It’s Our Turn Radio Show with Special Guest Nancy Merz Nordstrom, Author of “Learning Later, Living Greater”
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
One of Nancy Merz Nordstrom’s many mottos is “It’s never too late to be what you might have been,” by George Elliot. And Nancy knows this first-hand.
As a 48-year-old wife and mother of four, she was working as a secretary and raising her family, when her husband unexpectedly passed away.
Her whole life turned upside down. Suddenly she was looking at a vastly different future from the one she had always envisioned. Her secretarial job paid the bills, but did not feed her soul. Nancy muddled along, however, trying to make sense of her new life.
It wasn’t until she decided to go back to school at age 51, that Nancy recaptured her life. Being back in school did more for her than grief therapy, personal counseling, or the passage of time could do. It gave Nancy back, not just her life, but a new and enhanced life.
She emerged from school two years later, full of joy, zest and enthusiasm, and with a Masters Degree in education. Using her newfound passion – the power of lifelong learning for older adults – Nancy found her perfect job as the Director of the Elderhostel Institute Network, (www.roadscholar.org/ein/intro.asp), a national network of almost 400 lifelong learning programs across the United States and Canada. Now this is a job that really feeds her soul!
Since then Nancy has been following her bliss. In the process, she remarried at age 55, went to work for herself at age 58, and at age 61, authored her first book, “Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years.”
“Learning Later, Living Greater” introduces readers to the ideas and benefits of later-life learning. It challenges people to become involved in meaningful new avenues of productivity: learning for the sheer joy of learning something new, educational travel, volunteerism, civic action, and more. It shows them how to stay mentally and spiritually young. “Learning Later, Living Greater” is the guidebook for transforming the after-work years into a richly satisfying period of personal growth and social involvement.
Today, at age 65, Nancy is busier than ever, directing the Elderhostel Institute Network, marketing her book, doing radio interviews, TV shows, and speaking engagements, while authoring articles and columns for various Internet web sites. Her newest endeavor, an online course on how to find life satisfaction using the tools of learning, exploring and serving, will begin this month on the DailyOm website – http://dailyom.com.
Nancy’s work gives her life real purpose, a daily challenge, and lots of outside contact and stimulation. She feels truly blessed and grateful that she has a wonderful family, three gorgeous grandchildren, a terrific and supportive husband, and work about which she feel very passionate.
Another of Nancy’s favorite expressions, “To be able to look back on one’s life in satisfaction, is to live twice,” by Kalil Gibran, guides her life now.
Nancy’s book can be found in bookstores, at www.amazon.com or on her web site at http://www.learninglater.com/. You can reach Nancy at learninglater@comcast.net.
Posted by:
Kate Sanner
Host of “It’s Our Turn” Radio Show
CEO and Founder of Vivacity
Thirty-eight million baby boomer women have already entered the Age of Elegance, which is a new stage of life with a new identity. More will follow; yet many of these 40+ women are making this journey without any real advance planning. Many of them don’t even think of themselves as “elegant” but this transition into the second half of their lives can take place with style and grace.