Making the most of the collective gap year we’ve all been living through
A podcast aimed at those in midlife and older who are using this global timeout to find meaning and purpose and to figure out what comes next. Guests include well-known authors and experts as well as inspiring individuals.
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Season 3
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Season 3 is about making the most of the collective gap year we’ve all been living through — the gap year we’ve been forced to take because of the pandemic. You’ll hear from ordinary individuals in midlife and older as well as from bestselling authors and experts like Nicholas Christakis, Guy Kawasaki, Daphne Merkin, Thomas Ricks, Juliette Kayyem, Seth Godin, Kerry Hannon, Chip Conley, Stuart Kestenbaum, and Marc Freedman. Her physician author husband Sam Harrington is a recurring guest. Topics include adapting to change and transition, confronting the fear of aging, making the most of an uncertain time — and things that Debbie cares a lot about (like writing and writers).
Season 2
The term gap year symbolizes more than taking a time out. It is a frame for examining reinvention, a new purpose, aging with wisdom, trying new things, bucket list travel, a new approach to health and well-being, and more. Debbie’s guests in SEASON 2 were a mix of inspiring individuals who are taking or have taken grown-up gap years along with well-known authors and experts. SEASON 3 coming this fall!
Season 1
The first season of the podcast was about gap years for grown-ups. Why shouldn’t grown-ups be able to step out of their default life and take time to reflect on where they are, what comes next, and how they might like to live differently? The first episode is a conversation with Debbie’s three adult children on the student gap years they took. She was surprised to learn how they viewed the significance of their respective gap years as they looked back almost 20 years.
THE GAP YEAR PODCAST is looking for a like-minded sponsor.
If you are interested in reaching a smart and thoughtful audience of midlife GenX / Boomer listeners who are active, open to change and new possibilities, and who think differently about lifestyle, finances, and retirement, contact Debbie Weil.
Featured episodes
S1 – Ep. 1: Why Gap Years Are NOT Wasted on the Young (Debbie’s Three Children, and her Dad)
S1 – Ep. 9: Island Women Speak: Connection, Truth and Storytelling in Maine
S1-EP12: Marc Freedman on How to Live Forever (It’s Not What You Think)
S2-EP21: Seth Godin on Taking a Gap Year, Changing Your Mindset, and Why He Isn’t Pausing
S2-EP22: Blanche Colson on Being an Ordinary Person and Getting Comfortable With Death
S3-EP1: Guy Kawasaki Gets Serious About His “Better” Normal and What History Will Say About 2020
S3-EP2: The View From London: Alyson Hoggart on Coping With COVID and Speeding Up Relationships
S3-EP17: Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum on Loss, Love, Preciousness, and Celebrating the Ordinary Moment
S3-EP21: Nicholas Christakis on How the Pandemic Will Affect Your Life Until 2024
What Listeners are Saying
Listening to this podcast is like sitting with Debbie and her guests in her living room and hearing an intelligent conversation about issues I care about. Anything from fasting-diets to ageism to dealing with this “collective gap year.” But it’s more than that: I love the overall tone, her down-to-earth approach and the insights from both Debbie and her guests. I met Debbie years ago at a conference and I’ve been observing her on social media, sometimes with envy, when I see the beautiful pictures from Maine she posts. This well produced podcast added a soundtrack to these pictures. – April 9, 2021
Emanuel RosenDebbie’s Gap Year concept was tailor-made for the Great Pause that has befallen us this year. Always some good ideas on how to approach reinvention, whether big or small, young or not.
Reviewer on iTunesDebbie’s podcast is interesting, timely (especially during a pandemic), and always very down to Earth.The topics and guests are worth listening to and learning from, and the host is a fine interviewer. Very personal too. Highly recommended for anyone trying to find themselves again in later life.
Reviewer on iTunesSo approachable and inspiring. I’m not yet 50 but I just love the approachable, inspiring advice this podcast offers. It makes me look forward to becoming increasingly inventive as I age.
Reviewer on iTunesI love this show. As a 39 year-old dude, I am not the target audience. But I learn something in every episode. Debbie’s style as host brings out great specifics and details from her guests.
Reviewer on iTunes
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."