Season 7, Episode 188

In this episode, host Wendy Green announces the transition from Hey, Boomer to Boomer Banter, a podcast focused on real talk about aging well. She shares the motivations behind the rebrand and the evolution of the podcast's mission. The mission still includes embracing a purpose and realizing we are not done yet. It is expanding to include ideas about how to live a long life with health, happiness and satisfaction.

Episode Takeaways

1. Discussion on change versus transition.
2. Wendy's internal journey towards transition and the decision to rebrand as Boomer Banter.
3. The importance of aging with purpose, health, and fulfillment.

Links

Visit Heyboomer.biz to connect with the podcast and subscribe to the newsletter for valuable information on aging well.

Support the Walk to End Alzheimer's team led by Wendy Green to help reach their fundraising goal.

Follow us on Facebook.

Join us on LinkedIn

Watch on YouTube

Welcome to the last episode of hey Boomer and the first episode of the Boomer Banter podcast, where we have real talk about aging. Well, my name is Wendy Green, and I am your host, and today's episode is going to be short. For those listening live. Today is Memorial Day, and I wish everybody a happy Memorial Day. This is the day we celebrate and honor the men and women who gave their lives so that we could live in a free country. May we all remember and give thanks that we are free, and may we pray that one day war will be no more. Memorial Day is also the traditional start of summer pools open, schools are out or will soon be out. We're transitioning from the chill of winter through the beauty of spring to the warmth of summer.

So I think it's also a good day for hey boomer to transition to boomer banter. Stay tuned for why and how this came about. But before we do that, I have just two requests of you. So you know that once a week I share my thoughts on any number of topics. I share them on the podcast with the amazing guests that we have. I share them in my newsletter. I source articles for the newsletter from some of the smartest people and sites that I know, and I share some of the challenges, you know, what I'm thinking and the opportunities that I experience and how I manage them. So my request of you is to first send your friends to the Heyboomer Biz homepage.

And yes, it's still the homepage is going to be called heyboomer bizarre and ask them to connect with us there so that they can subscribe to the newsletter and get access to all of this valuable, remarkable information that we share. So thank you for that. And my second request, every year I lead a team for walk to end Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is very important to me. My grandmother had it. My mother worked to support people with Alzheimer's and their spouses. And so every year my team comes together to walk. And this year we have a very ambitious goal to raise $5,000 as a team.

So I am going to ask you to take the opportunity to help us reach that goal. The link to get there is act dot alz.org heyboomer. I will put that in the show notes. I will put that in the chat after the podcast is over so that you can all have the opportunity to support our team. And I see that some of you have already commented. Thank you for all of that. And I look forward to hearing from all of you as we go. So over the years, you know that I have talked a lot about change and transition.

Just as a reminder, change is what happens to us. Like we graduate from school, we get married, we become grandparents, we move to a new home. These are changes that happen to us. Transition is how we process that change. It generally takes longer. It may require some contemplation, some trial and error. So, for instance, becoming grandparents, obviously we're not responsible for our children's choice to have a child. But one day when that child is born, our role changes.

Now, some of us are not always ready for that change. I remember my mother was not quite ready for me to have that first child. She had other things that she was busy with and she didn't think she was old enough. Some people, super excited, you know, they've been waiting a while for this grandchild. And some of us also aren't sure what our role is going to be with this new family. So we watch other people. We may accidentally step on a toe here and there with the new family. We get feedback, and eventually we get comfortable with our role as a grandparent.

And that is where the transition has happened. So I bring this up because hay Boomer has been going through a transition for the last six months, and now I feel ready to share the experience with you. You may know this story about the birth of Hae Boomer. It was a dark and stormy night. No, not really. But it was a dark and scary time. On March 20, the COVID pandemic shut us down and no one knew what to expect. Very few people alive today had ever been through a pandemic before.

Having been a life and career coach, I was well aware of how difficult it can be for someone over 50 to find a new job. And with so many boomers being sent home because of the pandemic, I knew a lot of people in my age group were going to be seriously impacted financially, health wise, and emotionally. And then something spoke to me and I knew I had to do something to help my fellow boomers. I felt mission driven to inspire others to believe that we still matter, we still have something to give, and we are not done yet. The name hey Boomer came to me as a reaction to the millennials put down of OK Boomer. So for the past four years, that mission of inspiring others to believe that we're not done yet has kept me going. And it still does. I see your comments.

I know that the information I offer each week in the podcast is important and meaningful. I know that the information that I offer in the newsletter is also important and meaningful to you, and four years is a long time for a podcast to be in existence. Did you know that most shows start and stop after ten episodes for various reasons, a lot has happened in these past four years, and turning 70 last August started me on the path of change and transition. I've been thinking that the name Hayboomer didn't really give a clear idea of what the show was about. I also felt that the name was reactionary and I didn't like that so much. I no longer felt that I wanted to react to the perceived slur of okay, Boomer. But I've spent four years building this brand, so I also wasn't sure about changing it. So I started to experiment with other changes.

I changed the opening music, as you've heard, to the marimba sounds that were created by my grandson. Another change this year has been to dive more deeply into specific topics, and this change came about because of some work I was was doing with a friend and business coach. The change of topics, I think, is working out very well this year. We have looked more deeply at estrangement, caregiving, staying fit and well, and health risks and prevention. During these past five months, I have been doing the internal work of transition, and now I feel fully comfortable with moving from being known as hey Boomer to being known as Boomer banter. Real talk about aging well, I think the new name completely describes what the show is about. I like that it's both fun boomer banter and smart. Real talk about aging well.

I like that it lets go of the reactive nature of the old name. The new logo has the same look and feel as the original one, so it won't seem that different when you see it. I also feel like my mission has expanded over the past four years. We have talked a lot about never too old and finding a purpose, and we've had many amazing and inspiring guests. But after turning 70, I felt my perspective shift some. I still believe that having a purpose is important. It gets us up in the morning. It gives us a reason.

But now I also think about longevity. Not just living a long life, but living a long, healthy and fulfilling life. So with the transition to boomer banter, real talk about aging well, my mission has grown. I still hope to inspire you to believe that you still have a lot to give. And in support of that, I want to also provide the information that will help us all live healthier, happier and more satisfying lives. So the name change is a change for you. You may find yourself talking about hey Boomer to a friend before you remember that the show is now called Boomer Banter. Nevertheless, keep talking about the show.

There are millions of people who really need the message and information we're sharing and will be sharing on Boomer banter. So tell everyone. The name of the website, as I mentioned in the beginning, is not changing. You can still point your friends and family to heyboomer dot Biz and once there, you will see the new branding. So let's work together to reach all the people who could benefit from what we talk about. Once you point them to Heyboomer biz, suggest that they click on Connect with us. Embrace the change, the whole package, the new theme music, the new depth of topics, and the new name Boomer banter. Real talk about aging.

Well, don't you love that? We can keep evolving, change, transition, evolution. It's part of the journey. Short and sweet. Told you, right? So let's see. Send your friends to heyboomer biz to connect with us. Go ahead and support our walk to end Alzheimer's teams. And those of you on the team, please ask your friends to support us, too so we can reach our $5,000 goal and what's coming up? Okay, for the month of June, we're going to take some deep dives into the topic of money, how to make it last, how to protect it from scams, how to help aging parents and more. So next week, my guest will be Justin Smith.

He's a financial advisor with savant wealth management. And we're going to talk about the things to consider when selling a parent's home. Should you sell to help pay for long term care? What are the tax implications of selling sooner rather than later? Estate and inheritance planning, thinking about wills, gifts, deed transfers? There's a lot of implications on this, and I'm sure if you still have parents alive, you have questions. I know as I was talking to Justin, I had more questions than I realized I had. So be sure to join us. Tell your friends, come join us. Each episode of hey Boomer is an invitation to listen, learn and apply the wisdom gained from all that we talk about. The path ahead is not always easy, but it's traveled best with support and shared insights.

The Boomer banter show is produced by me, Wendy Green, and the music that you heard in the beginning was written and performed by my grandson, a student at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Thank you all for taking a few minutes of your time during Memorial Day. Please go back to whatever you were doing your barbecues. And it's a beautiful sunny day here after some rain this morning. I love you all, and I will see you next week. Bye.