Women Are Not Done At Midlife: Why I Wrote Empress Rising

What would you do if someone told you that your best years were behind you? That your dreams had an expiration date? That becoming older meant becoming invisible?

In this deeply personal solo cast, Rose shares the real story behind writing her book Empress Rising. What started as a conversation with a brilliant woman in her 50s who felt "useless" became a calling to challenge everything we've been told about aging as women. Rose opens up about her own journey from breast cancer diagnosis at 49 to becoming a yoga instructor, podcast host, and author in her 60s—proving that our most powerful years might just be beginning.

Key Topics Covered

• The conversation that changed everything: meeting a successful woman who felt useless in her 50s
• How we've internalized limiting narratives about aging and worth
• Rose's personal transformation after breast cancer diagnosis at 49
• The cultural myth of retirement at 65 vs. today's extended lifespans
• Why older women are revered as wisdom keepers in other cultures
• The ripple effect: how women stepping back affects younger generations
• The quiet revolution happening as women redefine their later chapters

Empress Rising launches soon! Sign up at rosewippich.com to be notified when the book becomes available and to stay tuned for other offerings around women rising and supporting women.

"Remember your wisdom is your crown and your experience is your power."

IT'S TIME.....TO WEAR THE CROWN - Empress Rising

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📖 Empress Rising: Own Your Energy, Trust Your Wisdom, and Rewrite the Rules of Aging
Don’t miss your chance to step into your reign as an Empress — your wisdom years are your most radiant yet.

Rose Wippich bridges ancient wisdom and modern life, teaching people how to tap into their natural healing abilities. As an Energy Alchemist, she guides women towards vibrant health and helps them rewrite limiting narratives around aging and step into their sovereign power. Discover how to protect your energy, honor your boundaries, and reconnect with your true desires. Your journey to energetic sovereignty starts here.

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Youtube Channel: Rose Wippich Wellness
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Episode Transcript

Rose (00:01):
Ready to unlock your most vibrant, authentic self?
Welcome to Chat Off The Mat,where holistic wellness meets
practical wisdom andextraordinary transformation.
I'm your host, Rose Wippich.
I'm a Qigong instructor, yogateacher and a Reiki master, so
get ready for inspiringconversations with wellness

(00:21):
experts who understand yourunique journey, plus practical
tools for energy healing, lifetransitions and conscious and
soulful living.
Your journey to radiantwellness starts now.
Let's create magic together.
Here's a question for you whatwould you do if someone told you

(00:45):
that your best years werebehind you, that your dreams had
an expiration date, thatbecoming older meant becoming
invisible?
Well, I met a brilliant womanin her 50s her early 50s who had
already started believing thisstory about herself.
She was successful,accomplished, had raised amazing

(01:05):
children and overcame realchallenges.
But she looked me in the eyeand said she was dreading
getting older because she knewit meant becoming useless.
Well, that conversation changedeverything for me.
It's why I spent the last yearwriting a book.
It's why I'm here today talkingto you about it.

(01:26):
Welcome back to Chat Off the Mat.
I'm your host, Rose Wippich,and today I want to tell you, I
want to really get honest withyou about why I wrote Empress
Rising.
Last episode, I talked aboutlaunching a book at 61, but
today I want to dig deeper intothe real motivation behind this
work.
To dig deeper into the realmotivation behind this work

(01:48):
Because the truth is there's adifference between the polished
answer I give people when theyask why I wrote this book and
the deeper calling that actuallydrove me to spend months
pouring my heart onto thesepages.
The real reason I wrote EmpressRising is because I had a
profound awakening.
I began to see something thathad been invisible for me for
years, and once I saw it, Icouldn't unsee it.

(02:11):
And for someone who spent mostof her life quietly observing,
this awakening became impossibleto ignore.
I mentioned this woman in herearly 50s that I had a
conversation with.
She was brilliant, had amazingkids, started to become an empty
nester with her kids leaving.
She had her own healthchallenges, but she used the

(02:34):
word useless as describingherself or her life without her
job or her kids at home.
This was an eye opener for me.
I realized that we're living ina narrative that suggests women
become less valuable with ageand that we feel that ourselves
right, that our wisdom years areconsolation prizes rather than

(02:55):
the magnificent culmination ofeverything we've learned and
become.
These are stories we're tellingourselves.
Hum, these are stories we'retelling ourselves and we don't
need to do that because it's nottrue.
So I felt a deep calling tochallenge that story and to
encourage women to sort ofrewrite the rules of aging that,

(03:16):
well, we perceive society hasfor us, or maybe we perceive we
have for ourselves.
I felt compelled to speak upfor the brilliant women in their
40s, even 50s, 60s.
Apologizing for taking up space, I want to be an advocate for
women in their 60s, 70s, 80s,being told to step aside instead

(03:39):
of being celebrated as mentorsand even leaders.
I realized we were acceptingthese limitations as natural
instead of recognizing them asstories we could choose to
rewrite.
But this calling became deeplypersonal when I started looking
at my own life and the lives ofwomen around me who were
absolutely flourishing in theirlater years.

(04:01):
My own journey to writing thisbook really began with my breast
cancer diagnosis at 49.
Not because cancer made me wisethough it certainly clarified
some things but because of whathappened in the years that
followed.
I still had young children athome.
My kids were about seven oreight at the time, so I was
still in the throes ofmotherhood and raising.

(04:22):
But a decade after my diagnosisactually less than a decade,
just several years after mydiagnosis I became a yoga
instructor.
I completed 200 hours and then500 hours of training.
I started my podcast, became aReiki master teacher.
I deepened my spiritualpractice in ways that

(04:45):
transformed not just how I seethe world but how I can move
through it.
I wasn't slowing down, I wasexpanding.
I wasn't becoming less ofmyself, I was becoming more
myself than I'd ever been.
And I started noticing thispattern everywhere.
I started noticing women intheir 50s starting new

(05:05):
businesses, even the 60s.
I've seen women in their 50sstarting new businesses, even
the 60s, leaving corporate tostart their coaching or healing
or, you know, retail businesses.
Whatever their passion wasabout Traveling solo.
For the first time, women werepartnering up with groups of
other women and traveling andcreating these circles of

(05:26):
support.
Traveling and creating thesecircles of support Women in
their 70s learning new skills,going back to school or
advocating for causes they careabout, even falling in love
again.
But when these women talkedabout their accomplishments,
they often prefaced them withapologies like I know I'm too
old for this, but or I probablyshould be starting something new

(05:47):
at my age.
But yeah, those areconversations or those are way
to start conversations that weneed to change.
It's when I realized thechallenge just wasn't external
messaging.
We had internalized theselimitations.
We were editing ourselves.
So I wrote this book because Irefuse to apologize for blooming

(06:08):
at 61 or even earlier.
I refuse to accept that my mostcreative, productive, powerful
years are behind me just becauseoutdated stories say they
should be, and I was never oneto follow the rules.
When I started researching forthis book, I discovered
something fascinating.
The whole concept of retirementat 65 was created when the

(06:29):
average life expectancy was muchlower.
We're living decades longerthan previous generations, but
we're still operating underframeworks designed for much
shorter lifespans.
We have 20, 30, even 40 yearsof life ahead of us after what
society considers our productiveyears.
Are we really supposed to spendall that time in the shadows of

(06:51):
our former selves?
I also started looking at ourculture and realized that this
dismissal of older women isn'tuniversal.
In many societies, older womenare revered as wisdom keepers,
decision makers, spiritualguides.
The idea that we becomeirrelevant with age is actually
quite culturally specific, whichmeans it's changeable.

(07:14):
This research reinforced what Iwas feeling in my bones we don't
have to accept theselimitations.
We don't have to accept thesestories.
We can choose to see our lateryears differently.
We can rewrite the story,rewrite the rules of aging.
But here's the real reason Iwrote this book, the one that
kept me going when the writinggot challenging.

(07:35):
I realized that every time awoman steps back because of her
age, she's not just limiting herown life, she's unconsciously
teaching every younger womanwatching that their value has an
expiration date.
And every time a woman standsin her power, regardless of her

(07:56):
age, she's showing younger womenwhat's possible.
She's expanding their vision ofwhat their own future looks
like or can look like.
I wrote this book for theyounger voices, the younger
people out there who will thenknow what to expect when they
get older, that theirmagnificent years are not over

(08:19):
and they don't expire at acertain age.
And I wrote it also for myfriends who are older and who
feel a passionate stirring toreinvent themselves and don't
know where to start.
The women who feel that theyhave more to give, more to
create, more to become, and whoare ready to trust that feeling.

(08:44):
I believe we are witnessing aquiet revolution.
Trust that feeling.
I believe we are witnessing aquiet revolution.
Women are living longer,staying healthier, accumulating
more resources and wisdom thanever before.
We have an opportunity tocompletely redefine the later
chapters of a woman's life.
That is the real reason I wroteEmpress Rising.

(09:09):
This transformation begins whenwe reject the old narratives,
when we refuse to shrink, whenwe claim our space, step into
our magnificent power that comeswith being women who have lived
full lives and emerged wiser.
This book is my contribution tothat quiet revolution.

(09:35):
It's my way of saying to everywoman listening you are not done
, you are not fading, you arenot irrelevant.
You are an empress and yourmost powerful reign is just
beginning.
Empress Rising launches October16th and I can't wait to hear
how it resonates with you.

(09:55):
But remember, thetransformation doesn't start
when you read the book.
It starts the moment you decideyou're done accepting
limitations that were nevertruly yours to begin with.
Thanks for listening to ChatOff The Mat.
Until next time.
Remember, your wisdom is yourcrown and your experience is
your power.
Thank you for sharing thissacred time with me today.

(10:17):
If today's episode resonatedwith you, I'd be so grateful if
you'd share it with a friend whomight need these gentle
reminders.
And, speaking of support, yourreviews help other women find
our community, so please take amoment to leave one wherever you
listen to podcasts.
Ready to go deeper, visitrosewhippagecom to explore my

(10:39):
personalized healing sessions,courses and workshops.
Until next time, remember youare exactly where you need to be
.