Welcome to the Gap Year For Grown-Ups podcast, hosted by Debbie Weil
I’m on a mission to end the tyranny of learn / earn / retire as life’s stages. My podcast is for those in midlife and beyond who want a timeout to explore, to reinvent, to find purpose and to figure out what comes next.
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What Listeners are Saying
Debbie facilitates the telling of fascinating, empowering stories.
Reviewer on iTunesAbout Season 1
Can grown-ups in mid-life and beyond take a timeout from real life: for a reset, for renewal, to find meaning and purpose – and yes, happiness? The answer is yes, but it’s a bit more complicated than it is for students who only have to sling a backpack over their shoulders. Debbie talks with her guests, including her husband Sam Harrington, about the money question, decision-making, the process of change, bucket list adventures and the pursuit of happiness.
About Season 2
The term gap year symbolizes so much more than taking a time out. It is a frame for examining such topics as reinvention, a new purpose, aging with wisdom, trying new things, bucket list travel, a new approach to health and well-being, and more. All the topics that relate to living well in this stage of life.
My guests in Season 2 will be a mix of inspiring individuals who are taking or have taken grown-up gap years along with well-known authors and experts on all the topics above.
Featured episodes
Season 2 Trailer: This podcast is about more than taking a gap year
S1-EP12: Marc Freedman on How to Live Forever (It’s Not What You Think)
S1 – Ep. 9: Island Women Speak: Connection, Truth and Storytelling in Maine
S1 – Ep. 6: Chip Conley on Growing Wise at Modern Elder Academy (Modern Elders, Part 1)
S1 – Ep. 1: Why Gap Years Are NOT Wasted on the Young (Debbie’s Three Children)
All episodes
Thanks to our media partners
Encore.org, our newest media partner, is an ideas and innovation hub tapping the talent of those 50+ as a force for good. Founder and CEO Marc Freedman is an award-winning social entrepreneur and author, most recently, of How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations. Looking for a great gap-year transition program? Check out Encore Fellowships, which match skilled, seasoned professionals with social-sector organizations in high-impact, paid assignments.
Modern Elder Academy is a program dedicated to navigating mid-life transitions. MEA, based in Baja California, Mexico, provides the place and the tools to start reframing your lifetime of experience. Grow whole, not old. Founder Chip Conley is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning hospitality entrepreneur and a rock star of the mid-life transition movement. His newest book is Wisdom @ Work: the Making of a Modern Elder.
Next For Me is an important new resource for the 50+ crowd focused on rewriting life. Taking a gap year or timeout may be the best way to figure out "what's next" when you're in this stage of life. Founder Jeff Tidwell explains, Next For Me "connects and inspires our generation to evolve our post-50 lives through new work, a new purpose, or a new social contribution."