Self Love & Sweat The Podcast

Pro-Ageism & Redefining the word 'Senior' with Gail Gensler

October 28, 2022 Lunden Souza Season 1 Episode 102
Self Love & Sweat The Podcast
Pro-Ageism & Redefining the word 'Senior' with Gail Gensler
Self Love & Sweat PREMIUM PODCAST
Exclusive access to premium content!
Starting at $3/month Subscribe
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Is pro-aging the new anti-aging? According to 60+ model Gain Gensler, it absolutely is. Everyone needs a little Gail Gensler in their life! Lunden has an awesome and empowering chat with this young-at-heart woman looking to empower others to NOT be limited by their age.

Gail is a pro- aging lifestyle model and influencer, changing the narrative about aging through fitness and embracing a healthy lifestyle from a real woman’s perspective. She embodies the concept that a vibrant healthy lifestyle is achievable at any age. As she says “age is a mindset- old is an attitude and fitness has nothing to do with age!”

She's on a mission to break down ageism in marketing and advertising specifically in the fitness clothing space with the goal of being the authentic midlife model representing her very powerful demographic.

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
(0:00) Intro

(3:05) Pro-aging in fitness apparel

(6:52) Golden Girls vs. Sex In The City

(12:18) Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25

(15:50) Getting beyond our limiting beliefs & stories

(16:40) A holistic approach to aging

(20:00) Staying fit & strong on vacation

(23:44) Letting go of being perfect

(30:00) Redefining the term "senior" which was created in 1967

Connect with Gail:
Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/gailgensler
Instagram: @gailgenslerofficial

Support the show

NEW COURSE: Level Up Your Language & Your Life - How to go from talker to communicator (use code LUNDEN30 for 30% OFF) https://houseofnaba.com/collections/courses/products/level-up-your-language-your-life-how-to-go-from-a-talker-to-a-communicator

FREE Self Love & Sweat Monthly Life Coaching Calendar: http://lifelikelunden.com/calendar

One-On-One Life Coaching & NLP with Lunden:
http://lifelikelunden.com/vip

Connect with Lunden:
IG: @lifelikelunden
YouTube: https://youtube.com/lundensouza
LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lundensouza/
Twitter: @lifelikelunden

Use code LUNDEN25 for 25% off Snap Supplements: https://bit.ly/snapsweat

Use code LUNDEN25 for$25 off at Evolve Telemed: https://evolvetelemed.com

[00:00:00] Lunden Souza 

Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers, and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza. Hey, have you grabbed your free self love and sweat monthly calendar yet? This calendar is so amazing. It comes right in your inbox every single month to help you have a little nugget of wisdom, a sweaty workout, a mindset activity, just a little something. Something to help keep you focused and motivated and keep that momentum towards your goals. So every day when you get this calendar, you'll see a link that you can click that will lead to a podcast episode or a workout or something that will be very powerful and quick to read. And then you'll also see on the top left corner of every single day there's a little checkbox in the calendar. And what that is, is that's for your one thing. You can choose one thing every month, or it can be the same something that you want to implement and make this something that you can easily implement, like daily meditation or getting a certain amount of steps or water, for example, and staying hydrated and even taking your supplements. 

[00:01:25] Lunden Souza 

This can be something, if you want to get more regular, doing a particular habit and routine, you can choose what that checkbox means. So if you want your self love and sweat free monthly calendar delivered right to your inbox every month on the first of the month, go to lifelikelunden.com/calendar. Fill out the form really quickly and you will have your calendar and your inbox within a few short minutes. That's lifelikelunden.com/caledar Go get yours for free and enjoy this episode. Today's guest on Self Love and Sweat The podcast is Gail Gensler. Gail is a pro aging lifestyle model and influencer, changing the narrative about aging through fitness and embracing a healthy lifestyle from a real woman's perspective, she embodies the concept that a vibrant, healthy lifestyle is achievable at any age. As she says, age is a mindset. Old is an attitude. Fitness has nothing to do with age. She's on a mission to break down ageism in marketing and advertising, specifically in the fitness clothing space, with the goal of being an authentic midlife model representing her very powerful demographic. Gail, so happy to have you. How's it going? How are you? 

[00:02:45] Gail Gensler 

Good. Thank you for having me. This is great. We get to spend some time together and discussing things we both love. 

[00:02:51] Lunden Souza 

I know, right? It's so great to be able to have these great conversations with women and people of all ages, of all backgrounds, really on a mission. And I love what your mission is all about. So tell us about your mission is specifically ageism in fitness, clothing. What have you seen? What have you noticed? What barriers are you breaking down? And yeah, just kind of share with us if we've never heard of that before, that's not our, let's say, demographic. If you will educate us a little bit, tell us why this is important. 

[00:03:24] Gail Gensler 

So when I a few years ago, I'm 61 now, so when I was 58, I started being cognizant of advertising and how it related to midlife people. And I noticed that we were always depicted as either meeting medication because something had gone wrong with our bodies or that we were leading relatively sedate lives. And I looked at that and I said, okay, a relatively sedate life is fine for some, but it's most definitely not fine for me. That's not where I'm at. I'm still in beast mode, boxing and doing hip classes and living very fully, abundantly full, as you say, engaged life. And I didn't see representation of that. And as I started researching it a little bit more, I realized that I've been very blessed in a lot of regards because I haven't experienced ageism myself. For example, in the workplace, I have not experienced it there. I'm very lucky that my regular full time job, which is in the automotive industry, there's inclusivity of everything and everybody. It's really inclusive and age absolutely has no bearing. So but apparently from everything that I read, that's huge in the workplace and then brought me to looking at other women who were in the same time of life that I was and realizing that I'm really somewhat of an anomaly. Right? I just keep on doing me and I don't really stop and think about that this age or that age. I just keep doing me the way that I've always done me. And even when I was married and as I was raising my daughter, I just kept on doing me anyway, right I. 

START OF TRANSCRIPT 

[00:05:19] Gail Gensler 

I never forgot who I was, whatever role I was in. But I became very aware that that was not the same for a lot of different people. So there were a lot of women facing a lot of challenges, whether it was re-entering the workforce and experiencing ageism or they had been in this role of either wife or mother or whatever for so long that they lost themselves, or maybe their experience during menopause was really dreadful, which I had no menopausal experience whatsoever. I just know that one day I woke up and it was like, Oh, oh, this is great. I don't have my menstrual cycle anymore. So, you know, I went through I just breezed through a lot of this. And, you know, whether you want to attribute it to genetics or the fact that I just have always had a tremendously positive attitude. I've always been athletic my whole life. I've never stopped. I've always minded my nutrition, never stopped. So you know what? Whatever we want to attribute it to, Right. I realize, though, that I was a unicorn. And so I said, you know, there have to be other women out there like me. And I went onto my very favorite platform, Instagram. And I found out that, yes, in fact, there's this huge, wonderful community on Instagram of women in the mid life space. A few men, very few, mostly women, I would say 99.8% women who had all different kinds of experiences. 

[00:06:52] Gail Gensler 

And I've gotten to know them and learn their stories. They've shared their stories, their styles, their feelings with me. And I realized that we are all on a very similar mission, and that is to wake society up to the fact that being in midlife is an incredible time. It is not what it used to be where you were considered old at this point. And I always say the best, the best meme I ever saw was the Golden Girls who were fabulous in their own way 30 years ago, right next to the women from the Sex and the City reboot. Same age. And you look at those two groups of women and you're like, but they couldn't be any more different, right? So I had to become more targeted. And what I wanted to do to add my voice, to really enhance my mission and to really drill down on my purpose. And I kept on coming back to obviously the fitness space because I love to work out so much. And I was from the beginning using what I love, which is boxing the most as the way to deliver my pro ageing message. And through a series of experiences where I was asked to be in fashion shows and such, it kept coming back to that. I am my most authentic and my most vibrant when I'm in fitness clothes. So boom, there, there. I got into that and I started looking at that and I realized that all of the models that are used in the fitness apparel space are what I call mutants. 

[00:08:43] Gail Gensler 

You know, listen, you're either six foot tall and this skinny or you're not, right? You're either that's your body or it's not your body, right? Not my body. But you know, it's their body. That's just how they were born. And society has obviously decided that that's what a model should look like. So it changes a little bit as things go on in society. So at certain points over the last few years, whether it was during the pandemic, some shall we say, cultural things that happened, different types of models would be introduced so that that space would be considered inclusive. So different color skin models would be introduced or people from different parts of the world would be introduced. But they always revert back to 20 year olds who are six foot tall that don't look like they've worked out a day in their life, and yet there was no midlife representation. So then I started looking at the statistics and realizing that there is I don't know why they are just dismissing the buying power of midlife women. Midlife women control 64% of global spending make 80% of the financial household decisions. And then I thought, Hmm, I think I'm on to something here. And I thought, what is I could be that model in that ad or when you walk into a store. On the poster on the wall where somebody would look and say, look, she looks real. 

[00:10:46] Gail Gensler 

You could tell she works out, she's fit. She's certainly not perfect. She's certainly not six foot tall. I'm like five, four and three quarters on a good day. But if I'm looking at those leggings on somebody realistic in my demographic and they look good on that person, wouldn't that engender the thought of, oh, you know what? They might look good on me, too, as opposed to if I'm looking at a pair of leggings on a 20 year old who's six foot tall and is this skinny, I have no idea what those are going to look like on me. And that's when I got extremely targeted, which was at the beginning of this year after my original Instagram account was hacked and held for ransom. It in December of last year caused me to take a step back, reevaluate what I was doing. I know that I am providing inspiration and motivation on a daily basis because my community graciously tells me so, which is great, but I have goals and so that's what I really crystallized it. And I really said, This is what I want to do and this is how I'm going to do it. I got strategic, I got tactical, and I am going to work until I get it done. So that's that's the whole long story. There's so many little micro stories in between, but that's how I got to where I sit today. 

[00:12:18] Lunden Souza 

Hey, really quick, I want to interrupt the podcast for just a minute to tell you about one of my favorite supplements for hair, skin, nails, digestive and gut health, and that is snap supplements, super greens with collagen. Now, if you're following me on social media, you've probably seen me post about this a bunch because honestly, this product tastes amazing and it's jam packed with nutrients, like I said, to support healthy hair, skin and nails. It helps support detoxification, a healthy immune system. And there's even probiotics in there for a healthy gut. It's non-GMO, no sugar added, soy free, grass fed collagen. And every scoop is going to give you a seven grams of protein. And this is why I love it, because it's not like a protein shake. It's just a scoop of powder. It tastes amazing. I put it in water, or if I want more hydration, I'll put it in coconut water and mix it up. And it's like having a nice, refreshing beverage that's packed with a bunch of super grains and protein. So what I'm super excited about is that for listening to the podcast, you'll get this discount here nowhere else, but for listening to the podcast. You can save 25% off on all your SNAP supplement purchases, including the super greens with collagen, and you do that by using Code LUNDEN25 at checkout. That's LUNDEN25 to get 25% off at checkout. 

[00:13:45] Lunden Souza 

You can shop on snap supplements or you can shop on my website https://lifelikelunden.com/supplements And you'll see there there's already an additional 10% taken off. But you because you're a podcast listener, you're going to get 25% off when you use the code LUNDEN25 at checkout LUNDEN25 at checkout to get your snap supplements, super greens and collagen and all your snap supplements for 25% off. Now let's get back to the show. Yes. GaIl, thank you for you and all your you-ness that you have brought in the last handful of minutes and that you continue to bring. I just love observing you and learning from you, getting inspired. By you? Yeah. Feeling strong through what you post and things like that. Gail and I, we've never met IRL in real life, but we have had the opportunity to work on similar projects for similar publications and things. And so we've got to do some like IG lives together and of course this podcast and stuff. And so I definitely just, yeah. Observer enjoy observing you and watching you do your thing. And I remember when you got hacked and I'm sure we can all, you know, what do you call it like, yeah, I connect with, you know we've gotten those spam texts or those emails or something. So it's like we know the hackers are rampant. We've seen our friends post all. 

[00:15:14] Gail Gensler 

The Bitcoin. 

[00:15:15] Lunden Souza 

Stuff on their stories after their accounts have been hacked. So that's something that is super real. But then when it's like what we're doing and sharing our message and you choosing to be like, okay, whatever, like scratch that, I'll start fresh. I'm going to I'm going to get even more clear in me and what I want to share and serve. And I'll see this as an opportunity to do that. So it's very cool to watch and to observe and very motivating and inspiring. And one of the things I've always. 

[00:15:41] Gail Gensler 

Said. 

[00:15:44] Lunden Souza 

For me when it comes to fitness, once I got beyond the yeah, the, the limiting story that, you know, fitness is, you know, you go all in the paint, you push your limits, you do all the things you know, I really realize. No, my goal in fitness is that longevity is to be able to stay strong and healthy and have that stamina and have that vibrance that people listening can hear and people watching can see that we see in you. And it's like it became very clear to me after I broke through that mindset of like more is not more Lunden, that there had to be some strategy in that push and in that recovery in that, you know, training plan involving a lot more working in and working out, as I like to say. So how have you found your ability to stay strong throughout the different ages and phases in your life without going overboard, still nurturing your body, still staying strong and muscular, still, of course, having like the emotional and mental health benefits that working out provides in all those things. But I feel like that message for me when I got really clear of like, Oh, I want to be strong AF that like, made me realize I need to put the brakes on a little bit now and check myself yes, in my thirties to more wholesomely prepare to be and shine bright in those ages too. And so what would your advice be to someone? I mean, I'm 33, so anybody that's in their thirties, forties or age of all ages, how can we better nurture and prepare our bodies but push our limits to to still feel physically strong but not need to be like hard? And the pain PR is all the time, you know, go until you can know rest days. I'm like on are those days, but how important are those and how important are they still to you today? 

[00:17:43] Gail Gensler 

So mind you, I just disclosure right. Any any time I've said, you know, what's your advice? I am not a subject matter expert in anything other than my very own mindset and my journey and what I've done and what's worked for me. So just just just put that out there. So, you know, I it's very important, first of all, to take a holistic approach, right? It's not just one thing. It's your nutrition, it's your supplements, it's your skincare routine, it's your sleep schedule. It's the balance of also enjoying other things. Right. It's not your sole thing. Yes. For me, working out is my joy. It's my passion. I love it. But it's not the only thing in my life. I would hope not. Right. So but it's it's everything holistically put together. So it's it's a multi-pronged approach. I just listen to my body. I know that's a trite statement. Oh, just listen to your body. 

[00:18:47] Lunden Souza 

But it really is doing it for listening, practicing, listening to your body for a long time. Right. It wasn't just like a week. You started tuning in and got the message. You've been tuning in regularly. Yeah. 

[00:18:58] Gail Gensler 

Yeah. When I'm tired, I'm tired. If I need a day off, I take a day off. I came to the realization many, many years ago that your body is not going to change because you took a day or two or even three off. When I go on vacation, I try to go abroad every single year with my bestie. We're both single, so we do best these trips every year. And I'm obviously not working out when I go on vacation, but I'm walking and I'm I'm so engaged in what I'm doing, I come back and nothing has changed. My body is still. Same. Right. And I just jump right back into my routine. Now, mind you, I am supremely disciplined. Supremely disciplined. So of course, that helps. I don't have those moments where I fall off. I never have. I just keep on track all of the time. But that's just my personality. And I realize not everybody's like that. 

[00:19:56] Lunden Souza 

But what. But let me ask you a question quickly, because I kind of feel you there. What is disciplined look like, though? Like part of the discipline is going on vacation and going off the plan and being okay with it. Right. Would you say that's part of the discipline or would you say that like part? You know, because I think for some people, like for me, I don't see going on vacation and working out or not working out or overindulging or indulging like a a cue to start over. Right. Or a cue that I'm off track. For me, it's just like, Oh, that's just like life. And then the next time you make the next better decision and the next best thing. And do you think that part of the discipline is adopting that mindset of just like all is included, but in a way that not moderation, but in a way that, yeah, you get to see, does it work for me or does it not? Am I to lean far this way or not this way? Do you feel that way? 

[00:20:48] Gail Gensler 

First of all, part of it is finding something that's sustainable for you just because it's like, for example, I do keto and intermittent fasting that might not be sustainable for everybody. I get it, I get it. It's not easy and it might not be sustainable for you. You have to find what works for you, what you can do daily, day in, day out, as a routine, as a habit. 

[00:21:16] Lunden Souza 

So your discipline is like fine. Your discipline is like the pursuit of finding what works for you and being able to do that on vacation without working out with exploration at home when you might be very, you know, on point with habits and routines and flow. And I love that. And I think it's so important to point it out. And I highlight it because part of the process, the journey, the discipline, the work, the all of it is that cultivation of is this working for me? How does this suit what I want for my life? You know what? How can I find that that that balance for me? And so I think it's it's cool to know I had a conversation one time with a client, one of my one on one clients who loved this particular like semi fast food ish. Yeah. Kind of drive thru drive in restaurant and the moment he realized I was like, okay, well do you want it every single day? He's like, No. I'm like, Well, how often do you want it? He's like, I feel like every two weeks or so I want it, but I just eat it and I'm mad at myself and I'm like, Oh, well, why can't that be part of the plan? Like, if you don't want it every day, why can't just part of your the way you eat include that every two weeks? Because of course, you don't want it all the time. It loses its magic. 

[00:22:27] Lunden Souza 

You don't want to eat the same, you know, I don't know who that's your favorite all the time. It's not going to be your fave anymore. In that moment when it's like the light bulb went off of such a ha. Like, Oh, part of the discipline can be the flexibility. I think that's so beautiful to explore. And I'm sure you, you know, on your great trips with your friends and all those moments of being able to be like, Hey, I'm going to own me, I'm going to have my routines and the respect that it might not work for someone else, but I'm going to work what works for me and do the work there. And I think that's so cool to be able to. Yeah, just see other women enjoying life, enjoying where they are in life, enjoying health and wellness and whatever that particularly looks like for them, enjoying what that looks like, enjoying that experience. And so yeah, for a woman to woman seeing that, it's like, yeah, we can enjoy and embody and can be our version of like boxes checked, especially because I'm kind of a boxes check discipline kind of person to. So I like the flexibility and the discipline and I like the ease that you found of just including this stuff, like it's who you are, it's part of who you are. How have you gotten there to really make it like it's just me? It's just easy. 

[00:23:44] Gail Gensler 

Part of it is letting go. Right. And I. I wrote an article on perfection. Right. Which we, we, we get this message from society about being perfect, and especially women more so than men. We are expected to be perfect. And letting that concept go was a big aha moment for me and realizing that first of all, I don't need to compare myself to anybody standard. I'm unique. That's my superpower. You know, my legs might not be up to here, right? But not everybody has my blue eyes. And, you know, I have other things I don't have that other people do, but I have my intellectual capacity, my ability to speak well, so on and so forth. Right? So when you focus on all of the blessings and characteristics that you do have as opposed to what you do and you let go of that ridiculous concept of what society has dictated is perfection, right, then you can just be you and live you in a very intentional way. But that really comes. The wisdom of that came to me anyway in midlife. This was not something I always just did make because I just didn't really care what anybody else thought. I'm like, I've always been this is my journey, this is my life. As far as I know, I don't get another one that I'm aware of and I'm going to do it my way, you know, And again, what that means something different to everybody. 

[00:25:24] Gail Gensler 

I'm going to live it the way I want to. I am going to earn my living the way I want to. I am going to work out the way I want to, so on and so forth. So I've always had that attitude anyway. I don't really care what anybody else says, but in mid life it even became more clear to me. I just I don't care what anybody else thinks. I'm really enjoying my journey. I'm enjoying finding new purposes in midlife. I'm having a great time and I'm exploring all the different parts of who I am that have always been there that I wasn't really prepared to see. You know? The journey to self awareness for me came later in life. I'm certainly not going to tell you I was self aware in my thirties or forties. I have many other things, many other wonderful things, but I don't know that I was that self aware and that's something that really came to me, I would say after 58. So 58, 59, 60 and 61. These are things I've really, as I've written articles and done research about things that resonate with me, whether it's being intentional or, you know, what boxing means to me or being in the fitness community here in Miami means to me or all this plethora of things that that I've explored because all of a sudden those thoughts populated my head. 

[00:26:56] Gail Gensler 

And if anybody wants to go take a look on Gayle Slocum, you can go under the blog section and and see what my thoughts are and things that that I've written that I've been inspired to share with others. But they're they're my thoughts. And I think that there are a lot of women's thoughts in midlife and certainly even below from from the reception that I've gotten from people. But, you know, being self aware is really at the foundation to everything you and I have just discussed, because then you do realize that life is about balance. You know, you don't have to be maniacal about something if you miss a workout. Life is not going to fall apart. Your body's not going to fall apart. Right? If you go on vacation and I eat what I want to eat because I want to have those culinary experiences in another country, that's fine. Nothing is going to change and I will treasure the memories of those experiences forever and ever. So I think at the foundation of it all is is working on being a self aware as you can. Or that's how it was for me anyway. 

[00:28:02] Lunden Souza 

Yeah, self awareness. Self awareness is so powerful and just being really growth oriented and just thinking like, Hey, it's never too late to learn something new. It's never too late to start something new. I know you mentioned a lot of thoughts and yeah, just different thoughts. And I'm sure throughout your self awareness process you realize some thoughts and limiting beliefs and things like that. And in fact, the reason that Gail and I met through a mutual close friend, Jana Short, her and I did an episode on this podcast of like, you know, it was the University of Unlearning that I did last year. It was like 30 days of unlearning myths. And one of them was, I'm too old to start. And she started a magazine that's grown bananas since she started in her fifties. You mentioned starting really this process of feeling like that awakening or that self awareness process at 58. And so I just feel like that message and that thought and that story and that record can be playing in a lot of women's minds throughout a lot of different ages, like, Oh, I'm too old to do that. Or by the time I start this, then when I'm finished, I'll be this old. And I just feel like, you know, I go hang out with my grandma a lot. 

[00:29:15] Lunden Souza 

She lives about 45 minutes away from me and she's 87. And I just so enjoy. Yeah, just being around her and she wants to go do things outside. And she's mad because her foot hurts because she can't go climb the tree. I'm like, You're 87, like, But I did it before, you know? And it's just so cool to see that painted picture of possibility at any age through people and women like Janna, you, my grandmother. So what? Do you ever have that voice that doesn't seem like that says, Hey, Gail, you're too old to do that or whatever. And how do you like box it away? Or how do you or how would you say to someone listening who might have that moment of being like, Shit, I'm too old? Like, I can't start that yet. What would you say to her? Because maybe she's listening right now and it's just I sometimes I've even thought that myself. An online business, I'm like, Shit, I'm too late. I started to let you know, it's just like, No, no, the time is now. So what would you say to women that maybe have that. 

[00:30:13] Gail Gensler 

Thought too little, too late? By what standard? Too late By who standards? Who says that you are? Who gets to decide that? Again, this is. It's my life. It's my journey. I'm very selfish about that because it's the only one I have. So why am I going to listen to some nonsense that somebody else is? You know, why are you still in beast mode boxing at your age? Well, why not? You know, when. So when you're like, I just produced a fitness event this past weekend where I live at the icon circle for a gym that is opening here in South Beach called Rumble Boxing, a big brand that. 

[00:30:56] Lunden Souza 

A friend of mine used to teach there. 

[00:30:57] Gail Gensler 

Yeah, cool. It's the first outpost here. We just get a huge pop up and, you know, granted, there were many different people. Would I venture to say that I was the oldest? Sure. Do I care now? Why would I care? Right? Why on earth do I care? It makes no difference whatsoever to oh, by who standard and who wrote that. And so and I and I wrote a very heartfelt article based on a ridiculous experience that I just had last month, well, last few months, about the difference of being what does the senior mean, what does the word senior actually mean? And so when I look back at the research, the definition of a senior citizen that was defined in 1967. And I was like, Wait, you're telling me that I'm supposed to go by a definition that was crafted in 1967? I mean, is that that's so ridiculous. I think about that. And I go, That's ludicrous. That makes no sense whatsoever. So all these ridiculous rules are ridiculous. That's what they are. And I don't I don't know why anybody would be bothered to even pay any attention. I just dismiss them right away. I don't have the patience level or the energy for that. I'm too busy doing fun things and living vibrantly to be worrying about what somebody else thinks. I'm too old to this, to that. And if you don't finish, so what? And what's going to happen to you. So if you start something now, right, if you start an online business now and it takes you however many years, so what? So as as my as the owner of my company who passed away at 93 a few years ago used to say so. Yeah. And that's. That's how I approach it. So what? Just do it. Just. Just start. If it's something you want to do. Just. Just start. Have the experience. You don't have to be wildly successful at it, but have the experience and enjoy seeing what you can accomplish and what comes out of that experience from a personal growth perspective for you. 

[00:33:27] Lunden Souza 

Yeah. Chasing the perspective, not needing to be perfect or not needing to be successful. I don't know how many people felt let off the hook by that. And not that we need permission from others. It's just nice to hear conversations where it's like, Oh, if I try something and suck at it. Okay, cool. Like if I try it and I realize I don't like it. All right, great. If I tried it after especially, you know, I think too, of if you've been thinking about something for many, many years and I want to go after it, but I'm too old and I want to go after it. But I'm too old. And let's say you finally do it and you realize, let's say best case, it's amazing and you grow wildly successful at it. But then also, what if you realize, Oh, that's not for me? So you spend years wondering and worrying about something that you should be going after, but you taste it and you're like, No, sometimes it's nice to to go after things just to know that you don't like them, because that's a good learning tool to be like, Oh, that's not for me or that's not I'm not jumping in on that. But that's just kind of, yeah, what came up for me in this process and it's so, yeah, it's cool to, like I said, observe you and watch you kind of in this rebellion or this challenge or even this. 

[00:34:31] Lunden Souza 

Like it's like this researcher had like, och well this word and where did it come from? I'm a huge believer in change your words, Change your World. Posted on that today on Instagram where it's kind of like, okay, this word senior, what is it like? What label? What do we believe it to be once we are? That right? There's like a senior menu, There's like senior discounts, right? So and then you said, okay, this word was invented and this year because of this. So why aren't we stopping to question it? And quite frankly, like, why are we obeying it to the point where it's like you get to a point and then all of a sudden you're just like limited to what you are capable of or can do? And so knowing and seeing that through. Yeah, looking up and connecting with women, I like to see that. I like to see that possibility of seeing women try things, get out of their comfort zone, do something new in, you know, in an age that society might say like is too old or too this or whatever. Like, I love to proactively seek that and see that in people where it's like, Oh yeah, I love when you said found your unicorn or whatever, and unlock that inner unicorn, that inner badass ness. 

[00:35:35] Lunden Souza 

It's like, who knows what age it's supposed to be at, right? And like you said, we don't know if we get another life or another hack at it. It's like even if you're in this phase of like out five years of being able to focus on this, if you're at, I don't know, whatever your last five years of life, if you could somehow imagine it, right, If even if that was it, wouldn't you rather use that to pursue something you're passionate about? I think about that, too, versus something you think you're supposed to do. And so I think when we're feeling that cool and that call at our heartstrings, no matter the age, I feel like it's almost our responsibility to answer that call in a sense and be able to say, no, not for me or yes. You know, I feel like some of those callings can really just have something so powerful to learn, to experience, to fail at, to not be perfect at, to not be successful at or to really like and to grow and to thrive and to thrive. 

[00:36:24] Gail Gensler 

And I see I see so many of my contemporaries who are the polar opposite of me, You know, they've just sort of given up. I mean, I call it giving up. You know, they they want to slow down. They want to not do all the things that you just said. And I look at that and I'm like, okay. I mean, I for me, I don't understand that perspective. I don't find that that's I think the more you do and the more actively you are engaged in life and in all the things that we just said, pursuing all this fantastic opportunities that are out there, I think it keeps you vibrant and healthy longer, you know, And that's the goal. The goal is to stay as healthy, as vibrant as humanly possible, as disease free as possible. And that's you know, that's part of my compelling why that's what I call it. Yeah. Like why I want to live a long, healthy disease, free life for myself so that I can keep on enjoying for my daughter. I don't ever want to be a burden to her. I have very long, long lives in my family, my grandparents. She rest in peace with 97 and 94, and my parents were 92 and 90. So, you know, and everybody was really pretty healthy till the end. So like I say to my daughter, Lauren, I have a feeling you're going to be stuck with me for quite some time. So, you know, with that being said, I want to be healthy. I don't want to be a sickly older person. And so all I know that the way that I take care of myself. Now, there's no guarantee, but it certainly puts the odds in my favor. 

[00:38:10] Lunden Souza 

Yes, I love that I. Now, one last thing I'll kind of share and mention. I just I just this resonated so much when my friend Gia said this to me, and this is kind of what I hear you saying, too. But she created her own plus sized clothing line. She's a very fit, plus size woman and just always felt very underrepresented. And she was just like, I wanted to be the woman that I didn't see when I needed to see someone growing up that looked like me, that could be me in their fittest high self, but not need to look like you said, you know, super tall and stick thin. And I think hearing you, too, it's just kind of like, Yeah, the mold of what? Like I was supposed to be just like, was not fitting. And I just decided to turn that mold on its head and make my own mold and represent that to the fullest and be able to model and yeah, kind of open up to others. Seeing that too. You're on social media, you're sharing that journey where people can be like, Oh yeah, that's that mold didn't fit me either. And here's a woman exploring what that looks like for her or showing up in a way that she needed for her own self. Or she's at, like you said in midlife, having this, you know, personal kind of awakening moment or just becoming more self aware, being like, hey, where other women like me in this space, I don't see it and looking up and saying, hey, instead of complaining or blaming or being frustrated or being like, okay, I'm going to conform. I guess this is how I should be. Just decided to be. Create your own mold and your own form. And do you feel like there's ever been challenges to that? Have you experienced any like resistance or anything, you know, that sometimes comes with evolution and personal growth or things like that? Do you feel like you've explored or experience that? No, no, no. 

[00:39:58] Gail Gensler 

And if I did, I clearly dismissed it very quickly again. But it just goes back to that. I really have not always I've just always been the same. I didn't really care what other people thought. It was just, you know, again, it's my journey and, you know, stay in your lane. You do you. I'll do me and let's just live compatibly side by side, each of us doing what we want to do. No judgment either way. 

[00:40:29] Lunden Souza 

Yeah. I love you, Gallagher. So full of life and full of energy and inspiration. And it's a pleasure watching you. Do you? Because I feel like people like that inspire others to do them to. It's not like, Oh, I want to be more like Gail. It's like, Oh, I want to be more me. Because it looks, you know, we get to see that in others. So thank you because you're so great. Let others know. Let us know where we can connect with you or we can find you on social media. So if you guys listening want to gather more from Gail, because why wouldn't you? Where can we find you? 

[00:41:02] Gail Gensler 

Thanks. So favorite platform on Instagram. My newer account is Gail Gensler official and I would so appreciate your listeners following me. I love to engage. I that's been one of the best parts about the Instagram journey is meeting such wonderful women from all over the globe and speaking with them and engaging with them on a daily basis. And people send me messages. It's so much fun. It's just such a great way to explore new personalities and meet new people. So that's Gail Gensler official. I'm on Facebook as well. It's Gail Gensler. I might Linda LinkedIn, Gail Gensler. I'm reluctantly on Tick Tock Gail again. So not my favorite platform, but I have a little presence there. And my website, which is Gail Gensler dot com, and that's where you can read all of my articles that I've written and really get some more insight into this journey over the last few years. But definitely Instagram is my most favorite platform. 

[00:42:10] Lunden Souza 

Cool, cool. Thank you, Gail. We'll put all those links that you just mentioned in the description wherever you're listening to or watching this. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you. And we'll just say talk to you next time, because I'm sure we'll have you back to talk about some other amazing things that you're up to or even just for a nice little girl chat. So thank you for being here. Thank you guys for listening. And we'll see you at the next episode. 

[00:42:37] Gail Gensler 

Thank you for having me. And audience, I hope that you enjoy. 

[00:42:41] Lunden Souza 

I thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love and Sweat the podcast. Hey, do me a favor. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose fueled by self love and sweat. This podcast is a hit spot. Austria production. 

Intro
Pro-aging in fitness apparel
Golden Girls vs. Sex In The City
Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
Getting beyond our limiting beliefs & stories
A holistic approach to aging
Staying fit & strong on vacation
Letting go of being perfect
Redefining the term "senior" which was created in 1967