June 2, 2025 • 35 mins
What does the next chapter of your life really look like? Whether you're dreaming of a slower pace, planning a big adventure, or simply craving clarity about your future, this conversation with Camille Walsonovich offers a fresh perspective on reimagining what comes next.
After 35 magical years at Disney, Camille found herself at age 50 searching for guidance on transitioning to her next chapter. When she couldn't find resources specifically addressing women's retirement experiences, she created My Aspirement - a movement helping women explore purpose and possibility beyond traditional retirement concepts.
We dive deep into the unique challenges women face during this life transition - from career shifts and caring for aging parents to health concerns and seeking meaning. Camille shares powerful strategies for navigating this "perfect storm" of midlife, including the concept of "backcasting" (envisioning different possible futures based on today's choices) and taking "micro actions" that build confidence through small, manageable steps.
For those feeling overwhelmed or filled with regret, Camille offers compassionate wisdom about extending grace to ourselves and recognizing how our values might shift during different life seasons. She suggests treating this transition like college - giving ourselves years, not months, to explore new possibilities for what could be a third of our lifetime.
The most refreshing takeaway? Retirement isn't about stopping - it's about starting a new adventure with purpose, possibility, and playfulness. Through community support and intentional planning, women can design futures aligned with their deepest values and aspirations.
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Click HERE for Camille's website My Aspirement and her Membership
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody and welcome back to the Real Food
Stories podcast.
I know that, as time goes on, Iam leaning into a season of my
life that is very future focused.
What my purpose is, and how doI go about realizing that?
How do I want to live a healthylife?
Is it just what happens when westart to get older?
I think so because I know I'mnot alone in this.
(00:24):
I have friends and clients whoare feeling exactly the same way
as I am.
So today we're going to diveinto a topic that so many of us
think about but often avoiduntil it's staring us in the
face, and that is what does thenext chapter of our lives really
look like?
Whether you're dreaming of aslower pace or planning a big
adventure, or just craving moreclarity and control over your
(00:47):
future, I think this episode isgoing to be for you, because
Camille Walsanovich is someonewho helps people, especially
women, reimagine what retirementand what's next can truly mean
for you, not just in terms offinances, but in purpose.
Possibility mean for you notjust in terms of finances, but
in purpose possibility and howwe want to live.
So, before we get into all thedetails, let me tell you a
(01:10):
little bit more about Camille.
After a successful and magical35-year career with Disney,
camille is now dedicated to herpassion project, my Aspirement,
which is a global movementreimagining retirement for women
.
Camille is a certified mastercoach, with a master's in human
resources from Rollins College,complemented by a bachelor's in
(01:34):
psychology from the Universityof Central Florida, and during
her time at Disney, camilleexcelled in various operations
and human resource leadershiproles and played a pivotal role
in establishing the Women'sInclusion Network, the first
women's employee resource groupat Walt Disney World.
Her extensive experience inexecutive coaching, coupled with
(01:56):
her transformative work atDisney, has made her a catalyst
for unlocking potential inindividuals, teams and
organizations potential inindividuals, teams and
organizations.
Camille is energized by theinfinite possibilities available
to women pursuing theiraspirations, and her vision is
simple yet powerful.
Every woman deserves to be calm, believe in and share her best
(02:20):
self with the world in ways thatare uniquely hers.
I love that.
So hello, camille.
How are you today?
Hi, great, I love that.
So hello, camille.
How are you today?
Hi, great, hi, heather.
So let's just jump in and talkabout a little bit about your
journey.
I want to hear a little bitabout your magical 35-year
career, and then what made youdecide to pivot and transition
(02:42):
to create your own space?
My Aspirement to help otherwomen Great.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Thanks.
Yeah, I started at Disney on acollege internship at a really
you know time of growth atDisney.
So I got promoted prettyquickly through the ranks in
operations and had a chance toplay many different roles.
I grew up in a military familyso that was ideal because I
loved doing different things,one of them including opening
Disneyland Paris.
(03:09):
So I was there for six monthsor so in Paris and after some
time in operations I was put ona special project around
managing labor, which is a hugebig deal at Walt Disney World,
which would also kind of move meinto the HR ring.
So I had a chance to supportmany parts of the business in
human resources, includingDisney advertising out of New
(03:30):
York and all the businesses theyhave across the country.
So really just a lot of greatopportunities.
I had really a great career.
I loved everything aboutworking for Disney but like
anything else, corporate, it's alot and it's a lot to be doing
it while you're raising a familyand everything else.
So I always just envisioned atime in my life when I knew I
(03:50):
might have an opportunity to dosomething different and when I
went looking for it at about theage 50, I knew my timeline.
I wasn't necessarily sharingthat with anybody else, but I
went looking for something inthat space to help me make the
transition and I couldn't findit.
So my aspirant was really bornout of something that I was
looking for and couldn't find,and the research that showed
(04:11):
there wasn't anything out therereally compelling for women.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So that's interesting .
So you had a really sounds likeeventful and great career, but
you're ready to move on and dosomething next.
You're kind of having thatcalling and you were feeling a
little lost, I think, like somany of us, and so good for you
then, for creating something tohelp other women, because we're
(04:37):
all feeling, I mean, I know thatI am definitely like what is my
purpose in life and what's likemy next, what are my next steps
?
So you then created a companycalled my aspirement and and
it's tell me how then you workwith women to help them some of
(04:59):
the work and how it kind of gotstarted.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I'd been doing some work with a futurist at disney.
We were doing long-termstrategic planning with our
clients, but a lot of those sameconcepts can be used to help
you plan longer term for yourown personal life.
So I knew that I could use someof those concepts.
Meanwhile I kind of grew up asa little bit of a neuroscience
nerd, kind of following some ofthose concepts around gratitude
(05:23):
and really making sure that youhad kind of an eye for what your
future held, etc.
And I knew, if I could putthose things together and make
it simple for women, that Icould create something that they
might actually enjoy andperhaps prioritize in their life
when they're likely notprioritizing themselves much.
(05:44):
And I wanted to organize theconcepts in a way that helped
them kind of rediscoverthemselves a little bit, then
explore these facets of theirlife and then help them kind of
create an action plan or path orsomething around it.
Because I think sometimes womenare just overwhelmed.
And you're right, purpose issuch a huge part of what we all
need and, again, purpose isoften changing at this stage of
(06:07):
life.
So I wanted to give women, youknow, a way to pursue that.
Maybe you know.
Plan for what would be next.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So what are some of the the common patterns or
struggles that you see in womenwho come to you, especially
those that like like thistransition.
So you're in your 50s, you know, like just this time of we're
so in between, so many thingsright, like maybe transitioning
out of our careers, we're justwanting something, maybe not as
(06:36):
stressful.
We've got aging parents we'rethinking about.
I mean health issues arecropping up.
We, we're in menopause.
We're like oh, like all all thethings are like happening and
like we're not prepared for it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It's sort of a perfect storm, right, it's sort
of the perfect storm, and so oneof the things that we have to
do that I wasn't necessarilyover-focused on the beginning
when I was creating it ishelping women to find more about
themselves.
Nobody wants to hear it, butthey got to do a lot of self.
They got to do some self work,not into like a deeply I'm not a
therapist certified kind of way, but from a coaching standpoint
(07:13):
, helping people to kind ofunderstand more about what they,
what their motivations are,what they really love, what
they're kind of far away fromand spend some time, you know,
believing and getting to knowyour worthiness Again, things
like that, what you really dolove, not for anybody else but
for yourself.
So there is sort of this bignotion around that Finding that.
(07:36):
There's also a big notionaround making sure you
understand as you look forward,where are the most maybe
uncertainty and or the points atwhich you have areas that are
most interesting.
You start peeling this stuffback.
There's probably one or two orthree areas of your life that
you want to focus on more andthat kind of tends to get
(07:57):
overwhelmed into just a littlebit more order so that women can
kind of build that path forthemselves.
But you're right, part of it isthat they're overwhelmed,
they're likely not prioritizingthemselves and, just like you
mentioned, from a healthperspective, your health's not
necessarily going to wait right,and it's probably just about in
these ages that we're startingto realize that it's hard to put
(08:19):
ourselves on the back burnermuch longer with any length of
time.
For us to be super healthy intothe future, for that to be
super, for us to be superhealthy into the future, yeah,
the time is now, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I think that it's like kind of the wake up call
decade you know to to get ittogether like use it or lose it
right now.
But let me just back to likethe struggles.
I mean like these patterns orstruggles, so overwhelm, I could
totally see that I, I admit Idefinitely feel overwhelmed
sometimes with, like I mean itjust seems like there's a lot of
unknown coming up with, youknow, my mother who's aging, and
(09:01):
I mean just with everything youknow.
Just it just feels very unknownand that feels overwhelming.
What other things come up?
I mean that there's just toomany things to think about and
to hone in.
Yeah, there's too many things.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So some of the work we do is to help women to kind
of explore all these differentfacets.
When it comes to yourrelationships, your health Money
is not off the table.
It's there.
But at the same time, what isthe concept of enough?
What are the things that are apart of your legacy?
How do you want to deal withyour stuff stuff physical stuff,
emotional, whatever.
So some it's just sort ofpulling apart this tight knot
(09:40):
that just feels like a lot, kindof loosening it up a little bit
and helping women to kind ofsee there's some things that
maybe need a little bit moreattention than others, and then
you can put that in order.
So that's part of it, and thenprioritizing it in a way that
allow them to like what do womenprioritize themselves?
When do they do?
Maybe when they get togetherwith their girlfriends.
(10:00):
So a lot of it was like how canI put them where they, how can
we meet them where they are,where they want to be anyway?
And again, when women gettogether they can be pretty
powerful together.
They enjoy being together.
So I wanted to make sure therewas some community in it too, if
they want that.
You know we do some coachingone on one If they want that.
(10:20):
It was about making some ofwhat the content is pretty
flexible because I want to makesure that whatever the overwhelm
is or whatever their struggleis, it doesn't become an excuse
for not kind of doing what theyneed to do in honor of
themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I think community is so important.
I definitely wholeheartedlybelieve that, especially around
this age, I think we can startto feel really isolated and
alone in this and maybe it lookslike everyone else has their
act together except for us, andjust dealing with all the
feelings can feel very lonely.
So if you know that otherpeople are Right, like even our,
like everyone else has theiract together except for us, and
just dealing with all thefeelings can feel very lonely.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
So if you know that other people are, Friendships,
right, like even ourrelationships, are changing, you
know, because maybe our primaryrelationship they're saying our
relationships with our kidsbecause of the way they're aging
, our relationship with theirparents, are changing and just
helping to connect women witheach other and maybe even with
some resources that they don'thave time to go look for.
(11:13):
That would be interesting ifthey were just provided with it.
To explore the topics a littlebit more is what our goal is.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Health and wellness is definitely something that I
am personally interested in andI focus on.
So I want to just ask aboutthat a little bit, about that a
little bit.
Is that something that you seecome up with women who are like
kind of reimagining their futureand their purpose is to focus
on health and wellness?
Because I know that there aresome people.
(11:41):
I've got some clients.
I mean they can be veryresistant because what was
working for them back in their30s is not really working for
them now, but they don't want tolike make a lot of change.
So how do you work with peoplewho are like resistant to
changing?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Some of it is to envision their future in
different ways.
So one of the exercises we dois to imagine their future in a
couple of different ways.
If you stay on this track thatyou are in the way you eat, the
way you sleep, whatever whatdoes your future look like 10
years from now, 20 years fromnow, whatever and then have them
(12:18):
create a couple otheralternative futures.
What would happen if you changeyour diet?
What would happen if you changethe way you exercise, whatever?
What would that future begin tolook like?
And what are you living for?
A lot of people say, well, Iwould want to be able to lift my
grandkids, like what would youwant that to look like?
Really look like.
So they could kind of say, okay, well, if you want to be able
to lift your kids, yourgrandkids, at that age, what
(12:38):
would you have to do 20 yearsfrom now?
Would you have to do 10 yearsfrom now?
What would you have to do?
Five and work backwards.
So the foresight concept calledbackcasting, to help making it
a little bit doable today.
So even breaking it down tosomething simple as researching
the gym that you're going topursue, or this week I'm going
(12:58):
to try one new recipe, because Iknow I can trade out something
and create what I call microactions to help women get the
confidence from having honoredthemselves by keeping a
commitment to themselves withoutbeing overwhelming.
That's just one way.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, well, I think thinking ahead into your future.
I love that.
I mean, I think you knowthinking 10 years, in, 20 years,
in what does your future looklike if you do nothing?
Right, you know, you knowyou've got some like health
stuff happening and you donothing about it.
What does that look like?
I think that's.
I think that's really powerfulexercise to do.
(13:35):
I mean, I feel like I've evendone that for myself in in
different ways and, yeah,knowing that like I don't want
to be 75 years old and likedealing with whatever health
issue you know would come up,that I did, that I just chose to
ignore, and so I think that canbe really powerful.
But I also think you mentioned,like you know, doing like micro
(13:56):
steps, small steps, right, andand to help women get unstuck,
kind of, or just you know,rather than saying like you
better get your act togetherbecause by the time you're 75,
you're going to be a mess if youdon't right, I mean that's
that's not effective either.
But if you just do these microsteps, like try a new recipe,
(14:17):
you know, research, the gym,what do you love to do, you know
, for exercise, you know thatthose kinds of things, right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I think what I find with women, particularly when it
comes to health, is like one ofthe things that will stop us in
our tracks is if we or someoneelse we know gets medical news
that has to be immediately dealtwith, right Like.
I just feel like anytime you'vegotten that, call your doctor
or your test results arewhatever, I feel like we all
(14:46):
just wait for that, instead ofjust thinking what if it wasn't
waiting for that?
What if we could just imagine aworld where that will never
happen?
But I just feel like we justneed other things.
That literally stops in ourtracks to promote a different
behavior set, and it's hard.
I get it.
That's why I think I feel likecommunity helps and
(15:07):
accountability helps, and Idon't have all the answers.
I've tried lots of things too,so yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, no, I think that that that people do kind of
try to dodge the bullet, youknow, until it like maybe gets
them.
They get the lab reports that'swhen I see a lot of clients too
is that they come to me withthey've got high cholesterol or
their A1C, their diabetesmarkers are high, and then now
they have to do something.
But yeah, if you could get thembefore that even happens, that
(15:39):
would be really great too.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If they could imagine a world where that was, just
you know, their best life, wasstill there and they could
actually do something about it.
And I feel like even when theyget results like that a lot of
times, then the treatmentbecomes you're right medical.
It becomes medicinal.
Food is medicine, right, so wecan help one see that sooner.
A lot of it is about peelingthat back all the way to the
(16:02):
behaviors.
Or how did they grow up?
What did food really mean intheir families?
How does it play out?
How does it change now thatyou're not cooking for a family,
et cetera.
It's just stopping to exploresome of those things and giving
women permission to considerwhat would be different.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, so I mean, I guess then that goes into like
this mindset kind of trait,right?
I mean, there's like this youcan look at things like a couple
of ways.
So I mean, what role do youthink mindset plays in planning
your future?
It's so huge.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It's like the first thing, it really is the first
thing.
And so many women I don't wantto say they don't want to hear
it, but we've got to start there.
We've got to kind of do somework to really help them to
think about things from a pointof gratitude.
We've got to help women thinkabout how they are really when
they've been successful,changing something they haven't,
so we can kind of employ someof those same strategies into
(16:58):
whatever else has to change.
Coming up, you know, and reallygetting at helping them to
explore what they really love,would it be to your point?
What, what movement might theyenjoy?
What food do they recallenjoying, like?
How many of us have, like,totally changed our diets
because of whatever our kidslike or whatever something else
(17:19):
is happening in our life?
So mindset's huge.
It's got to come first and wedo some work around it on
purpose, just because everyone'sgoing to kind of come at it
from a place of curiosity andworthiness and what they deserve
.
I think that's it.
It's huge.
It's hard, though.
Can you imagine how hard thatis for women?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yeah, no, I can, because, well, especially when I
mean you just said likeworthiness and I mean you have
to, I think come with a sense ofkindness and compassion too,
especially when it comes tochanging your physical body,
everything Otherwise you're youknow.
I'm just thinking about likewomen just being on and off
(18:00):
diets their whole lives.
I mean diets are so punishingand and we're used to that,
right, we're used to like women,I think, are very used to like
just punishing themselves ondiets or like berating
themselves and and that neverworks in the long run.
Right, that's like short,little short term fixes.
So, yeah, so I think themindset shift is is definitely
(18:26):
the foundation for any change.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Health and wellness.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The work you do too around.
You know food and nutrition andmaking healthy choices and how
that really does help you andfeel better.
It's not, it's not hoo-ha,right, like it's science, but
it's.
It's really hard and there'swomen probably working through
some resentment.
I let myself go, or you knowhow did I get to this place and
(18:51):
whatever.
And so, yeah, the relationshipswith food and everything has to
be explored a little bit beforewe continue to move forward and
talk about healthspan versuslifespan.
That's another thing.
We might all live long, but dowe want to live long in what way
?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
You know I think that's Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
If we can give ourselves.
I think think about it that way.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Definitely we want to right there's no point in
living long if you're going tobe really unhealthy and like
sickly and everything, and Imean you want to feel good, so
yeah.
So I think that there is.
You know, there can be somekind of like resistance.
And I think my next question islike what, if?
What do you do with women whojust feel really behind, like,
(19:33):
uh, I'm already 55 years old andI've lost so much time and I'm
not just even talking abouthealth or health and wellness,
but all of it, you know, likefinancially?
You know they didn't have thecareer maybe they wanted.
Or I mean, how do you startwith women?
(19:54):
I'm sure you've talked to somewomen who have regret over how
they, you know, spent theirlives, or maybe they chose to be
stay at home moms, and herethey are in their fifties and
they never got their career offtheir ground.
And what are they doing now?
You know that.
I'm sure you've got, you know,a variety of different women
that you speak to on this, andso how do you get women to just
(20:18):
not feel like that regret?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
One place is to find a way to really instill a sense
of grace in terms of where theyare and what their history has
led them to right, whateverchoices that they made.
You know, not make them badones.
Everything happens and hashappened in their life.
So just kind of go back alittle bit Again.
Some of the work we do aroundchange is to say you know, not
make them bad ones.
Everything happens and hashappened in their life.
So just kind of go back alittle bit Again.
(20:41):
Some of the work we do aroundchange is to say when were you
resilient?
Like when?
When have you done things to?
You know, do some better things, whatever, just anything we can
do to kind of like instill thissense of you can do these
things and you can make somechanges now.
So for the woman that you knowregretting losing their career,
your career can start again.
Like, let's put what you want todo with your purpose and how
(21:03):
you want to contribute at thisstage is part of your actions,
and so that might be the pathfor the woman who gave too much
to her career and they're sobitter about it.
They want to spend time withtheir kids.
That becomes their action step,but again really helping
themselves to kind of givethemselves some grace is a huge.
It goes back to mindset alittle bit and it goes back to
(21:24):
this whole thing aroundunderstanding your values and
then understanding your value.
Because if you get really clearon what your values are like,
you might've made that choice tostep out of your career because
your value was your family.
So you might regret not havinga career, but you made a choice
based on your values.
So if you do the same thingtoday to do some of the work to
(21:44):
kind of really identify whatthose values are, then they can
really begin to give themselveskind of some credit for the
value that they you know, knowyour worth, you know and the
value they continue to bring tomake that transition into what
they could do with it as theylook forward.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, that's a great point.
I think that your values mightchange, I mean, from being like
a young mother to now being anempty nester.
I mean your values might shifta lot and depending on the
season of life you're in, right,but I think that's so important
to hone in on what is reallyimportant to you, cause that's
almost like a you're guidinglight, right, you know, like
(22:24):
you're a contract almost thatyou have with yourself, with
yourself, but it gets, it getsreally lost.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
It gets really lost in your life, though, when
you're serving a corporateleader or something, or when
you're leading a household, youknow, full of kids and having to
raise them, or you knowparticularly, you know single
moms or whatever like it's allhard.
So it's sort of like you mightbe instilling your values, or
that you're helping your kids toknow what they should value, et
(22:50):
cetera.
But it is kind of like turningit inward a little bit to get
really clear, so that you coulduse those to make really
intentional choices about yourtime, about your energy, about
your resources as you look ahead, because ideally we're all
going to live longer andhealthier, and so what do we
really want for not just thenext few years, but could be
(23:11):
potentially, like, you know, athird of a lifetime or whatever,
and that's that can be dauntingtoo.
But if you can kind of break itdown and see that as such
opportunity, like there's notelling what they might be able
to do with it.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, it's like a almost like a contract right
that you have with yourself.
That like, yeah, I guess youdon't want to break Right when.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I talk about like little, taking little actions.
The other thing we try toinstill is just trying some
things out like and not beingafraid to fail at them, because
we also as women, we have thisperfectionist thing too.
Right, if you want to trypickleball, go find a place to
try it, you know, let us knowhow it went, that kind of thing.
Or you know it doesn't have tobe.
(23:57):
You know you're going to go buya brand new set of golf clubs
and take lessons for the nextsix months.
You might go to a clinic on aSaturday morning just to see.
You know those kinds of things.
You say, don't be afraid tosuck at something new.
It's kind of a joke, but notreally and be seen doing it,
because right now we don't wantanyone to see that we are not
holding everything together.
But we really won't know unlesswe try some of these things.
(24:20):
If any of these things kind oflike light the light that's
maybe been a little dimmed inour soul because it's been so
long, things like that, it'swhat we encourage women to do.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, well, women, I think, think, notoriously, are
wrapped around thisperfectionist mentality.
At least in my world I feellike there's just a lot of
perfectionism.
I know for myself.
I mean it's like you have tofight that all the time to not
look perfect.
And I think the fear too right,there's a lot of fear that goes
(24:53):
into just trying right things.
But I know like you, when youdo try things and you get, you
know, just push past your fear,you do feel really empowered,
right, you feel a lot betterabout yourself that you totally.
Because what's the, what's thealternative?
Staying stuck where you are, Imean like where you don't really
(25:16):
want to be?
You know something else is outthere and you have to go out and
try.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, it just has to be.
It just has to be this stage ofexploration, it just has to be
this adventure kind of mindsetand, if we can, it just could be
just about anything we want.
But one of the stories I tellis a woman that always dreamed
of.
She always dreamed of owning awinery.
She always thought in herfuture she would love to have a
(25:44):
winery.
When she really went through anddid some of the work and
visited one and she realizedthat it's just really dirty.
You know, it's really dirty.
She's like I don't know if Ireally love this.
It's a lot of dirt.
So, but if we don't try outthings like that, she might now
(26:05):
never choose to own a winery.
But if she spent the next, youknow, years dreaming of what
this time would be in her lifeand she would already know that
that's not her thing, she couldbe moving on to the next thing.
So that's why sometimes justexperimenting or taking small
actions, it also just sort oflike reignites you know a little
(26:28):
bit more about who we who wereally are.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
I think that's a great example.
I mean you have to go and tryand not be afraid to fail or not
be afraid to realize that thisisn't.
For me I thought it was.
I mean, it seemed like dreamyto own a winery and then, once I
got in there, it was like it'sdirty, it's hard work, it's a
lot of physical labor, whateverit is, and and I'm not into it.
Physical labor, whatever it is,and and I'm not into it.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
But if she really got to it, it's like what did you
really love about that idea?
She might've loved thecommunity of having people for
wine tastings, or she mightreally loved you know, something
just about wine.
Okay, what else then?
What else is there, you know?
What else could that be?
That's not that so, but that'swhy it could be kind of this
(27:15):
sense of adventure and that'swhy I love women in community.
We can laugh about it or we cantell each other stories or we
can, like encourage other ideas.
That's what you know.
We can be of service to eachother.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Absolutely, yeah, exactly.
You can share these stories andbe vulnerable and not be afraid
to talk about your fears and oryour things.
That you kind of messed up andI love that with the winery.
Yeah, it's one thing to be onon this side drinking the wine
and having going to the winetasting and looking, you know,
making that look all likeromantic.
(27:47):
But then to own the winery is adefinitely different, different
scenario.
So I just wanted to ask thetopic of retirement.
I know it just in my circlewith friends and everything is
definitely up.
I have a, I have a lot offriends who are getting laid off
from their jobs now in.
You know they're like turninglike in their sixties and that
(28:09):
you know.
So the prospect of retiring iskind of a.
But I think for my age groupthat word retirement meant you
just quit your job, you know,you stop working and then you go
like sit on a chair in yourhouse and you watch TV and it
just seems I always justremember thinking like, oh, this
(28:31):
feels like so bleak.
But when is like a good time tostart like really thinking
about retirement?
Is it 80 years old?
Is it 50 years old?
Is it like, is it?
Do we have to be like,financially comfortable, is it?
Is there some kind of atimeline that you see, I you
know?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
it's funny, I don't.
There's not one way, obviously,but what I do encourage is,
like I don't know how you firststarted saving or thinking about
retirement, but your model isprobably built on something that
you perceive from your past oryour family, right?
So what I'd love for women todo is to be thinking about it.
You know, as they get employedand as they're saving money or
(29:12):
whatever like, whenever youstart saving for retirement is
when you should start planningfor it.
I know that sounds crazy, butif we could encourage that kind
of save some time and energyalong the way for everything
that's not financial too, thatwould be great.
Now I also know that's a littleunrealistic.
If I was talking to a group ofwomen my age, I'd probably be
looking for a woman to say youknow and it's not even an age
(29:33):
because it's probably morerelated to your life stage but
probably five to seven yearsbefore you might be thinking
about it is when you obviouslyshould have yourself all taken
care of financially.
But start thinking about thesethings and don't wait until you
get to your retirement party tohave people ask you what you're
going to do with your time orwhatever.
So that would give you becauseI tell people the story about
(29:54):
college.
Like college is like a four tofive year timeframe between,
like when we're growing into ournext career for the next 30
years of our life, and we giveourselves those four years to
explore and be curious and trythings out and meet fun people,
and all these times of life wewant to go back to because it
was such a great time.
There's no reason why this timein life shouldn't be about that
(30:17):
long to be getting ready forwhat is going to be a stage of
life that likely is as long, ifnot longer, than your first
career.
So people put that mindset alittle bit around it, like, and
it was fun and interesting, andlike that like sign me up, yeah,
like I'd want to go to thefootball games in the tailgates
again, you know, or whatever,and that would be.
(30:39):
But that's why.
That's why if it gave them someyears and not just months or
weekends or a workshop here andthere, you know that would allow
them the time to explore someof these things fuller, fuller,
more full.
There's a ton of work to freeup your space, get rid of stuff
that you don't need to be ableto plan for, maybe your next
(31:02):
physical move, who knows?
I mean that stuff just takestime to explore.
So as much time as it takes 37years to plan for it financially
, there is that much kind oftime and effort.
But you know, could we do itwith a few years?
Absolutely, that helps answerthe question in a long way.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, definitely.
I think my next question wasgoing to be what's one piece of
advice that you wish every womanlike 40 and above?
In their 50s would hear aboutplanning their future.
But it sounds like I think youanswered it that we give
ourselves the time to reallystart start thinking about it.
Don't get yourself caught offguard All of a sudden.
(31:42):
You're 60.
And you're like what am I doing?
You know, just give yourselfsome time to plan and dream.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I get in back in touch with those dreams and if
you, you know, and find anotherwoman you want to go through
with I mean, we all havegirlfriends that we make time
for occasionally right, you knowthings like that Make sure that
you've got a family or apartner or a spouse that you
talk about it.
You know that this is going tobe something you're going to
build into your you know thenext few years, because it's
(32:09):
important to make sure thatthose you know the years in the
future are are planned well andare something to look forward to
instead of something with suchdread or fear, if that helps.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yes, absolutely Well, camille, this has been a
fantastic conversation and I amexcited to just start thinking
and dreaming a little bit moreand and being in your membership
group.
So I wanted to ask you how canpeople work with you or learn
more about you?
(32:40):
And I know, like I just said,you started a new membership, so
tell us a little bit about that.
Sure.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Like always, find out more about us on our website,
myaspirementcom.
And also our new membership ismy Aspirement Collective Again a
monthly, topic-driven, low-cost, easy, nothing too hard to do.
We're going to take one ofthese topics a month to explore
it and again, participate asmuch or as little as you can
(33:12):
with your time.
We'll record some of the things, we'll grab some experts,
provide some resources per topic, et cetera.
That's what the month's goingto look like, and so, again,
maybe we'll put the link in theshow notes or something like
that.
Definitely my AspirementCollective.
But you can also find us, myAspirement, on all the social
channels, and we've gotinformation about the collective
there too.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Okay, great, I will definitely put those links in
the show notes and I know peopleare gonna be interested and I
think a membership sounds great,so women can gather together.
You know they're busy, so likeagain.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I'm just trying to create a forum where people can
find us and engage without itbeing too much of a time
commitment or a burden.
But women owe this tothemselves and their future.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Absolutely.
I couldn't agree more.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Heather Always good to talk to you.
Hey everybody and welcome back to the Real Food
Stories podcast.
I know that, as time goes on, Iam leaning into a season of my
life that is very future focused.
What my purpose is, and how doI go about realizing that?
How do I want to live a healthylife?
Is it just what happens when westart to get older?
I think so because I know I'mnot alone in this.
(00:24):
I have friends and clients whoare feeling exactly the same way
as I am.
So today we're going to diveinto a topic that so many of us
think about but often avoiduntil it's staring us in the
face, and that is what does thenext chapter of our lives really
look like?
Whether you're dreaming of aslower pace or planning a big
adventure, or just craving moreclarity and control over your
(00:47):
future, I think this episode isgoing to be for you, because
Camille Walsanovich is someonewho helps people, especially
women, reimagine what retirementand what's next can truly mean
for you, not just in terms offinances, but in purpose.
Possibility mean for you notjust in terms of finances, but
in purpose possibility and howwe want to live.
So, before we get into all thedetails, let me tell you a
(01:10):
little bit more about Camille.
After a successful and magical35-year career with Disney,
camille is now dedicated to herpassion project, my Aspirement,
which is a global movementreimagining retirement for women
.
Camille is a certified mastercoach, with a master's in human
resources from Rollins College,complemented by a bachelor's in
(01:34):
psychology from the Universityof Central Florida, and during
her time at Disney, camilleexcelled in various operations
and human resource leadershiproles and played a pivotal role
in establishing the Women'sInclusion Network, the first
women's employee resource groupat Walt Disney World.
Her extensive experience inexecutive coaching, coupled with
(01:56):
her transformative work atDisney, has made her a catalyst
for unlocking potential inindividuals, teams and
organizations potential inindividuals, teams and
organizations.
Camille is energized by theinfinite possibilities available
to women pursuing theiraspirations, and her vision is
simple yet powerful.
Every woman deserves to be calm, believe in and share her best
(02:20):
self with the world in ways thatare uniquely hers.
I love that.
So hello, camille.
How are you today?
Hi, great, I love that.
So hello, camille.
How are you today?
Hi, great, hi, heather.
So let's just jump in and talkabout a little bit about your
journey.
I want to hear a little bitabout your magical 35-year
career, and then what made youdecide to pivot and transition
(02:42):
to create your own space?
My Aspirement to help otherwomen Great.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Thanks.
Yeah, I started at Disney on acollege internship at a really
you know time of growth atDisney.
So I got promoted prettyquickly through the ranks in
operations and had a chance toplay many different roles.
I grew up in a military familyso that was ideal because I
loved doing different things,one of them including opening
Disneyland Paris.
(03:09):
So I was there for six monthsor so in Paris and after some
time in operations I was put ona special project around
managing labor, which is a hugebig deal at Walt Disney World,
which would also kind of move meinto the HR ring.
So I had a chance to supportmany parts of the business in
human resources, includingDisney advertising out of New
(03:30):
York and all the businesses theyhave across the country.
So really just a lot of greatopportunities.
I had really a great career.
I loved everything aboutworking for Disney but like
anything else, corporate, it's alot and it's a lot to be doing
it while you're raising a familyand everything else.
So I always just envisioned atime in my life when I knew I
(03:50):
might have an opportunity to dosomething different and when I
went looking for it at about theage 50, I knew my timeline.
I wasn't necessarily sharingthat with anybody else, but I
went looking for something inthat space to help me make the
transition and I couldn't findit.
So my aspirant was really bornout of something that I was
looking for and couldn't find,and the research that showed
(04:11):
there wasn't anything out therereally compelling for women.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So that's interesting .
So you had a really sounds likeeventful and great career, but
you're ready to move on and dosomething next.
You're kind of having thatcalling and you were feeling a
little lost, I think, like somany of us, and so good for you
then, for creating something tohelp other women, because we're
(04:37):
all feeling, I mean, I know thatI am definitely like what is my
purpose in life and what's likemy next, what are my next steps
?
So you then created a companycalled my aspirement and and
it's tell me how then you workwith women to help them some of
(04:59):
the work and how it kind of gotstarted.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I'd been doing some work with a futurist at disney.
We were doing long-termstrategic planning with our
clients, but a lot of those sameconcepts can be used to help
you plan longer term for yourown personal life.
So I knew that I could use someof those concepts.
Meanwhile I kind of grew up asa little bit of a neuroscience
nerd, kind of following some ofthose concepts around gratitude
(05:23):
and really making sure that youhad kind of an eye for what your
future held, etc.
And I knew, if I could putthose things together and make
it simple for women, that Icould create something that they
might actually enjoy andperhaps prioritize in their life
when they're likely notprioritizing themselves much.
(05:44):
And I wanted to organize theconcepts in a way that helped
them kind of rediscoverthemselves a little bit, then
explore these facets of theirlife and then help them kind of
create an action plan or path orsomething around it.
Because I think sometimes womenare just overwhelmed.
And you're right, purpose issuch a huge part of what we all
need and, again, purpose isoften changing at this stage of
(06:07):
life.
So I wanted to give women, youknow, a way to pursue that.
Maybe you know.
Plan for what would be next.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So what are some of the the common patterns or
struggles that you see in womenwho come to you, especially
those that like like thistransition.
So you're in your 50s, you know, like just this time of we're
so in between, so many thingsright, like maybe transitioning
out of our careers, we're justwanting something, maybe not as
(06:36):
stressful.
We've got aging parents we'rethinking about.
I mean health issues arecropping up.
We, we're in menopause.
We're like oh, like all all thethings are like happening and
like we're not prepared for it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It's sort of a perfect storm, right, it's sort
of the perfect storm, and so oneof the things that we have to
do that I wasn't necessarilyover-focused on the beginning
when I was creating it ishelping women to find more about
themselves.
Nobody wants to hear it, butthey got to do a lot of self.
They got to do some self work,not into like a deeply I'm not a
therapist certified kind of way, but from a coaching standpoint
(07:13):
, helping people to kind ofunderstand more about what they,
what their motivations are,what they really love, what
they're kind of far away fromand spend some time, you know,
believing and getting to knowyour worthiness Again, things
like that, what you really dolove, not for anybody else but
for yourself.
So there is sort of this bignotion around that Finding that.
(07:36):
There's also a big notionaround making sure you
understand as you look forward,where are the most maybe
uncertainty and or the points atwhich you have areas that are
most interesting.
You start peeling this stuffback.
There's probably one or two orthree areas of your life that
you want to focus on more andthat kind of tends to get
(07:57):
overwhelmed into just a littlebit more order so that women can
kind of build that path forthemselves.
But you're right, part of it isthat they're overwhelmed,
they're likely not prioritizingthemselves and, just like you
mentioned, from a healthperspective, your health's not
necessarily going to wait right,and it's probably just about in
these ages that we're startingto realize that it's hard to put
(08:19):
ourselves on the back burnermuch longer with any length of
time.
For us to be super healthy intothe future, for that to be
super, for us to be superhealthy into the future, yeah,
the time is now, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I think that it's like kind of the wake up call
decade you know to to get ittogether like use it or lose it
right now.
But let me just back to likethe struggles.
I mean like these patterns orstruggles, so overwhelm, I could
totally see that I, I admit Idefinitely feel overwhelmed
sometimes with, like I mean itjust seems like there's a lot of
unknown coming up with, youknow, my mother who's aging, and
(09:01):
I mean just with everything youknow.
Just it just feels very unknownand that feels overwhelming.
What other things come up?
I mean that there's just toomany things to think about and
to hone in.
Yeah, there's too many things.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So some of the work we do is to help women to kind
of explore all these differentfacets.
When it comes to yourrelationships, your health Money
is not off the table.
It's there.
But at the same time, what isthe concept of enough?
What are the things that are apart of your legacy?
How do you want to deal withyour stuff stuff physical stuff,
emotional, whatever.
So some it's just sort ofpulling apart this tight knot
(09:40):
that just feels like a lot, kindof loosening it up a little bit
and helping women to kind ofsee there's some things that
maybe need a little bit moreattention than others, and then
you can put that in order.
So that's part of it, and thenprioritizing it in a way that
allow them to like what do womenprioritize themselves?
When do they do?
Maybe when they get togetherwith their girlfriends.
(10:00):
So a lot of it was like how canI put them where they, how can
we meet them where they are,where they want to be anyway?
And again, when women gettogether they can be pretty
powerful together.
They enjoy being together.
So I wanted to make sure therewas some community in it too, if
they want that.
You know we do some coachingone on one If they want that.
(10:20):
It was about making some ofwhat the content is pretty
flexible because I want to makesure that whatever the overwhelm
is or whatever their struggleis, it doesn't become an excuse
for not kind of doing what theyneed to do in honor of
themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I think community is so important.
I definitely wholeheartedlybelieve that, especially around
this age, I think we can startto feel really isolated and
alone in this and maybe it lookslike everyone else has their
act together except for us, andjust dealing with all the
feelings can feel very lonely.
So if you know that otherpeople are Right, like even our,
like everyone else has theiract together except for us, and
just dealing with all thefeelings can feel very lonely.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
So if you know that other people are, Friendships,
right, like even ourrelationships, are changing, you
know, because maybe our primaryrelationship they're saying our
relationships with our kidsbecause of the way they're aging
, our relationship with theirparents, are changing and just
helping to connect women witheach other and maybe even with
some resources that they don'thave time to go look for.
(11:13):
That would be interesting ifthey were just provided with it.
To explore the topics a littlebit more is what our goal is.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Health and wellness is definitely something that I
am personally interested in andI focus on.
So I want to just ask aboutthat a little bit, about that a
little bit.
Is that something that you seecome up with women who are like
kind of reimagining their futureand their purpose is to focus
on health and wellness?
Because I know that there aresome people.
(11:41):
I've got some clients.
I mean they can be veryresistant because what was
working for them back in their30s is not really working for
them now, but they don't want tolike make a lot of change.
So how do you work with peoplewho are like resistant to
changing?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Some of it is to envision their future in
different ways.
So one of the exercises we dois to imagine their future in a
couple of different ways.
If you stay on this track thatyou are in the way you eat, the
way you sleep, whatever whatdoes your future look like 10
years from now, 20 years fromnow, whatever and then have them
(12:18):
create a couple otheralternative futures.
What would happen if you changeyour diet?
What would happen if you changethe way you exercise, whatever?
What would that future begin tolook like?
And what are you living for?
A lot of people say, well, Iwould want to be able to lift my
grandkids, like what would youwant that to look like?
Really look like.
So they could kind of say, okay, well, if you want to be able
to lift your kids, yourgrandkids, at that age, what
(12:38):
would you have to do 20 yearsfrom now?
Would you have to do 10 yearsfrom now?
What would you have to do?
Five and work backwards.
So the foresight concept calledbackcasting, to help making it
a little bit doable today.
So even breaking it down tosomething simple as researching
the gym that you're going topursue, or this week I'm going
(12:58):
to try one new recipe, because Iknow I can trade out something
and create what I call microactions to help women get the
confidence from having honoredthemselves by keeping a
commitment to themselves withoutbeing overwhelming.
That's just one way.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, well, I think thinking ahead into your future.
I love that.
I mean, I think you knowthinking 10 years, in, 20 years,
in what does your future looklike if you do nothing?
Right, you know, you knowyou've got some like health
stuff happening and you donothing about it.
What does that look like?
I think that's.
I think that's really powerfulexercise to do.
(13:35):
I mean, I feel like I've evendone that for myself in in
different ways and, yeah,knowing that like I don't want
to be 75 years old and likedealing with whatever health
issue you know would come up,that I did, that I just chose to
ignore, and so I think that canbe really powerful.
But I also think you mentioned,like you know, doing like micro
(13:56):
steps, small steps, right, andand to help women get unstuck,
kind of, or just you know,rather than saying like you
better get your act togetherbecause by the time you're 75,
you're going to be a mess if youdon't right, I mean that's
that's not effective either.
But if you just do these microsteps, like try a new recipe,
(14:17):
you know, research, the gym,what do you love to do, you know
, for exercise, you know thatthose kinds of things, right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I think what I find with women, particularly when it
comes to health, is like one ofthe things that will stop us in
our tracks is if we or someoneelse we know gets medical news
that has to be immediately dealtwith, right Like.
I just feel like anytime you'vegotten that, call your doctor
or your test results arewhatever, I feel like we all
(14:46):
just wait for that, instead ofjust thinking what if it wasn't
waiting for that?
What if we could just imagine aworld where that will never
happen?
But I just feel like we justneed other things.
That literally stops in ourtracks to promote a different
behavior set, and it's hard.
I get it.
That's why I think I feel likecommunity helps and
(15:07):
accountability helps, and Idon't have all the answers.
I've tried lots of things too,so yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, no, I think that that that people do kind of
try to dodge the bullet, youknow, until it like maybe gets
them.
They get the lab reports that'swhen I see a lot of clients too
is that they come to me withthey've got high cholesterol or
their A1C, their diabetesmarkers are high, and then now
they have to do something.
But yeah, if you could get thembefore that even happens, that
(15:39):
would be really great too.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If they could imagine a world where that was, just
you know, their best life, wasstill there and they could
actually do something about it.
And I feel like even when theyget results like that a lot of
times, then the treatmentbecomes you're right medical.
It becomes medicinal.
Food is medicine, right, so wecan help one see that sooner.
A lot of it is about peelingthat back all the way to the
(16:02):
behaviors.
Or how did they grow up?
What did food really mean intheir families?
How does it play out?
How does it change now thatyou're not cooking for a family,
et cetera.
It's just stopping to exploresome of those things and giving
women permission to considerwhat would be different.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, so I mean, I guess then that goes into like
this mindset kind of trait,right?
I mean, there's like this youcan look at things like a couple
of ways.
So I mean, what role do youthink mindset plays in planning
your future?
It's so huge.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It's like the first thing, it really is the first
thing.
And so many women I don't wantto say they don't want to hear
it, but we've got to start there.
We've got to kind of do somework to really help them to
think about things from a pointof gratitude.
We've got to help women thinkabout how they are really when
they've been successful,changing something they haven't,
so we can kind of employ someof those same strategies into
(16:58):
whatever else has to change.
Coming up, you know, and reallygetting at helping them to
explore what they really love,would it be to your point?
What, what movement might theyenjoy?
What food do they recallenjoying, like?
How many of us have, like,totally changed our diets
because of whatever our kidslike or whatever something else
(17:19):
is happening in our life?
So mindset's huge.
It's got to come first and wedo some work around it on
purpose, just because everyone'sgoing to kind of come at it
from a place of curiosity andworthiness and what they deserve
.
I think that's it.
It's huge.
It's hard, though.
Can you imagine how hard thatis for women?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yeah, no, I can, because, well, especially when I
mean you just said likeworthiness and I mean you have
to, I think come with a sense ofkindness and compassion too,
especially when it comes tochanging your physical body,
everything Otherwise you're youknow.
I'm just thinking about likewomen just being on and off
(18:00):
diets their whole lives.
I mean diets are so punishingand and we're used to that,
right, we're used to like women,I think, are very used to like
just punishing themselves ondiets or like berating
themselves and and that neverworks in the long run.
Right, that's like short,little short term fixes.
So, yeah, so I think themindset shift is is definitely
(18:26):
the foundation for any change.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Health and wellness.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The work you do too around.
You know food and nutrition andmaking healthy choices and how
that really does help you andfeel better.
It's not, it's not hoo-ha,right, like it's science, but
it's.
It's really hard and there'swomen probably working through
some resentment.
I let myself go, or you knowhow did I get to this place and
(18:51):
whatever.
And so, yeah, the relationshipswith food and everything has to
be explored a little bit beforewe continue to move forward and
talk about healthspan versuslifespan.
That's another thing.
We might all live long, but dowe want to live long in what way
?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
You know I think that's Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
If we can give ourselves.
I think think about it that way.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Definitely we want to right there's no point in
living long if you're going tobe really unhealthy and like
sickly and everything, and Imean you want to feel good, so
yeah.
So I think that there is.
You know, there can be somekind of like resistance.
And I think my next question islike what, if?
What do you do with women whojust feel really behind, like,
(19:33):
uh, I'm already 55 years old andI've lost so much time and I'm
not just even talking abouthealth or health and wellness,
but all of it, you know, likefinancially?
You know they didn't have thecareer maybe they wanted.
Or I mean, how do you startwith women?
(19:54):
I'm sure you've talked to somewomen who have regret over how
they, you know, spent theirlives, or maybe they chose to be
stay at home moms, and herethey are in their fifties and
they never got their career offtheir ground.
And what are they doing now?
You know that.
I'm sure you've got, you know,a variety of different women
that you speak to on this, andso how do you get women to just
(20:18):
not feel like that regret?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
One place is to find a way to really instill a sense
of grace in terms of where theyare and what their history has
led them to right, whateverchoices that they made.
You know, not make them badones.
Everything happens and hashappened in their life.
So just kind of go back alittle bit Again.
Some of the work we do aroundchange is to say you know, not
make them bad ones.
Everything happens and hashappened in their life.
So just kind of go back alittle bit Again.
(20:41):
Some of the work we do aroundchange is to say when were you
resilient?
Like when?
When have you done things to?
You know, do some better things, whatever, just anything we can
do to kind of like instill thissense of you can do these
things and you can make somechanges now.
So for the woman that you knowregretting losing their career,
your career can start again.
Like, let's put what you want todo with your purpose and how
(21:03):
you want to contribute at thisstage is part of your actions,
and so that might be the pathfor the woman who gave too much
to her career and they're sobitter about it.
They want to spend time withtheir kids.
That becomes their action step,but again really helping
themselves to kind of givethemselves some grace is a huge.
It goes back to mindset alittle bit and it goes back to
(21:24):
this whole thing aroundunderstanding your values and
then understanding your value.
Because if you get really clearon what your values are like,
you might've made that choice tostep out of your career because
your value was your family.
So you might regret not havinga career, but you made a choice
based on your values.
So if you do the same thingtoday to do some of the work to
(21:44):
kind of really identify whatthose values are, then they can
really begin to give themselveskind of some credit for the
value that they you know, knowyour worth, you know and the
value they continue to bring tomake that transition into what
they could do with it as theylook forward.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, that's a great point.
I think that your values mightchange, I mean, from being like
a young mother to now being anempty nester.
I mean your values might shifta lot and depending on the
season of life you're in, right,but I think that's so important
to hone in on what is reallyimportant to you, cause that's
almost like a you're guidinglight, right, you know, like
(22:24):
you're a contract almost thatyou have with yourself, with
yourself, but it gets, it getsreally lost.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
It gets really lost in your life, though, when
you're serving a corporateleader or something, or when
you're leading a household, youknow, full of kids and having to
raise them, or you knowparticularly, you know single
moms or whatever like it's allhard.
So it's sort of like you mightbe instilling your values, or
that you're helping your kids toknow what they should value, et
(22:50):
cetera.
But it is kind of like turningit inward a little bit to get
really clear, so that you coulduse those to make really
intentional choices about yourtime, about your energy, about
your resources as you look ahead, because ideally we're all
going to live longer andhealthier, and so what do we
really want for not just thenext few years, but could be
(23:11):
potentially, like, you know, athird of a lifetime or whatever,
and that's that can be dauntingtoo.
But if you can kind of break itdown and see that as such
opportunity, like there's notelling what they might be able
to do with it.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, it's like a almost like a contract right
that you have with yourself.
That like, yeah, I guess youdon't want to break Right when.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I talk about like little, taking little actions.
The other thing we try toinstill is just trying some
things out like and not beingafraid to fail at them, because
we also as women, we have thisperfectionist thing too.
Right, if you want to trypickleball, go find a place to
try it, you know, let us knowhow it went, that kind of thing.
Or you know it doesn't have tobe.
(23:57):
You know you're going to go buya brand new set of golf clubs
and take lessons for the nextsix months.
You might go to a clinic on aSaturday morning just to see.
You know those kinds of things.
You say, don't be afraid tosuck at something new.
It's kind of a joke, but notreally and be seen doing it,
because right now we don't wantanyone to see that we are not
holding everything together.
But we really won't know unlesswe try some of these things.
(24:20):
If any of these things kind oflike light the light that's
maybe been a little dimmed inour soul because it's been so
long, things like that, it'swhat we encourage women to do.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, well, women, I think, think, notoriously, are
wrapped around thisperfectionist mentality.
At least in my world I feellike there's just a lot of
perfectionism.
I know for myself.
I mean it's like you have tofight that all the time to not
look perfect.
And I think the fear too right,there's a lot of fear that goes
(24:53):
into just trying right things.
But I know like you, when youdo try things and you get, you
know, just push past your fear,you do feel really empowered,
right, you feel a lot betterabout yourself that you totally.
Because what's the, what's thealternative?
Staying stuck where you are, Imean like where you don't really
(25:16):
want to be?
You know something else is outthere and you have to go out and
try.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, it just has to be.
It just has to be this stage ofexploration, it just has to be
this adventure kind of mindsetand, if we can, it just could be
just about anything we want.
But one of the stories I tellis a woman that always dreamed
of.
She always dreamed of owning awinery.
She always thought in herfuture she would love to have a
(25:44):
winery.
When she really went through anddid some of the work and
visited one and she realizedthat it's just really dirty.
You know, it's really dirty.
She's like I don't know if Ireally love this.
It's a lot of dirt.
So, but if we don't try outthings like that, she might now
(26:05):
never choose to own a winery.
But if she spent the next, youknow, years dreaming of what
this time would be in her lifeand she would already know that
that's not her thing, she couldbe moving on to the next thing.
So that's why sometimes justexperimenting or taking small
actions, it also just sort oflike reignites you know a little
(26:28):
bit more about who we who wereally are.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
I think that's a great example.
I mean you have to go and tryand not be afraid to fail or not
be afraid to realize that thisisn't.
For me I thought it was.
I mean, it seemed like dreamyto own a winery and then, once I
got in there, it was like it'sdirty, it's hard work, it's a
lot of physical labor, whateverit is, and and I'm not into it.
Physical labor, whatever it is,and and I'm not into it.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
But if she really got to it, it's like what did you
really love about that idea?
She might've loved thecommunity of having people for
wine tastings, or she mightreally loved you know, something
just about wine.
Okay, what else then?
What else is there, you know?
What else could that be?
That's not that so, but that'swhy it could be kind of this
(27:15):
sense of adventure and that'swhy I love women in community.
We can laugh about it or we cantell each other stories or we
can, like encourage other ideas.
That's what you know.
We can be of service to eachother.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Absolutely, yeah, exactly.
You can share these stories andbe vulnerable and not be afraid
to talk about your fears and oryour things.
That you kind of messed up andI love that with the winery.
Yeah, it's one thing to be onon this side drinking the wine
and having going to the winetasting and looking, you know,
making that look all likeromantic.
(27:47):
But then to own the winery is adefinitely different, different
scenario.
So I just wanted to ask thetopic of retirement.
I know it just in my circlewith friends and everything is
definitely up.
I have a, I have a lot offriends who are getting laid off
from their jobs now in.
You know they're like turninglike in their sixties and that
(28:09):
you know.
So the prospect of retiring iskind of a.
But I think for my age groupthat word retirement meant you
just quit your job, you know,you stop working and then you go
like sit on a chair in yourhouse and you watch TV and it
just seems I always justremember thinking like, oh, this
(28:31):
feels like so bleak.
But when is like a good time tostart like really thinking
about retirement?
Is it 80 years old?
Is it 50 years old?
Is it like, is it?
Do we have to be like,financially comfortable, is it?
Is there some kind of atimeline that you see, I you
know?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
it's funny, I don't.
There's not one way, obviously,but what I do encourage is,
like I don't know how you firststarted saving or thinking about
retirement, but your model isprobably built on something that
you perceive from your past oryour family, right?
So what I'd love for women todo is to be thinking about it.
You know, as they get employedand as they're saving money or
(29:12):
whatever like, whenever youstart saving for retirement is
when you should start planningfor it.
I know that sounds crazy, butif we could encourage that kind
of save some time and energyalong the way for everything
that's not financial too, thatwould be great.
Now I also know that's a littleunrealistic.
If I was talking to a group ofwomen my age, I'd probably be
looking for a woman to say youknow and it's not even an age
(29:33):
because it's probably morerelated to your life stage but
probably five to seven yearsbefore you might be thinking
about it is when you obviouslyshould have yourself all taken
care of financially.
But start thinking about thesethings and don't wait until you
get to your retirement party tohave people ask you what you're
going to do with your time orwhatever.
So that would give you becauseI tell people the story about
(29:54):
college.
Like college is like a four tofive year timeframe between,
like when we're growing into ournext career for the next 30
years of our life, and we giveourselves those four years to
explore and be curious and trythings out and meet fun people,
and all these times of life wewant to go back to because it
was such a great time.
There's no reason why this timein life shouldn't be about that
(30:17):
long to be getting ready forwhat is going to be a stage of
life that likely is as long, ifnot longer, than your first
career.
So people put that mindset alittle bit around it, like, and
it was fun and interesting, andlike that like sign me up, yeah,
like I'd want to go to thefootball games in the tailgates
again, you know, or whatever,and that would be.
(30:39):
But that's why.
That's why if it gave them someyears and not just months or
weekends or a workshop here andthere, you know that would allow
them the time to explore someof these things fuller, fuller,
more full.
There's a ton of work to freeup your space, get rid of stuff
that you don't need to be ableto plan for, maybe your next
(31:02):
physical move, who knows?
I mean that stuff just takestime to explore.
So as much time as it takes 37years to plan for it financially
, there is that much kind oftime and effort.
But you know, could we do itwith a few years?
Absolutely, that helps answerthe question in a long way.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, definitely.
I think my next question wasgoing to be what's one piece of
advice that you wish every womanlike 40 and above?
In their 50s would hear aboutplanning their future.
But it sounds like I think youanswered it that we give
ourselves the time to reallystart start thinking about it.
Don't get yourself caught offguard All of a sudden.
(31:42):
You're 60.
And you're like what am I doing?
You know, just give yourselfsome time to plan and dream.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I get in back in touch with those dreams and if
you, you know, and find anotherwoman you want to go through
with I mean, we all havegirlfriends that we make time
for occasionally right, you knowthings like that Make sure that
you've got a family or apartner or a spouse that you
talk about it.
You know that this is going tobe something you're going to
build into your you know thenext few years, because it's
(32:09):
important to make sure thatthose you know the years in the
future are are planned well andare something to look forward to
instead of something with suchdread or fear, if that helps.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yes, absolutely Well, camille, this has been a
fantastic conversation and I amexcited to just start thinking
and dreaming a little bit moreand and being in your membership
group.
So I wanted to ask you how canpeople work with you or learn
more about you?
(32:40):
And I know, like I just said,you started a new membership, so
tell us a little bit about that.
Sure.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Like always, find out more about us on our website,
myaspirementcom.
And also our new membership ismy Aspirement Collective Again a
monthly, topic-driven, low-cost, easy, nothing too hard to do.
We're going to take one ofthese topics a month to explore
it and again, participate asmuch or as little as you can
(33:12):
with your time.
We'll record some of the things, we'll grab some experts,
provide some resources per topic, et cetera.
That's what the month's goingto look like, and so, again,
maybe we'll put the link in theshow notes or something like
that.
Definitely my AspirementCollective.
But you can also find us, myAspirement, on all the social
channels, and we've gotinformation about the collective
there too.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Okay, great, I will definitely put those links in
the show notes and I know peopleare gonna be interested and I
think a membership sounds great,so women can gather together.
You know they're busy, so likeagain.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I'm just trying to create a forum where people can
find us and engage without itbeing too much of a time
commitment or a burden.
But women owe this tothemselves and their future.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Absolutely.
I couldn't agree more.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Heather Always good to talk to you.
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