Vitally Aging: Retirement as the New Frontier

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortez. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five, it's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortez. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks
between and again this week, I'm your

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host, Elise Cortez, joining you
from the road here in Dundee, Oregon,

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which is just outside Portland, as
I travel for business and pleasure.

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If you've been tuning in for a
while, you know this program is all

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about helping people create more meaningful and
purposeful lives and equipping leaders inside organizations to

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cultivate meaning and purpose that elicits passion
inspired contribution, innovation, and persevering performance.

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I talk with my guest to draw
on their expertise and share my own

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experience consulting, speaking and developing workforces
across the globe. Before we get into

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Let's open a dialog and explore what's
going on, figuring how I might

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be able to help. Whether you
want to learn more about how to develop

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your own passion and purpose, or
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company or conference. At any rate, I'm glad we're connected, and thanks

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for listening. Now onto this week's
program with this right next to me is

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a contemporary Oregan icon. Susan Sokol
Blosser is a wine industry pioneer, community

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leader, environmental advocate, and author
of various books, including seventy Lessons at

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seventy Notes from the Frontier. She
is the co founder of Sokol Blosser Winery,

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and under her presidency it became known
as one of the most innovative and

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respected oregan wineries. We'll be talking
about her perspective on redefining retirement and how

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she sees it as the new frontier
from which to manage laws, recapture joy,

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and discover generativity. Susan, welcome
back to Working on Purpose. Thank

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you. I'm delighted to be here. It's been I think about three years

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since I first had you on the
show. We talked about another book that

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wrote that you had written, which
is when you had transitioned the winery from

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your presidency to your children, and
that was our first brush and now you've

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not been able to get rid of
me. I am so glad. Well,

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so we're going to be talking about
the contents of your book and really

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how you have how you arrived at
the perspective to how to live with generativity

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later on and with vitality, and
it's such an important topic. But before

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we talk about really retirement and where
that it would be, it's probably good

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for us to understand and frame when
did you start thinking about this notion of

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retirement and what happens at that time
of your life and what were you doing

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then? Well, I was running
the winery. I was president of Socio

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Blaster Winery, and when I turned
sixty, that was a big birthday for

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me. I felt like I had
walked through the door in the elder hood,

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and that was unusual because birthdays really
didn't mean that much to me.

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But it was at that point that
I started to think, I need to

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plan my exit. I need to
plan for the future. I had two

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of my kids working in the winery
with me, and I knew they both

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wanted to take over some point.
So it was at that point that we

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started to talk about transitioning, and
transitioning was really difficult for me, and

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that's what we talked about three years
ago. Letting go was really hard.

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That's a whole another topic, but
it started me thinking about aging. And

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when I finally did let go of
the presidency, it was like, well,

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if I wasn't Susan the CEO,
who was I? And I realized

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that I needed to reinvent myself.
I knew I needed a challenge, something

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that would engage both my head and
my heart. What could that be?

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And it took me a little while, but I found it. I started

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a nonprofit that I can talk about
later. It's called the Yamhill and Richmond

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Society. Or I started to take
piano lessons, which I took when I

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was young and hated and because I
hated to practice. But I found a

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teacher who didn't brate me if I
didn't practice, and just encouraged me.

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And I can feel the little gray
cells multiplying as I try to play these

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notes with both hands. I love
gardening, I do some traveling, I

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do some speaking, and life for
me is much more balanced and fulfilling.

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Well, so fast forward. You
told us that was your sixtieth birthday?

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Was that big point? And now
today you've narrated a few things that you're

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up to for our listeners and for
me. How old are you today?

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Well, I'm seventy four today,
but in a month I will be seventy

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five. Oh well, I'll have
to see your birthday song. But listeners,

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I'll do it off there, don't
worry. So I love that you're

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doing all the things that you're that
you're doing, the travel, the fact

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that you've started this nonprofit, and
I do want to talk about that later

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in the show. I wanted to
have you back on the show, Susan

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when I came back out to you
in July for family reasons and I ran

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a half marathon right through your vineyard, your beautiful vineyard, and we came

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out to talk with you, and
we were talking about what you said of

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how you were conducting your life today
in your quote retirement years and what that

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meant. And I said, oh
my gosh, we have to have you

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back on the show, because retirement
is not all it's cracked up to beat.

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We keep her people say, oh
my god, when I retired,

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life is going to be amazing.
And as you say in your book,

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retirement actually means pretty negative, awful
things like withdrawing. You know, there's

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just a whole list of them.
And I have learned that retirement actually is

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really not very good for our well
being in the traditional sense that people have

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gone about it. And that's why
I wanted to have you back on the

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show say a little bit more about
your perspective of what traditional retirement that you've

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learned about what it means. Well, the conventional view of retirement is that

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every day is like vacation and you
spend your time playing golf or bridge or

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you know, in between, sitting
in the rocking chair whatever. But it's

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not productive. And my generation,
at least my friends and I want to

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feel that we make a difference.
We have skills, we've learned a lot

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over our careers, and we want
to put those skills to use. So

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regardless of what we choose, that
is the goal. And I look on

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aging as being the next frontier for
my generation because we retirement. Conventional retirement

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is not for us. We want
to redefine aging and retirement to be relevant.

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We have no idea what that means. And it's a frontier because we

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haven't been there before and we're trying
to figure it out. And my analogy

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in my book is that this is
not our first frontier. Our first frontier

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was changing the plane field for gender
relations, and we did that when we

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were in college and there were for
me, at any rate, there were

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very strict rules for women, none
for men, but very strict rules for

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women. And by the time we
graduated, there was no longer a dean

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of women, and the social regulations
had loosened considerably. By the time my

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son went to college, there were
co ed dorms, so things happened pretty

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fast. And the plain field,
you know, men and women are still

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adjusting the plane field, but there've
been significant changes. Meanwhile, we have

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grown older and we're facing our current
frontier, which is defining aging to be

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relevant to us so much in that
season. Okay, but first I want

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to go to this whole notion that
your whole book was inspired when you were

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out speaking at an AARP Portland vital
aging conference. The fact that there's even

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a conference on vital aging it's so
encouraging to me. So you went out

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to speak at this conference and you
gave the message that you did, and

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you realized, oh my gosh,
they ask you you need to write this

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down. We need to be able
to read it and reread it. So

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what was when was this conference and
who who is attending? Well? I

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was invited to speak at this conference, and I was actually quite surprised.

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I thought, why do you want
a winery person to speak about aging at

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the AARP. But I thought,
okay, I'm going to talk about my

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experience, and I did and found
I was I mean, I had no

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idea there was such a thing as
a vital aging conference. So that was

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interesting. But it was very well
attended. It. It was in a

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huge ballroom in Portland, and I
had no idea whether what I had to

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say would be well received, how
many people would go to sleep while I

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was talking. But the fact is
that I hit a note and a number

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of people came up afterwards and said
that was so interesting. I said,

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oh, okay, I'm going to
write this down. So I wrote.

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I elaborated on the speech. I
got an old friend who's an editorial cartoonist

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to do some drawings for me about
me aging, and put together this little

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book which I entitled Seven Lessons at
seventy, Notes from the front Line,

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And it really is not just for
people who are seventy, but people who

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are starting to be thoughtful about what
does aging mean? By the way,

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the illustrations are delightful. When I
was reading the book and I and Hack,

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since I know you and I've seen
you many times, and I saw

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it and it was there, it
was and it was just delightful to get

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to dance with you like that.
So really decided to do that. I

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wanted to lighten it up a bit
because aging is not a cheery topic for

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many people. No it isn't.
In fact, one of the things that

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I thought about is I was getting
ready for this conversation Susan. I remember

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when I was at a conference.
It was a women's development leadership conference,

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and we were in Seattle, Washington, and they had a futurist speaker come

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in and talk and she looked around
the room. They are about forty five

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of us women in the room,
and she said, those of you in

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this audience who are about fifty some
years old, in decent physical shape,

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there's a pretty good chance that you're
going to make it close to one hundred

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years of age. And two thoughts
crossed through my mind immediately. The first

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one is, yes, hot dog, I've got more time to go after

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all my goals that I know,
all the things I want to get done.

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And then I also thought, oh
wow, I better take better care

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of this circus that's got to carry
me around to get there. So what

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I would like you to talk about
is the extent to which we are living

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longer. We have longer lifespans.
That means we do have to make sure

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that our finances can get us there, our physicality can get us there.

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Your perspective on that, well,
I think one of the things one of

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the big lessons for me is how
important health is. And there's there's a

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limit to what you could stop of
the aging process with good eating and exercise.

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But if you don't do those things, you're going to go downhill fast.

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And so one of the things that
I love to eat. I'm in

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a you know, the wine industry. Wine and food just go together.

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And I used to tell people that
when I work the market, I would

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go to a city and eat my
way across, but only in the best

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restaurants because that's where I wanted my
wine. So I can't eat as much

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as I used to. And if
I try, number one, I don't

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feel good and number two, I
gain weight. So what's wrong with this

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picture? So I've found that I
need to watch what I eat. I

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really need to cut out a lot
of carbohydrates. And you know, I

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love carrot cake, and so maybe
once a month I allow myself. You

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can't cut out everything, but you
have to really treat yourself carefully and exercise.

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And it's not just exercise the way
we think of it as walking or

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jogging. Its strength training because osteoporosis, particularly for women, is huge,

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and the way to combat that is
through strength training. So I've started that

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too. These are all things that, to a great extent I put off

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during my career because I was so
focused on the business. But I can't

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put it off now. It's such
good advice, and you do go into

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quite good detail in your book about
your diet and your exercise, and I

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completely agree to all of that.
And just to kind of finish up this

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last segment here, I want to
go back and really situate how we're going

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to distinguish what traditional retirement is from
how you're going to go about it.

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So again in your book, you
actually make a whole list of many words

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that are syndyms related to retirement.
Let me read them. Relinquishment, separation,

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resignation, removal, laying down,
exiting, retreating, withdrawal, departure,

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recession, retreat, abdication, severance. And these are also unappealing,

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as you say, and what I
love is you. You instead offer some

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other favorite words like graduation, transformation, reinvention. I liked those a lot

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better. Well, I looked up
retirement in the dictionary, and those are

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the words I found. I know, thought, oh my gosh, that's

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just awful. So we have to
think of it in a different way.

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It's not stepping back, it's stepping
forward into a new life. Yes.

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Well, and that's again why I
wanted to have you back on the show,

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Susan, Because what's what I'm all
about is working on purpose. And

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that means across your whole life.
It means being of service, being being

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of service to others. And that
generativity we're talking about, is that just

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that. And what that is is
that gives us a purpose. It gives

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us a direction, a reason to
get out of bed. I know that

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my parents probably would have lasted much
longer, as we were speaking, before

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they died in their in their in
their early seventies, if they had had

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a purpose, if they had been
what we call in logotherapy self transcendent,

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self serving beyond themselves into something bigger
than themselves. And they had all those

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talents to give Susan. They were
big business owners, just like you,

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They had so many talents and they
could have drawn from them and they didn't

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occur to them. So appreciate very
much your message, and with that,

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let's grab our first break. Okay, all right, I'm at Last Cortez,

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your host, moving on the air
with Susan Soco Blossom. She's a

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wine industry pioneer, community leader,
environmental advocate, and author of various books,

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including Seven Lessons at seventy Notes from
the Frontier. She's the co founder

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of Soco Blossom Winery and under her
presidency it became known as one of the

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most innovative and respected Origan wineries.
We are here together at Soco Blossom Winery

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for this conversation. We've been talking
a bit about really where her perspective came

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from, on contributing her thoughts toward
vital aging and after the break, we're

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going to get more into what ways
we can activate a better way of living

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in these in these later years.
Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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A last got as as a speaker
and engagement and development catalyst, she

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designs and delivers professional development, leadership
and engagement workshops and can bring her expertise

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to your organization She will help ignite
meaningful development within your workforce that will increase

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employee engagement, performance and retention.
To learn more or to invite Elise to

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00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:23.839
speak to your organization, please visit
her at www dot Elise Cortez dot com.

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She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose.

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This is working on Purpose with Elise
Cortez. To reach our program today,

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send an email to Elise ali Se
at Elise Cortez dot com. Now back

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to working on purpose. Thanks for
staying with this, and welcome back to

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working on purpose if you just join
us. My guest is the contemporary organ

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icon Susan Soko Blosser. She's a
wine industry pioneer, community leader, environment

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advocate, and author of various books, including Seven Lessons at seventy Notes from

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the Frontier. She's the co founder
of Social bloss Or Winery, and under

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her presidency it became known as one
of the most innovative and respective oregan wineries.

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I'm your host at Last Cortez.
Okay, Susan, for this next

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statement, well, we want to
get into here is a little bit deeper

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dive and also some of it more
of the challenges that aging people start to

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experience. And so we talked also
to in a last satement about physical health.

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But there's also this notion of emotional
health that's so critical to a quality

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of human life. So say more
about your perspective on emotional health. Yes,

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well, that's the whole thing really
for me about aging is what happens

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inside of you. Obviously you've got
to stay healthy, because if you don't

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have your health, it's everything else
pales by comparison. But it's what's going

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The aging process takes place inside and
there have been identified by those who study

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it three challenges of aging, and
they're all things that happen inside. The

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first one is managing loss, and
this is you can all relate to.

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This is starts as physical loss,
the pull of gravity, lost wasteline,

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wrinkled skin, painful joints, and
you know, if you have been really

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athletic or really beautiful, this is
going to be very difficult. We can

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try and stay in shape and with
exercise and eat healthy, but there's no

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going back. We lose the stamina
of youth. We can't do the amount

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of activity we did when we were
younger. Our energy starts a downward spiral,

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which no amount of healthy eating can
erase. And that's the physical side.

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But more important is the emotional loss, the law we feel when we

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retire from a job where we made
an important contribution and were left without the

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identity of a title and position.
It's easy to feel no longer needed.

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That's a sense of loss. And
I have a personal example when I turned

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control of Soco bloss Or Winery over
to my kids. I mentioned before how

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difficult it was because I felt this
sense of loss and I realized I was

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grieving. I was grieving for my
lost identity, and I kept asking myself,

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why is this so difficult? This
was my decision to do this transition,

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and it was only after I was
told this is grief that I realized

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what was happening. And then,
of course, the biggest loss is friends,

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family, beloved animal companions. This
they start dying off at an accelerated

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rate as we get older, and
loss is not a cheery topic. We

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need to recognize it, we need
to deal with it. We can't let

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it define us. We need to
move on. But the next two challenges

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are more upbeat, and they really
prescribe a path towards what I will call

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wellness. The second challenge has been
described as recapturing innocence or recapturing joy.

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I interpret this as recapturing the feeling
admiration for life, the joy of life

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one had as a child. And
this would be appreciating the beauty of a

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bud opening into a flower, the
miracle of a tiny seed that becomes a

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plant, the wonder of cloud formation, the purring of a kitten. You

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get the picture. It means finding
joy in your life, particularly in the

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little things, little things that you
might not have noticed in the course of

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your career because you were so busy. This is different from happiness. Joy

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is a condition of the soul,
happiness of the ego. I think this

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is an important distinction. You feel
happy when things go your way, joy

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when you connect to the wonder of
the universe. So joy is always available

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even when you're feeling down. You
could be feeling very sad and yet feel

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joy watching a puppy frolic in the
grass. Recapturing innocence is taking time to

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appreciate the small things that we may
have overlooked. And then the third chail

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is a big, awkward word called
generativity, and this is continue means continuing

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to grow, even if you're not
trying to further your career or climb the

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career ladder. Don't close yourself in. Many people as they age tend to

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end up in a little silo,
close it, limiting their involvement with other

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people and with the outside world.
But your world does not have to shrink

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with age. And here's your chance, for example, to follow an interest

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which you put off earlier. For
me, this was starting the piano lessons,

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which you know, I've been taking
piano for almost a year and I

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have learned five pieces. So I'm
not going to be a concert pianist,

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and I'm not playing for anybody else, just for myself. You don't have

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to be a commercial artist, but
you could learn how to paint a water

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color. That's what I'm talking about. The challenge is on vitality and creating.

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So the big question is how well
will you meet these three challenges of

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managing loss, recapturing in a sense, and generativity. And I want to

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dive into those really quick. Okay, so really quick. So first I

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want to go back to what you
and I talked about and what's in your

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book. This whole thing of first, embracing that you're aging. Right,

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that's the first thing, because I
see so much and I'm sorry for those

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of you that you're in the space
of if this is I don't mean it

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to be offensive, but you know, fighting aging tooth and now whatever it

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takes, right, I think that
that's kind of a losing battle and it's

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probably going to produce depression. Well, that's definitely a losing battle. You

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can't it's well, let's put it
this way, it's a battle you can't

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win. And you know, when
I turned sixty, a friend gave me

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a book called The Wisdom Beautiful.
I can't actually can't remember the name,

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but it was a picture book of
old women. I mean old women with

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a lot of wrinkles, but they
were beautiful. There was a beauty to

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them that was just really melted me. Yes, and it gave me courage.

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Let me say, I wish I
could remember the name of it,

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but I think I passed it on
to another friend. But you're absolutely right,

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you know, we have to.
That's part of managing loss is admitting,

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you know what, I'm old,
Yeah, and I'm you know,

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and it's a badge, right,
it's a badge. And so then the

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other thing I wanted to make sure
we talked about, because there's so much

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in your book that I actually say
when I'm out speaking in my programs around

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being vitally inspired. There's very some
very strong connections around your focus on emotional

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and well being and the work that
I do, and certainly this whole notion

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of recapturing joy and being able to
dance with life to those beautiful examples that

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you gave in the book are so
great and what you just said, and

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definitely being able just to enjoy,
like noticing that flower has opened or something

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like that. And one thing I
was going to share along those lines quickly

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is that in my program I encourage
people to really start to cultivate inspiration.

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An element of inspiration is awe.
So when you can actually go out and

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experience the world around you in a
way that gives you a sense it's actually

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an emotion of awe, it opens
something in you. And so for me,

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I have these really great conversation Susan
with owls. When I'm outside they

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talk back to me. They're talking
to me, and so when they hoot

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at me, I hoot back,
and it is so delightful to dance with

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them. And so when I read
that part of your book, I went,

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yes, that's I know what she
means by that. I love the

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word awe. I mean that really
is connecting to the wonder of the universe.

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It is, it really is.
And so that whole notion. And

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I think you also have something in
there too about being grateful. Yes,

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I think gratitude. You know,
when you look at what you do have

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instead of what you don't have,
it makes a big difference. It really

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does. And you know, I
find myself very very very frequently. You

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know, stand I'm I've got to
smile on my face most of the time

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because I get to live my purpose. I have an amazing, beautiful life.

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I'm sitting here with you in this
winery having this conversation for the second

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time, not this exact one,
but another conversation. I think that's amazing.

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I drove up your beautiful driveway to
get up here, and I thought,

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I'm the luckiest person on the planet. Well, that's so nice.

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I thought I was the luckiest person
on the planet. We can argue about

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that, we'll see, but it's
it's it is so important. And then

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I wanted to also just take a
moment because to me, there's a celebration

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element in one of the other books
that you wrote, The Vineyard Years.

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It's you call it The Vineyard Years, a memoir with apiece, and I

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know that you love to eat,
and that also made me think about that

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whole notion of connecting to joy again. So say a little bit about that

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book. What's in that book.
Well, the Vineyard Years is the story

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of social bloss or winery and the
story my personal journey as a Liberal arts

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major with no skills who learned to
farm and run a business. And it

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deals with from the very beginning of
you know how it answers the question why

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did you do this? You know, there was no wine industry in Oregon

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when we started, and goes up
through the challenges that we had, and

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the transition talks about our family,
and the transition deals with how I decided

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to turn over the winery to my
kids and how they did and the family,

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you know, I went through divorce, just a lot of personal things.

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But also there's a lot of food
memories and they are some family recipes

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from chefs which are for the home
cook. You don't have to cook for

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the restaurant to follow these recipes and
just there. It's not a cookbook,

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but the food memories are woven into
the story and there are recipes, so

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it just makes it, you know, wine and food and ties it all

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together. And this goes back into
generativity as well. Now you are you're

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doing something where you're giving something of
yourself which is helpful to other people and

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lists of other people, and that
is so important, that whole notion of

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being. And you said before it's
a hard word to say generativity. What

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I know from my studies in human
development, which are at largely psychology and

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sociology, is that that is a
predictable stage that people go through and when

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you can embrace it as something that
you can use to be able to give

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of yourself what you've learned, all
these talents, all these skills, your

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heart, your soul, your memories, that is so incredibly It gives us

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such a sense of well being and
fulfillment and it helps the next generation up

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well, I hope. So that
that's the goal. So can I talk

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about the question we face or would
you say that the hold because that's I

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know what that question is, and
I want to I want to treat that

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next because we've got just about one
more minute left here and I want to

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make sure we have time for it. So hold that, hold that thought

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on that, okay, because that's
I thought that was hopelessly big gobs of

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fun right there. So just really
quick, I just want to I want

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to acknowledge that you, that you're
you so are passing the baton and encouraging

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people to give more of themselves,
dig more deeply of themselves, and live

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more of the beautiful life that is
available to them. And I just really

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want to say thank you for that
message. That's why I wanted to have

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you back. It's so important.
Well I love your message as well.

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At least thank you. I mean, we have one precious life. We

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don't get him logan, we don't
get a do over, and so I

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want to see more people out there
really dancing with it like you are.

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Thank you, Yes, thank you. Our next break, I'm Elise Cortez,

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your host. We're on the air
with Susan Sokolblosser, a wine industry

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00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:17.079
pioneer, community leader in Barmlo,
advocate and author of various books, including

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00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:21.079
seventy Lessons at seventy Notes from the
Frontier and also at the Vineyard Years.

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00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:25.680
We're here, We're here together in
her winder and done the organ Stay with

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00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:36.920
us, We'll be right back.
Elise Cortez is a speaker and engagement and

395
00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:42.039
development catalyst. She designs and delivers
professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and

396
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:47.920
can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within

397
00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:52.039
your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more

398
00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:56.799
or to invite Elise to speak to
your organization, please visit her at www

399
00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:01.440
dot Elise Cortez dot com. She
would welcome the opportunity to help get your

400
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:14.279
employees working on purpose. This is
working on purpose with Elise Cortez. To

401
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:20.319
reach our program today, send an
email to Elise ali Se at Elise Cortez

402
00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:25.799
dot com. Now back to working
on purpose. Thanks for staying with us,

403
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:29.559
and welcome back to working on purpose. If you're just tuning in,

404
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:34.119
my guess is a contemporary organ icon. Susan Soko Blosster is a wine industry

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00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:37.319
pioneer, community leader, environmental advocate, and author of various books, including

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00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:42.079
Seven Lessons at seventy eight Notes from
the Frontier. She's the co founder of

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00:32:42.119 --> 00:32:45.240
Soko Blosso Winery. At Under her
presidency, it became known as one of

408
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:49.960
the most innovative and respected organ wineries. I'm your host, Elise Cortez So.

409
00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:52.319
Next, Susan, I want to
talk about one of these other major

410
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:55.640
challenges that you talk about here in
the book. I just literally laughed out

411
00:32:55.720 --> 00:33:00.759
loud when I read your chapter on
whether we want to be l or old

412
00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:05.079
farts. I'll take the former any
day, But would you distinguish for us

413
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:08.720
what you mean by those things?
Well, I have a friend who asks

414
00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:14.119
that question, you know, and
I say, how well will you manage

415
00:33:14.200 --> 00:33:20.400
the three challenges of managing loss,
recapturing, innocence, and generativity? She

416
00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:22.960
says, Okay, do you want
to be an elder? Do you want

417
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:29.359
to be an old fart? So
the elder? Let me describe this.

418
00:33:29.960 --> 00:33:36.839
The ideal is that your past has
given you a weathered, compassionate wisdom which

419
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:40.960
you move us to move forward and
stay engaged. That would be the elder

420
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:46.240
with a capital E. An old
fart would be bitter, stuck in the

421
00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:52.119
past, complaining a lot, resenting
the present, devoid of joy. You

422
00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:58.759
probably know both. But here's the
rub. Nothing prepares us for elderhood.

423
00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:04.960
And that was one of the things
that really struck me that all the buzz

424
00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:12.559
as we grow up is on accumulation. You want, you know, net

425
00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:21.800
education, networking, financial well being, influence, all friends. Nobody talks

426
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:27.480
about what happens next, about letting
go, about what happens when you need

427
00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:34.519
to divest yourself of some of these. So I found a quote. I

428
00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:37.800
don't know if you want me to
talk about this quote, but it said,

429
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:42.280
in the end, only three things
matter. How much you have loved,

430
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:45.760
how gently you have lived, and
how gracefully you have let go of

431
00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:52.320
things not meant for you. And
the gracefully let go of things not meant

432
00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:59.199
for you really struck me because at
the time is when I was trying to

433
00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:04.400
let go of my position at social
blossom. But I thought that was kind

434
00:35:04.440 --> 00:35:10.199
of an interesting way of looking at
getting older. I think that's absolutely remarkable,

435
00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:14.079
and I love that. I remember
seeing that quote in your book and

436
00:35:14.119 --> 00:35:16.519
I completely agree with that. And
definitely, for me, I'm much more

437
00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:22.320
focused on experiences and connections and for
me, so who's in what I'm up

438
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:23.519
to? And I'm going to ask
you a question about this next for you.

439
00:35:23.639 --> 00:35:29.159
But what I'm up to and what
really produces I think a sense of

440
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:34.079
well being in me as I'm focused
on helping one million people across the globe

441
00:35:34.280 --> 00:35:37.159
discover their passion, inspiration and purpose
because I know that the world is a

442
00:35:37.159 --> 00:35:42.239
better place when that happens. I
had a guest in my show sometime ago

443
00:35:42.280 --> 00:35:45.480
named Karen Hoyas, and she said, today only one percent of the global

444
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:50.639
population is fully living in their purpose. When we get to one percent,

445
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:54.079
human consciouness will be raised such that
peace is actually possible. I'm in for

446
00:35:54.119 --> 00:35:58.760
that game. So that's what I
care about. And yes, I like

447
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:00.920
nice things, and I love a
nice meal, and you know I love

448
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:04.800
a nice class of wine. But
that's what I'm focused on, not material

449
00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:08.320
acquisitions. So I'd love to hear
you share a bit about some of the

450
00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:13.599
errors in your life that give you
the most fulfillment. Well, I certainly

451
00:36:13.639 --> 00:36:20.360
admire your taking on one million people
to help. I think so far,

452
00:36:20.599 --> 00:36:30.440
i've my scope is a little bit
narrower. But I started a nonprofit where

453
00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:35.400
in Yamhill County, which is the
county that I live in, called the

454
00:36:35.480 --> 00:36:43.960
Yamhill Enrichmond Society or Yes, and
our mission is to provide access to our

455
00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:51.920
literacy and music programs for the youngest
members of our county. So we have

456
00:36:52.039 --> 00:36:57.800
not many programs, but I just
want to tell you about two of them.

457
00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:02.920
One is called Imagination Library. This
is actually run by the Dolly Parton

458
00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:09.440
Foundation in Tennessee. We are the
local affiliate. We enroll children from birth

459
00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:16.679
to five, and Imagination Library we
enroll them without charge. And Imagination Library

460
00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:24.119
sends each child to their home each
month an age appropriate book. So if

461
00:37:24.199 --> 00:37:29.679
you are enrolled from the time you're
born, by the time you're five,

462
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:36.519
you have your own library of sixty
books that are all age appropriate for whichever

463
00:37:36.559 --> 00:37:39.480
age you were. And then you
graduate and you go to kindergarten and this

464
00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:50.119
prepares you really well. Each book
comes with a series of ideas for parents

465
00:37:50.199 --> 00:37:53.440
on how to read this book to
your child and how to interact with them.

466
00:37:53.559 --> 00:38:00.000
It's an incredible program and we raise
money to fund it. The second

467
00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:06.679
program is also part of a larger
program. This is an international program called

468
00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:13.360
El Systema. It started in Venezuela
with the idea of using the power of

469
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:19.719
music for social change and was really
aimed at the poorest kids in the barill

470
00:38:20.360 --> 00:38:27.719
that get them playing music. The
conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a

471
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:34.480
graduate of this program. So we
started an el Sistema program at a school

472
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:39.840
in Newburgh, which is one of
the cities in Yamhill County, where every

473
00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:46.079
kindergartener that's a hundred students will learn
to play the violin. It's a strings

474
00:38:46.199 --> 00:38:52.000
primarily. It starts as a strings
program. We hired a yes, hired

475
00:38:52.039 --> 00:38:57.719
a music teacher to work with the
school music teacher during music class. This

476
00:38:57.880 --> 00:39:01.920
was three years ago. Those children
went to then went to first grade,

477
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:07.039
a new crop of kindergarteners, and
last spring, the first graders had their

478
00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:15.960
first public non school appearance at the
Newburg Noon Rotary and they played Twinkle,

479
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:20.360
Twinkle, Little Star. There was
not a dry eye in the audience.

480
00:39:20.679 --> 00:39:22.960
You know, I could stand and
talk till I was blue in the face

481
00:39:23.320 --> 00:39:30.320
about the benefits of this program.
But for the rotarians to see the discipline

482
00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:38.519
and the focus and the intensity of
these first graders playing Twinkle Twinkle, Little

483
00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:45.039
Star, they were just they got
a standing ovation for this little song.

484
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:50.800
So those children are now in second
grade. It becomes at that point of

485
00:39:50.920 --> 00:39:55.840
volunteer program after school, so we
have about a third of the children signed

486
00:39:55.920 --> 00:40:01.400
up for that, and we introduced
cello and viola so that they can learn

487
00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:07.519
to play little ensembles, don't you
know of course our vision. You know

488
00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:13.760
we started small, because a very
expensive program in one school. Our vision

489
00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:21.239
is that every school in Yamhill County
will have this program. Oh I love

490
00:40:21.320 --> 00:40:23.639
that. And talk about making a
difference in the world and taking all the

491
00:40:23.639 --> 00:40:28.400
things that you've learned in this beautiful
life of years so far and bringing it

492
00:40:28.440 --> 00:40:30.239
back and contributing it right back into
your own backyard. I think that is

493
00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:36.639
so beautiful and what a great example
of definitely not just retiring from life.

494
00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:40.440
Well, I'm really quite passionate about
this program. The research on the benefits

495
00:40:40.519 --> 00:40:49.360
of both early reading and music are
just so compelling. And what I find

496
00:40:49.480 --> 00:40:53.639
is that I can take what I
have learned in my career and all the

497
00:40:53.679 --> 00:41:01.840
contacts that I've made to help me
become the almost full time fundraiser that I've

498
00:41:01.880 --> 00:41:07.480
had to become to make these programs, to fund these programs so that they

499
00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:13.920
can grow. But I'm willing to
do that because I believe in them,

500
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:19.880
and I can do it well.
And again just looking at looking at you

501
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:22.239
when you were talking about that,
and even just those of your listeners that

502
00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:25.920
are hearing her, you can hear
the energy coming out of you. How

503
00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:29.239
you get lit up by that.
And that's why I do what I do,

504
00:41:29.280 --> 00:41:31.280
Susan to be able to help people
find their their passion and their inspiration,

505
00:41:31.320 --> 00:41:36.079
because that is it's life juice.
And when you have life juice,

506
00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:38.199
you can not only live longer and
more fulfilling, but you give something back

507
00:41:38.199 --> 00:41:42.400
to the world that wasn't there before. Yes, is there? What else

508
00:41:42.440 --> 00:41:45.880
are you putting yourself onto that that
you find that's fulfilling, that that fuels

509
00:41:45.880 --> 00:41:50.559
you, that gives you something.
Well. The other thing that I have

510
00:41:50.840 --> 00:41:58.119
found is really important in my old
age is mentoring, mentoring other young women.

511
00:41:58.719 --> 00:42:04.719
And this is while my daughter would
be one, she's now CEO of

512
00:42:04.760 --> 00:42:08.679
the winery, and if she comes
to me, I want to give her

513
00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:15.760
the benefit. I try very hard
not to interfere because she is the CEO.

514
00:42:16.039 --> 00:42:21.840
I am not, but I also
feel like I am her mentor.

515
00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:27.760
I work with a number of young
women in with the m hill En Richmond

516
00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:32.679
Society, and I feel a certain
mentoring for them. And I've been working

517
00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:43.519
on mentoring women generally in the wine
industry. My helped found a women in

518
00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:50.239
Wine symposium that brought together women from
all various aspects of the wine industry for

519
00:42:50.360 --> 00:42:55.599
a day of education and community.
That kind of thing that's so beautiful.

520
00:42:55.679 --> 00:42:59.960
And again there's what I appreciate that
I know that all TechEd energy too,

521
00:43:00.199 --> 00:43:02.000
right. It takes time and energy
to do all these ys, and I

522
00:43:02.119 --> 00:43:08.119
sometimes think, why am I doing
this? What can I cut back?

523
00:43:08.840 --> 00:43:13.440
I'd really like to read a good
book, which I also do. Actually,

524
00:43:13.480 --> 00:43:16.559
I started a book club which has
been fun, awesome, and that

525
00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:21.360
gets me. And I'm knitting.
I love to knit. Now. I

526
00:43:21.400 --> 00:43:27.119
wouldn't be happy only knitting, right, but it's a piece of I wouldn't

527
00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:32.360
be happy only you know, fundraising
for yes, or only playing the piano.

528
00:43:32.760 --> 00:43:37.639
But each of those fills a little
niche in my life. My grandchildren

529
00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:44.599
are fun to be with, So
all of those things, well, it's

530
00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:46.519
beautiful. And what I like about
that too. It speaks to the way

531
00:43:46.559 --> 00:43:51.360
that I live my life and how
I try to help others give the access

532
00:43:51.360 --> 00:43:54.519
the possible that they can too,
is that I don't I actually don't see

533
00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:59.559
my life, as you know pieces, it's all interwoven together. So for

534
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:04.000
example, I'm a business owner.
I don't work money through Friday nine to

535
00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:07.039
five. I work every single day
in some different capacity, but that I

536
00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:12.079
weave in a johnt to come see
you here at the winery. I go

537
00:44:12.199 --> 00:44:16.320
and I speak at some conference,
I go and play in a river with

538
00:44:16.360 --> 00:44:20.159
my daughter who's sixteen, right.
And so to me, it's all interwoven.

539
00:44:20.199 --> 00:44:22.559
And I think that's the opportunity is
to be able to create a beautiful,

540
00:44:22.639 --> 00:44:28.239
fully woven or knitted life that contains
all the elements in it that are

541
00:44:28.239 --> 00:44:30.000
really important to you, and that
you don't let one of them go at

542
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:35.000
the expense of another. Right.
And I think that's a really good point

543
00:44:35.159 --> 00:44:40.159
because when I was running the winery, my total focus emotionally and time wise

544
00:44:40.519 --> 00:44:45.280
was on the business. And as
I said, life now and what you're

545
00:44:45.400 --> 00:44:52.039
saying, life is more balanced.
There are a number of things that give

546
00:44:52.119 --> 00:44:58.519
fulfillment. Yes. And I think
what I appreciate about the way that you're

547
00:44:58.559 --> 00:45:00.480
describing your life and what I've come
who have come to know you as is

548
00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:05.800
that you're being intentional about how you
create and live this life well We're not

549
00:45:05.920 --> 00:45:09.880
just one thing. You know,
I'm not just business, although I was

550
00:45:10.360 --> 00:45:15.719
for many years, and I've realized
I'm much more than that, and it

551
00:45:15.719 --> 00:45:21.320
takes more than that to satisfy me. Now, we didn't talk about this,

552
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:23.199
but I want to just make the
presence it really quick. You know

553
00:45:23.239 --> 00:45:27.280
you talked about that you, as
an elder, have much to give.

554
00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:30.800
How can how would you suggest or
how would you invite those of us who

555
00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:38.079
aren't quite yet elders to best engage
with you? Well? Read my books,

556
00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:46.599
okay would be one and they're all
available on Amazon. I think depending

557
00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:53.880
on what people are interested in,
there are so many opportunities for giving back

558
00:45:53.920 --> 00:46:04.079
to the community. There's you know, boys and girls clubs, there's soup

559
00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:12.360
kitchens, there's a lot of things
that are industry related, whatever industry you

560
00:46:12.519 --> 00:46:20.400
happen to have been in. So
just so many opportunities for engagement, and

561
00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:27.360
it's just a matter of finding one
that tickles your fancy. Yes, And

562
00:46:27.719 --> 00:46:30.039
that's how I see this is I
would I want to find more ways to

563
00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:35.199
ask elders to be involved, to
share their experience, their perspective, their

564
00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:38.039
history, all the things they've learned
their experiences because I think one. We

565
00:46:38.159 --> 00:46:43.679
can learn from those things, and
too, they're incredibly inspiring. We need

566
00:46:43.719 --> 00:46:47.119
those things. Yes, So here
we are once again. We've managed to

567
00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:51.039
find a way to get rid of
a whole hour again together you and I,

568
00:46:51.079 --> 00:46:53.840
Susan. So you know this show
is about helping listeners across the globe

569
00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:58.159
more meaningfully and productively connect with their
work. What would you like to leave

570
00:46:58.159 --> 00:47:01.199
our listeners with today? Well,
I have two quotes, okay, I'd

571
00:47:01.199 --> 00:47:06.239
like to leave you with. One
is it's not how old you are,

572
00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:13.639
but how you are old. That's
one. The second one is, any

573
00:47:13.719 --> 00:47:19.840
decision you make is not a decision
about what to do, It's a decision

574
00:47:20.119 --> 00:47:25.280
about who you are. That's beautiful. That's really beautiful. And so much

575
00:47:25.280 --> 00:47:30.079
of what your message is to me, Susan is really is really being mindful

576
00:47:30.599 --> 00:47:32.039
and intentional about who you want.
Who do you want to be in this

577
00:47:32.079 --> 00:47:34.599
world? Do you want to be
an old fart? You want to be

578
00:47:34.679 --> 00:47:37.000
an elder? I'll take an elder
any day I had that direction. You

579
00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:42.360
make sure I stand course? Will
you? I'll work on it? Okay.

580
00:47:42.440 --> 00:47:45.480
I don't think there's any danger that
you're going to go off course?

581
00:47:45.760 --> 00:47:49.440
Okay, good, good, well
again, I thank you for the delight

582
00:47:49.480 --> 00:47:52.800
of coming back on the show,
and also before we go, when I

583
00:47:52.800 --> 00:47:55.719
came back here in July to drop
through and just see you and catch up.

584
00:47:55.760 --> 00:48:00.159
And that's what, what what spawned
this idea to have you back on

585
00:48:00.199 --> 00:48:05.039
the show. I want to also
say again this notion of being generous and

586
00:48:05.159 --> 00:48:07.599
kind and being thoughtful. I brought
my sixty year old daughter with me and

587
00:48:07.639 --> 00:48:09.920
you remembered she'd liked to cook,
and what did you do? But you

588
00:48:10.039 --> 00:48:15.199
had a few cookbooks for her.
And I just think that it's so indicative

589
00:48:15.239 --> 00:48:17.159
of who you are, and I
thank you for that. It's beautiful.

590
00:48:17.320 --> 00:48:22.519
Thank you. Listeners. If you
want to learn more about Susan Sokolblosser and

591
00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:25.519
all she's up to these days,
including her the Yamhill and Richmond Society,

592
00:48:25.559 --> 00:48:31.280
or her five books, her various
other groups, her reading books or what

593
00:48:31.320 --> 00:48:35.199
do you thought you you've got a
reading Oh we have a book club,

594
00:48:35.199 --> 00:48:37.280
book club, but I'm on good
Reads, good Reads, okay, good,

595
00:48:37.559 --> 00:48:39.960
all right? And I think a
place to start is her website,

596
00:48:39.960 --> 00:48:44.239
which is just susansocol Blosser dot com. Let me spell that for you.

597
00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:49.920
Sus A N. Socol is s
O k O L and then Blosser b

598
00:48:50.239 --> 00:48:53.800
L O S s e Er Susan
Sooklblosser dot com. Last week, if

599
00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:57.920
you missed the live show, you
can always get your recorded be a Record

600
00:48:58.039 --> 00:49:00.519
podcasts. Excuse me. We were
on the year Selina Santa Bannie is talking

601
00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:06.039
about her nonprofit organization she founded called
the Boardroom Project. We talked about how

602
00:49:06.039 --> 00:49:09.400
this initiative is helping educate young girls
about the world of business and preparing and

603
00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:14.800
providing board world opportunities for women to
involve their careers and make optimal impact.

604
00:49:15.039 --> 00:49:17.960
It was an incredibly inspiring conversation.
We'll see you see you next week.

605
00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:21.199
I remember that work is at least
a third of our lives, so let's

606
00:49:21.199 --> 00:49:30.639
work on purpose. We hope you've
enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

607
00:49:30.679 --> 00:49:35.920
tune in to Working on Purpose featuring
your host Alice Cortez, each week on

608
00:49:35.960 --> 00:50:00.280
the Voice America Empowerment Channel. This
week, find your life's purpose at work fo