, more deeply

Adena: and I had to listen. Mm-hmm. I had to listen, listen, Adina, your body is telling you, it took me 40 some years to like listen to me.

There's like gut reactions I have to certain things. [00:33:00] Your body knows what's right or wrong for you. And I am so in tune now to it. And it wasn't always 40 something years, it took me. To really understand that feeling. Oh, it's real. [00:33:15] Oh, that's a good thing. Like the fact your body's saying, don't do this, or don't, this is a good thing.

Yeah. Listen.

Aransas Savas: So good.

Adena: Mm-hmm. So good. We all have it, right? Yeah. So hard to get quiet or get [00:33:30] connected to that, but you have to have like, people helped me. Like I wasn't, it's not like one day I was like, oh, I wanna listen to my body. No. Ah, I have been in talk therapy. I go to reiki, I go to massage, I've gone to acupuncture.

All those things got me really connected to [00:33:45] my body in these last couple years.

Aransas Savas: Yeah. And the two big lessons I think in there are, number one, we don't do anything big alone. Big change, big healing, big courage. It always happens [00:34:00] through our own courage to ask for support. Mm-hmm. And our bodies are talking to us.

Mm-hmm. And oftentimes it is a language that we have learned to tune out because there were so many other [00:34:15] voices. We're telling us what to do more loudly. Oh yeah. And so that practice of investing and learning to listen to your body, your heart, your mind, is maybe the biggest [00:34:30] investment we can make.

Because we always know. We do. We do. We always know. And sometimes we just need somebody to give us permission to listen. A hundred percent. A

Adena: hundred percent. Oh no, that's real. It's like we make

Aransas Savas: ourselves sick trying to tune ourselves out. You're amazing. Thank you [00:34:45] for helping me be bold and put myself out there.

It was so great. Thank you again for reaching out. You're so great. Adina is so energizing. I love the way she learned to act [00:35:00] before she felt completely ready. And our final storyteller, Tracy discovered that sometimes life doesn't even bother asking if we're ready. It just presents us with a need so great that we can't help but rise to meet it.

Tracy, I'm so [00:35:15] excited to have you here today. Tell us a little bit about the big brave thing you've done in the second half of your life.

Tracy Keibler: My name's Tracy Keebler, and in December I will be 64 years old. I was about [00:35:30] 50 when I launched Start Senior Solutions. This organization that steps in when families, older adults and caregivers are in crisis mode, people rely on us when they're don't even [00:35:45] know where to start to begin navigating.

When older adults go to the hospital and all of a sudden the doctors saying You can't go home. Who do you call? You call start senior solutions and a nurse will come to the hospital, to [00:36:00] the bedside and say, I can carry you from here all the way through until we figure out what is a good solution to managing this issue.

Wow. Or if a landlord evicts an [00:36:15] older adult, since they need somebody, we will send someone who will help figure out what steps need to be taken so that that person can be safely housed. Crisis that you can imagine that an older adult or a caregiver might [00:36:30] find themselves in. That's where we can step in.

Aransas Savas: Wow. I'm so, so grateful for you and the work that you're doing. We are so poorly set up to support those folks and with dignity. So what were you doing [00:36:45] before you stepped in to support seniors? I was an at-home mom, and my husband lost his job. You said, well, I'll just start a nonprofit. I think that would be a scary notion to a lot of folks, [00:37:00]

Tracy Keibler: and this is maybe everything in life.

If you knew what you know now, you maybe might've made a different choice. Had I known everything that I known now, I might've made a different choice then, but am I glad that I didn't? [00:37:15] Absolutely. This is a continual learning curve. It has put me on a totally different trajectory in my life. When you look at now over eight lives that we have impacted.

We make a promise to every single one of our [00:37:30] clients. We will stay as long as you need us. We will not charge you a fee. And we do not think in 10 minute billing increments because we don't bill.

Aransas Savas: Wow. We are

Tracy Keibler: just here for you.

Aransas Savas: Whatever it takes. [00:37:45] You've said there was a lot you didn't understand about running a nonprofit, but what you knew was the level of service you wanted to provide right, to these folks who needed you, and yet you had to build all of the [00:38:00] enablers to allow that to happen.

That for many of us is where we get stuck and we say, oh, this is too hard. I can't do this. I don't have the smarts or the experience or the resources. So in those moments of [00:38:15] overwhelming complexity, how did you work your way through that maze?

Tracy Keibler: One person and one problem at a time. I just learned one problem at a time and I just kept moving that [00:38:30]

Aransas Savas: forward.

I hear how you have really leveraged confidence and self-efficacy from your prior career and your work raising children. We all have lived experiences [00:38:45] that can provide fuel for our next chapter. What are some of the strengths that you are leveraging now in this chapter that you built in prior chapters?

I'm the

Tracy Keibler: [00:39:00] seventh of eight children. I have five brothers and two sisters. I had to fight to hold my ground and I wanted to be like my older siblings. So if they wanna go on a 501 mile, one week long bike [00:39:15] ride, I'm 13 years old, I wanna go on that same bike ride. My mother was an extraordinarily compassionate woman.

She had all those children and 30 foster children came through our home while I was growing up. [00:39:30] And our house was the house where if you didn't have a place to stay and you needed a bed, there would be one. It might be a couch, but we would find a place for you. And one of my funniest memories as a child growing up in [00:39:45] that kind of an environment was my dad came upstairs from the basement one day and he said to my mom, who is that?

Sleeping on the couch? And my mom said, that's Dave. He has been here for two months and my dad just noticed because it was so [00:40:00] common. So that's the home I grew up in. Oh my God. And now it's strengths that compound and running the nonprofit, I'm constantly looking for the universe's [00:40:15] affirmation that you're on the right path.

And this was a big one. I sat down in church one Sunday and I said to the older gentleman that I was sitting next to. I said, home ownership is not all that it's cracked up to be. Something had gone wrong in my house and [00:40:30] he just laughed. And he said, I remember my first house on 1621 Robeson Avenue, Bettendorf, Iowa.

And I looked at him shocked, and I said, what years did you live there? And he told me, [00:40:45] 1958 to 1960, I said, you were neighbors to my family before I was born. Oh. He became my first major donor.

Aransas Savas: Oh,

Tracy Keibler: he funded the first three years of [00:41:00] this organization. And so to me that was just this affirmation that this is the path I want you on.

And since then there have been so many other affirmations that have come, but it is hard every day. I'd say [00:41:15] there's got to be an easier way to make a living, but there's no other way that I would want to make. So what did you imagine you were gonna be doing in your sixties? When I was in my thirties, I never asked myself what am I gonna be doing in my sixties?

Of course, I thought [00:41:30] I'd be retired and traveling and sitting on beaches, but I wouldn't trade this for that. There's a poem that's attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the last line of it is to know [00:41:45] that I have helped one person breathe easier. That's the definition of success, and I, that's the definition I wanna hold myself to, because life is more meaningful when you care about other people.

Aransas Savas: Is that different in.[00:42:00]

Expectations of success from your thirties.

Tracy Keibler: Absolutely. I was living in Japan working at a bank. People tell me that the blessing [00:42:15] that I have that so many people don't have is that my calling is very clear.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Keibler: And that I understand very clearly what I am here to do.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Keibler: And I'm doing it.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Keibler: And [00:42:30] that in and of itself is a gift. Yeah.

Aransas Savas: I think we all have access to that level of clarity. And that level of passion, and that is probably the biggest factor in [00:42:45] raising what I call courage capital, which is what you demonstrate so powerfully here.

Tracy Keibler: I had to learn how to redefine failure.

Aransas Savas: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Keibler: It's not win or lose, it's not, this was successful, this was not [00:43:00] successful, it was.

How might we, can we experiment? I'm running a nonprofit and I've never run a nonprofit before. Everything became an experiment, and so is it, was it successful? And if it wasn't, what did we learn?

Aransas Savas: Hmm.

Tracy Keibler: And then we can [00:43:15] use that to move forward. And I would say the other big learning pieces are, and this is what this, this almost makes me cry because of the world that we're living in right now, running a nonprofit, you have to be collaborative.

I [00:43:30] cannot do this by myself. I cannot do this only with my team. I need donors. I need people who believe in the mission. I need people who will answer the phone when I call and say, I don't know how to do this. Can you help me figure this out? It takes everybody, but when. [00:43:45] We look around and we feel we're trying to, people are trying to divide us.

I look at this organization and I tell people in this tiny organization, we have people from all walks of life coming [00:44:00] together to help older adults and caregivers because it's the right thing to do. And if anyone tells you that that's not who we are as a people anymore, you have to look at. As it start, senior Solutions, [00:44:15] everyone comes together

Aransas Savas: for good, incredible.

Tracy, let us know how we can support Start Senior Solutions.

Tracy Keibler: Everyone can say hello to someone [00:44:30] that they see who's hurting, even just a little bit. Let them know you see them for starts and senior solutions. Specifically, if you have an expertise in any area and you have the bandwidth at [00:44:45] this point in your life.

I need to know who you are. Aging crosses every area, technology, finance, how everything that you can think of aging touches it. It's not that I'm gonna call you and ask you for a hundred hours of help, it's I need a conversation because I [00:45:00] need you to guide my next steps so that I can help the person that I'm helping right now.

Aransas Savas: What a great reminder to all of us that we don't need to know everything. It was nice to meet you, and I'm so, so, so grateful for what you're doing in the world. [00:45:15] These stories all moved me to my core. They inspired me to bet bigger on my own dreams. Elaine, Dina and Tracy teach [00:45:30] us all that. We don't have to wait until we feel completely ready.

They all did it scared, and they all discovered that courage isn't the absence of fear. It's just showing up for what matters despite the fear. [00:45:45] Their stories offer us so many powerful reminders. First, that it's never too late, my friends, to choose ourselves. Second, that our biggest, most sacred dreams are worth [00:46:00] pursuing.

Failure is only the absence of trying. And third, that sometimes. The very thing that feels like it's derailing our lives is actually putting us exactly [00:46:15] where we need to be. So if you're listening to this and thinking about your own late blooming dreams, I hope you'll think about what these three women learned.

You don't need permission [00:46:30] from anyone except yourself. You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to take the first step and trust that the path is gonna reveal itself to you as you walk it. [00:46:45] You will learn as you go whether you are 40 or 60 or 80. There is still time, and the question isn't whether it's too late.

The question is whether you are ready to begin. [00:47:00] So a huge thank you to Elaine Adina and Tracy for sharing your courage with us, and thank you all for listening to the uplifters. Thank you for listening to the Uplifters [00:47:15] podcast. If you're getting a boost from these episodes. Please share them with the uplifters in your life and then join us in conversation [email protected].

Head over to Spotify, apple [00:47:30] podcast or wherever you get your podcast. And like, follow and rate our show. It'll really help us connect with more uplifters and it'll ensure you never miss one of these beautiful stories. Mmm. [00:47:45]

Music: Big love painted water sunshine with Rosemary Anton dwelling the perplexing, though you find it flexing.

Toss a star in half for be [00:48:00] around best love for relish in a new prime land, a tree in springtime dance. With that all hindsight, bring the sun to twilight. Lift you up,[00:48:15]

lift you up,

lift you up,

lift you up.[00:48:30]

Lift you up.

Lift you up,

lift,

lift.[00:48:45]

Beautiful. I cried. It's that little thing you did with your voice, right? In the pre-course, right? Uh, [00:49:00] Uhhuh. I was like, mommy, mommy, stop crying. You're disturbing the peace.