Debbie brings her husband Sam back on the show to reflect on this remarkable year of 2020 and to wrap up Season 2 of the podcast. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she has published almost twice as many episodes as the usual every other week schedule. Debbie shares with Sam how creating and producing the podcast has kept her sane.

She finds comfort in knowing that this podcast was a way to maintain her sanity while also sharing the stories of others: about getting comfortable with death,  about changing your mindset, about the future of travel, about stepping into a leadership role, about the science of happiness, among many other topics.

In this final episode of Season 2, she and Sam reflect on the past few months of this new normal. Sam shares how routine has been the key to getting through this time for him – in fact to enjoying this time. They share a few silver linings of social distancing. And they talk about should-ing and putting pressure on themselves to accomplish things. Debbie admits that she has relaxed a little about that as the weeks have gone by.

Finally, they look ahead at Season 3. The season will explore the gap year we’ve all been forced to take, collective reinvention, change and transition – along with how to figure out what’s next in midlife and beyond. And even though that is a broader topic than gap years, per se, they both decide that Gap Year should remain the title for this podcast. See you in the fall for Season 3 of The Gap Year Podcast!

What Debbie and Sam talked about:

• What has kept Debbie sane: meeting podcast deadlines and finding and interviewing thought-provoking guests
• Sam’s sanity: his daily routine of cooking, shopping, exercise (a pause on writing)
• Their different relationships to should’ing on themselves
• Silver linings of 2020 so far: socializing with two friends at a time (instead of in big groups)
• The uncertainty of the future and the November elections
• Polarization in Maine as it relates to the pandemic
• 2020: a sort of gap year for everyone
• How to use this slowing down time intentionally

Previous episodes featuring Debbie and Sam:

• S2-EP18: Debbie & Sam on the New Normal, Quarantines, Immunity Passports, and Masks & Gloves
• S2-EP12: Debbie & Sam on the Coronavirus, Magical Thinking, and Aging
• S1-EP10: On Our Bucket List: Living in France
• S1-EP2: Deciding to Take a Gap Year at Age 62