Roadmap to a Purposeful Career: Balancing Fear with Faith

Gina Ostarly and Bree Luck 

This Transcript was autogenerated by AI technology. 

Please forgive any misspellings, grammatical mistakes, or inaccuracies.

[00:00:00] One of the challenges of creating a podcast is that I often feel. In fact with every single episode, I feel a deep sense of incompleteness. And part of that is because we are hardwired. To look for answers. We want solutions. So whenever there's a topic that I'm exploring with a guest, there's also a part of me that just wants you to walk away with something useful to carry with you into the week.  

And also to ensure that a full story is being told.  

And I'm not a journalist. But one of the things that I am working on is telling a fuller story. But sometimes it just doesn't quite get there. And I have to make peace with that. And trust that I'm getting better at it. And that when I need to clarify something, I can take the time to do it. It's a process.  

And I'm just going to thank you ahead of [00:01:00] time for joining me in that process. So in last week's episode, The courageous, Dr. Barbara Lipska shared her perspective and understanding of mental illness. And she did this from a neuroscientific point of view. And also from her personal perspective. Because she experienced mental illness.  

Due to a brain tumor and the treatment of her tumors and lesions.  

And in that conversation. One of the things that she said and asserts, and which I believe is that mental illness is a physical issue. A brain issue of physical manifestation of illness in the brain. Much like other illnesses throughout the body that are generally recognized by society as valid. For what that's worth.  

And Dr. Lipska argues for mental illness to be seen, [00:02:00] not as a moral shortcoming, which is often how it's treated in our culture. But as a physical illness.  

And on reflection. I'm not sure that this is how her conversation came across. Because it may have sounded like our upbringing and environment. And life experiences. Don't really have a place in the manifestation of mental illness. And I just want to clarify. That that was not the intent of the conversation.  

I know that was not her point. And the reason I'm talking about this now is because a listener who's also a great friend called to talk to me about the episode. He shared what he appreciated about it and the place that left him feeling sort of at a loss for like, Disagreed with  

and he felt. That Dr. [00:03:00] Lipska was saying that life experiences had no bearing on mental illness. And I have to say, this is my fault. Because I sort of cut the conversation short. In fact, Dr. Lipska does begin to allude to the impact of environment on the development of mental illness, but I didn't allow deeper clarification and exploration of that.  

So I want to thank you for bearing with me as I rectify what was a truly flawed communication of an idea.  

It's interesting. Right. That we expect perfection from ourselves. And we want there to be some kind of final answer that solves a problem. But the very best answers. Actually beget more questions.  

And so today, moving on to today's conversation, I am really excited [00:04:00] to introduce you to Gina Osterley of this is 50. Gina is at this beautiful transition in her career where she is asking a lot of deep and insightful questions of herself.  

She's not looking for one perfect outcome. Rather she's seeking deeper alignment and purpose, and she is digging deep into the process of change.  

 Gina. Is a long time fitness trainer writer, model health coach, mother of three. And now most recently in a major turn of events.  

 She's an insurance agent.  

So Gina last year had an experience where she was laid off from her job. And she made not only a job pivot. But a full career pivot. And it's one that she's still exploring right now. She's in [00:05:00] that juicy, curious phase of testing and experimentation, and I wanted to bring her on because I think it's important and useful.  

To see people in that space. Rather than focusing on or applauding the final outcome or seeing success as being some financial gain or impact. We can celebrate the success of engaging in the process of change. Fully with vulnerability and curiosity and strength. And I really think that Gina is doing just that  

I'll be honest. I actually felt uncomfortable as I was recording this episode. Because I really wanted Gina to have this brilliant outcome. I wanted her new job to be like the best thing, the best move that ever happened to her.  

But Gina, didn't try to gild her experience. Instead, she brought to our discussion, [00:06:00] her curiosity, her faith led focus, but also she fully owned the complexity. The doubt and the fear that comes up when taking on something new.  

I will also say that in this conversation with Gina, you'll hear a story about a yoga class gone wrong for me that had a major impact in my life. And after our conversation, I took that fear on. And I'm, non-practicing in a great new studio where I feel supported and valued.  

And that was really because of this conversation. So, let me know if Gina's insights lead you to tackle a fear that you hold. You can leave me a voice memo at speak pipe. The link is in the show notes. I will listen and respond to all of your feedback. What you love. What moves you? And what things leave you with more questions? [00:07:00]  

And now enjoy this conversation. With Gina Osterley. Hi  

Gina Ostarly: Gina. Hi Bri. . Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to have you on I've admired you from afar for so many years, I know that this is,an audio podcast, but for those of you who don't know Gina, she is a rocking beauty inside and out and,oh my  

Bree Luck: goodness. it's just been so much fun to watch you continually stepping into your fullest self. At least from my perspective, from my vantage point, I just see you as really embracing your femininity with such glorious strength  

So I'm excited to have you on and to talk [00:08:00] about this new path You're so kind. and just I'm fast forwarding to the channels and I'm a very emotional person. So. I'm gonna just, yeah. Thank you.  

 I love emotions. I think emotions are the best . so I wanted to have you on, in particular, because you had a Facebook post a few months ago that really got my attention. 

Most of the people that I work with are in a state of, of transition and. So I'm often looking for women who have really made an enormous transformation in their lives and you are, you had a big career shift recently.  

Gina Ostarly: so I did post about this career shift, because I've spent, close to 25 years in the fitness and health industry, helping [00:09:00] others and, you know, have segued into a lot of different areas, in that industry. And,You know, a lot of it's hindsight now, six months later, which I feel like life is often, you know, after the fact it's like, oh, hindsight now,I think COVID played a part in it. 

but also age and, I love fitness. I love helping others, but I was also kind of coming to a place of already thinking, what is my five year plan here. and I think everyone should always think about their five year plan. Where do you want to be in five years? Because if you don't think about it, life just happens and then you don't know, like, You know, this is not where I wanna be. 

Gina Ostarly: You have to take the steps. and so I was already thinking about the five year plan. a lot of that has to do with,life's priorities for me have changed, a lot in the [00:10:00] last five to 10. My kids are older, they're having kids, and they are not close by. so they've complicated my life. 

and I started thinking, you know, how am I gonna be able to spend more time with my family? Cuz it's just so important to me. And it's not gonna get any easier for them to come to me, with growing family. So I just really started thinking about where I, where do I wanna be five years from now? And that probably. 

 was already a thought last year, early in the year, definitely midyear through, and later in the year unexpectedly, I, I don't wanna say I was forced, but I kind of was forced to make a career change. but I had already really had the people, and the resources put in my life, to do something that prior to [00:11:00] unexpected events made no sense at all, which is, I have transitioned from the fitness and health industry to the insurance world. 

so. I'm thinking why, why? but people showed up resources came about, and I, had this opportunity, with that opportunity came,a lot of things that will be perks in my life now in terms of working. and that is I can work from anywhere. I will be able to spend more time with my family. and I really do live my life in faith. 

 I really do feel like it was just a divine message of I'm giving you what you need. You just need to do what I'm telling you to do. and, whether that's the universe, a higher power, whatever you believe in. 

and 

Gina Ostarly: I kind of [00:12:00] had those resources put in front of me and wasn't acting on it. And I do believe in life that you're given the opportunity. And sometimes if you're not listening, you kind of get slapped down to the ground a little bit. So,you know, long story short, my position at my company of eight years was eliminated, due to COVID. 

And I probably should have pursued something a little bit sooner, but my company was good to me. The people were good to me. I loved my job and. You know, hindsight now is I feel like I was given the opportunities and the resources to start transitioning, but because I did not do it on my own, the universe said like, it's time for a change. 

We're trying to make this happen for you. You're not listening. that experience of,of not listening and getting the signs and then suddenly it takes really getting shoved down to rock [00:13:00] bottom for a lot of people or some, yeah, some huge thing, losing a job, getting sick. 

Bree Luck: Like these are things that we hear a lot from people. in modern times because we're working so hard and, and going through the motions that we don't take, we don't really have the time or even know how to listen at that point. Mm-hmm . So I think that that story will be familiar to a lot of people. 

So then they eliminated the job and you had to eliminate yourself up and figure it out.  

Gina Ostarly: Yeah, well, you know, the insurance opportunity was already in the picture and I was already entertaining the idea, but more of a I'll try this out. Let's see if I enjoy it, or if I wanna do it. So kind of that one foot in, not all the way on the other side of the fence, [00:14:00] and when you suddenly, or told, we're gonna let you go then I just felt like, initially it was totally, a blow to my ego. 

It never feels good to be told, like, we're gonna let you go. But it took literally a weekend for it to just process and all come together for me. And to just go, huh, I guess I'm going to feed in how weird is it that this opportunity was really already in place for me. and it still didn't make sense because I never considered myself a salesperson. 

And even those things are now becoming hindsight. There's so much of the fitness and health world that really relate to being a salesperson. It's it's really just about. Believing in a product and understanding why am I telling people this is so important. and so who knew that I really had the skillset I needed [00:15:00] to sell insurance and here I am. 

Bree Luck: So one of the things that you've mentioned to me is that this job, it, it may not sound very glamorous, but it feels very purposeful. And I love that word purpose. It's it may be my favorite word right now. So what does that mean for you? What does it mean to be living a purposeful life or to be finding  

Gina Ostarly: that purpose? 

Sure that is, a very, important element, of my life and probably is for most people or a lot of us really like, why are we here? What is our purpose? Are we gonna leave the world a better place? Are we gonna change someone's life? and it did not make sense in the beginning in terms of purpose for me, but going on [00:16:00] faith, I ran with it figured it would start to make sense at some point. 

and it has, I'm sure there's a much bigger picture and it's gonna develop way more than it is at this point. but I am helping families that want my help. There are families that are. don't wanna say in over their heads, but if you have a young family and you, the husband and the wife are both working, and if something happens to one of them, it's gonna be catastrophic from, from a financial standpoint and life insurance, mortgage insurance, whatever it is, it's gonna protect them in the event of the unthinkable. 

you hope that these people never need these policies, but accidents happen all the time. And,I have been in it, for only six months. So I have not had anyone call to tell me they need to file that claim. But I know many agents [00:17:00] who have. and I think it's just a really kind of surreal thing. 

especially the first time you experience someone calling to say, you know, something happened and I need to file this claim cuz you know that it's just gonna be, it's not gonna replace the loved one, but it's just gonna make the grieving process in everything that comes with losing someone -- it's just gonna help. 

Bree Luck: Right. It takesthat financial pressure off a little bit. Yeah, sure. I just saw meme today on Instagram. I think that basically said. don't, don't worry about all the things that can go wrong because then you're living it twice, right? 

like, if you, if you're worrying about it before it goes wrong, and then it goes wrong, you're not preventing it by worrying about it. You're just living the worry twice. And it seems to me that what you're doing is you're [00:18:00] saying, you don't have to worry about it. , let's take away that worry so that you can enjoy your life and live your life a little more fully. 

Gina Ostarly: In sales, you get told no way more times than you get told. Yes. And the way that you really have to deal with that is perspective. And many people are not gonna find the value in this. And many families are not gonna be your families. But the families that are your families are the families that are really going to sleep better at night. 

They're not going to, you know, be worrying about what if I leave today. And for some reason I don't come home and my wife and five kids, what are they gonna do? Like what is the plan for them? And, so for people that do worry hand, want to know that the family will be taken care of, those are my families. 

And those, [00:19:00] those families are the reasons that, maybe I get told 20 nos before I get told one, but that's okay. just related back to fitness,my thought was always, if I can change one person's life, it was worth it. and, just going back to the comparisons, if I can change one person's life, if I made the difference, then it's worth it. 

Right. Even if it didn't make sense for me, to me, an insurance agent, 

Bree Luck: it's also given you freedom that you've really wanted. It sounds like I saw a recent post from Mexico, like working on the beach.  

Gina Ostarly: I can work from anywhere. I make my schedule. I have a newish puppy. He's my office, buddy. I didn't, I never went into it thinking I'm not gonna like this, but I'm kind of surprised at how much I'm okay with it, with everything about it. 

Even the [00:20:00] rejection it's okay. so, you know, that's my cue to believe that I'm where I'm supposed to be. Yeah.  

when we were talking in preparation for this interview, we talked a lot about fear. 

how has your relationship to fear shifted during this transition? I love this question because the topic of fear has been. Part of me and my coaching of others for 25 years, how it has changed for me is I think more my perspective towards it and probably for myself in the past, it was probably easier for me to tell others, don't be scared. 

Gina Ostarly: Don't let fear stop you. but the fact is that fear is scary, right? It's scary. but if [00:21:00] you let fear hold you hostage, you, you don't act on things. and what is the worst thing that can happen? It doesn't work out. You fail at it. I mean, it's okay. It's okay to fail. I feel like failure is, you know, what results from failure is if you take the opportunity to learn from it, we grow as people we learn from our failures. 

there should be nothing taboo about failures, right.  

I'm thinking about,so I'm a Yankees fan and I don't know if, if you keep up with baseball, but mm-hmm, , the Yankees are doing pretty darn well this year mm-hmm and, and it makes me think. 

Bree Luck: I think it was babe Ruth, of course, who is probably the most famous Yankees player of all time so far, who said never let the fear of striking out, get in your way. mm-hmm[00:22:00] and even the greatest players, even the most accomplished folks have fear and courage is not, not having fear, but taking action in the face of fear. 

 Grappling with it a little bit. Mm-hmm What are some of the ways that you grapple with fear? Do you have any strategies for moving through it? 

Gina Ostarly: I think it's okay to be a, failure, it shouldn't be this taboo thing feeling scared. I do rely heavily on my faith. We can either be fearful about something or we can be faithful about it. They're, they're both things that I don't know if like they're not tangible. Right. 

It's just, it's a feeling. so how do you approach that? How do you even really define fear faith? I think it's a choice. And just because you are fearful [00:23:00] of something doesn't mean that you cannot move forward, even if it's baby steps. I think that was another one of my Facebook posts. It's just one day at a time, one step at a time, lean into it. 

That's something that I've always kind of coached others, you know, lean into that fear. It's okay. It's it's not gonna hurt you. It's not gonna bite back. It's  

Bree Luck: okay. 
 

I think that maybe also a place where all of your years in the fitness industry, that's a, a great thing to learn and to know in an embodied sense is that you can't go from. being couch potato to running a marathon without taking some baby steps along the way. 

Right. you really appreciate incremental growth, Yes. it's built into it.  

Gina Ostarly: And sometimes you can be scared or fearful of one big thing, but then [00:24:00] that one big thing has, sub fears within the big fear with insurance, the whole process was scary to me. 

I had to get licensed. I had to take a test to do that. It was very hard. I knew nothing about insurance. There's all of this information. So much to learn. That's scary, but I just did a little bit every day. Just, just do what you can do and relate it back to fitness. Some people are scared to, to go into a gym or to exercise, cuz they're scared. 

They're gonna look silly. You know, how do you approach that one day at a time? Very simple exercises and over time that  

Bree Luck: fear just fades. you're inspiring me because I had, an incident a few months ago. I had an injury and then I was taking some yoga [00:25:00] classes and I had not done yoga since my injury. 

And it was a pretty, it was an injury that to my shoulder that had been bad for over a year. And so I went to this yoga class and in the yoga class were some young women and after the yoga class was over, I walked out and they were making fun of me making making fun of the way that I had been in the yoga class, the way that I had not been able to do some things in the yoga class. 

And it really hit a nerve, you know, it really hit a tender spot like the middle school girls making fun of you at the lunch table. and that was exactly it. 

And I have been to a couple of yoga classes since then, but I found myself being really trepidacious about it. So you're inspiring me to. To keep moving forward with it. [00:26:00] So thank you for that.  

Gina Ostarly: I was thinking about . Fear earlier today. And I do believe that a lot of our fear as adults is learned, if you think of children a five year old, how often do people say kids, no fear. 

They will do crazy stuff, cuz they're just not fearful yet. Some of that of course is not knowing that bad things can happen if you do this or that. But I do believe that some of our fear, especially as we get older is rooted in past experiences. So just. Related to your experience. I hope that you don't let that experience move forward into the future with you. 

and you just kinda put that fear, you know, on the back burner or out the back door or whatever. And you go to that next class.  

Bree Luck: Mm-hmm 
 

I will, I will. I think we also sometimes have to choose [00:27:00] which steps are the most important ones for us to take. Cuz I think it can be a lot to take on all of the fears at once. So what I really felt was it'll be okay, I'm gonna keep moving and keep getting more comfortable in my body, in my own, in my own space. 

And. I'll occasionally venture out until I have more positive. Feelings about sharing space with other people and taking the risk of exercising with other people. Sure. And when I have enough positive ones, then I can let that one. I can completely let it go.  

Gina Ostarly: yes, the positive ones will overshadow the negatives eventually. 

Bree Luck: With effort. It does take effort, right? Cuz we remember negatives more than we remember positives. We're hardwired to do that. It makes sense. But choosing to say, all right, there's a positive one and there's another one. And there's another one, or even just 

[00:28:00] hey, I did this today. Or like with you having to pass a big exam, it's hard to put yourself out there in that way. It's hard at any age. And I think it's especially harder when we haven't had to do it in a while. Mm-hmm . I'm sure that you took some baby steps to feel comfortable taking that exam too. 

Gina Ostarly: Just reflecting on, it sounds like with you and the fear that developed from that experience caused you to reflect on how you felt. and the steps that you needed to take to get back to a better place. And I think that's great advice for, for fear in general, to not run from it, to, identify it, figure out why, and then explore steps of what is gonna take you out of that, [00:29:00] that fear mode. 

Bree Luck: I think you're exactly right. And the word that I would use around that is to get curious , to get curious around the fear what's going on here? That's how you can find the steps, cuz sometimes it's like, what are the steps but right. Curiosity will help us find those steps. that's what you had to do . 

 In that one weekend, I bet you had to get really curious about what it would look like 

Gina Ostarly: yes, it was a very reflective weekend. one of going from why is this happening to me to why is this happening to me? And, you know, by literally from a Friday to a Monday, waking up on Monday with a clear mindset of, okay, I understand I've taken what has transpired in the last two to three months. 

People, resources, it's all there. [00:30:00] And there was prayer in there too. I guess this is my path and I'm I'm gonna go on faith that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And I'm still here  

Bree Luck: doing that. 

you're, leading right into the next thing that I wanted to talk about, which is that in working with my clients, we talk about the seven paths to creating change in our lives. And we may not all use all of them, but I think that the seven different panels that I'll talk with you about in a minute are, are avenues for change that often interact and intertwine and overlap. 

But when we find ourselves stuck, Then we can sort of look at the channels and say, does one of these offer me a path forward ? So I would love to do a rapid fire reflection. on how each of these paths either has been an important part of your change journey [00:31:00] or hasn't been 

do you feel comfortable going through them with me? Absolutely. Great. It's like vanity fair. They're like the vanity fair questions.  

okay. I'm ready. so the first one is the emotional channel. So, how has your emotional journey been part of your change? I'm a very  

Gina Ostarly: emotional person. I think I mentioned that in the beginning, of our meeting today and I'm that person probably over emotional, super sensitive, just ask my significant other, cry for all movies, TV series, hallmark cards, you name it. 

And I think that feeling is important, but what is more important is discovering? Why, why are you feeling sad and maybe even acknowledging why am I feeling happy and not to,  

Not to tag [00:32:00] anything to it. Meaning that more recently during COVID a lot of people would say I'm stressed, I'm so stressed. I'm so stressed and that's okay. But then it was usually I'm so stressed out stress is so bad. Stress is really bad for people and it is, but really what's more important is why are you stressed? 

And what can you do to change that? Why are you sad? And in discovering before I knew the change that was gonna be kind of pushed on me in terms of my career, I, I was feeling a little funky already in terms of what am I doing with my life? What does my five year plan look like? I miss my children. I wanna spend more time with my grandkids. 

To the point that I was already asking myself these questions and just trying to discover why was I feeling so sad and funky and not in a good place exploring that [00:33:00] and, and not attaching anything else to it, not thinking this is horrible that, you know, why am I feeling this way, but just, why am I feeling this way? 

Gina Ostarly: And are there changes that I can make to not feel so sad? but it's okay to feel sad. all feelings are important. You have to feel sad and that's okay. Sometimes. hopefully you're feeling happy a lot of the time as well, but,emotionally I think we just need to feel, and we need to explore why we're feeling that way. 

Bree Luck: I have a 20 year old daughter and we were talking recently about feelings. You are my people, Gina, because I love emotional people. And somebody says, people tell me I'm too emotional. Or the worst one people tell me I'm too sensitive. I am like, yes, come come. 

We get each other. Yes. but I was talking to her and [00:34:00] I said, you know, so many people focus on being happy, but I really feel that emotional health comes when we can feel our full spectrum of emotions. And be comfortable in that so that we don't feel like we have to escape any feeling that we're feeling, but we can just say, oh, I'm feeling sad. 

It's not my favorite emotion. It will pass. Here are some things that I can do. Here's what I can learn from this. what do I need to take in from this moment? Maybe I need to slow down. There are all sorts of things to learn from all of the feelings that we have. So I love that you use the emotions as an opportunity to reflect really, really nice. 

Beautiful.  

Gina Ostarly: Just, listening to you talk about the importance of feeling and being able to discuss those feelings. I, I do feel [00:35:00] like there's never been a more important time in history that we teach that to our children and to the younger generation. 

If you're sad, it's okay. Come and talk to me about it. Let's figure out why and what we can do to change it.  

Bree Luck: Let's move on to the next one, which is analytical. I know you have an analytical side I do. 

Gina Ostarly: I do have a very,analytical side. I think that runs maybe side by side with, processing things. I, love to analyze everything and process everything . I'm a processor. So, one of the things that I really love to analyze analyzes myself, that may sound weird, but I love to just explore. 

Why am I the way that I am, and I do read a lot of self help. Self [00:36:00] development, anything that falls in that genre of reading, sometimes you read that one page and you go, oh, that's why I'm like that. I love having a little bit more clarity or understanding of myself. I think I have a better appreciation for that as I get older, you know, who are we and why are we the way that we are and how can we develop the weaker parts of ourselves? 

Bree Luck: Yeah. And analysis takes us out of that emotional experiencing and gives us a little more distance to. Find the steps  

. The next one is intuitive.  

Gina Ostarly: I,love that this is one of the channels because in some of your other podcasts, you, touch on the uniqueness of intuitiveness for individuals. And, I, I heard you say that it's very different from person to [00:37:00] person, for some of us, some of us it's that gut feeling for some of us, it's this, you know, openness to it. 

And. In my analytical state, when I was listening to the, to the podcast, I thought, wow, that's really interesting because I do really believe for myself. And I've learned to act on it, a little bit more. I don't wait on it anymore. I don't question it in terms of, if I feel it in my gut, then I probably need to go with what I feel in my gut. 

but then I process it. I process what I am feeling in my gut and then I'm open to it. So I thought, wow, you know, maybe that's a whole nother way that some of us are intuitive. We, we have this process in a sense, we fill it in our gut, then we process it and then we're. Then we open ourselves to it. so I had fun. 

[00:38:00] I, you know, was kind of thinking about the whole intuitive thing and thought, I guess I'm a combination. I'm a combo.  

Bree Luck: I love that. It pulls together those different parts of you. The, the part that needs to that feels the part that stops and listens and then reflects and then takes action. 

Really beautiful. The next one is spiritual.  

Gina Ostarly: I am, very deep rooted in my faith, and 

believe in a higher power and a bigger picture. and do look to that channel for a lot in my life. I do daily, devotionals in the morning sometimes it's praying, but sometimes it's not, sometimes it's just journaling or taking a walk and just having gratitude that I've been blessed with another day. 

but it does really,give me comfort. 

Bree Luck: [00:39:00] Faith is such a beautiful word because it reminds us that. We can't be expected to know it all. We can't be expected to control it all. We need to stop expecting that from ourselves and trust that there is a larger order. And however, that looks, there's a, a trusting in a source that, is larger than us. That's what I believe, because that's what I need to believe. But it takes effort to have faith, but it's also such a gift to have faith. 

And I'm so happy every time I see your posts about faith and particularly with your coworkers now that you, that you feel like that you're in a work [00:40:00] environment where there's a alignment there, a spiritual, it seemed like a spiritual alignment. Is that right? Yes,  

Gina Ostarly: absolutely. And going back to the very beginning before I was even licensed, I just felt very aligned with the people. 

that were being put in my world in terms of, you know, what I thought was gonna be a side gig and just alignment in terms of not just work ethic, but values and morals and how we look at the world and why we think we're here. it's very, very important for me to feel that I align with the people that I'm gonna spend a lot of time with. 

And I really went into it thinking Bree that, I guess I'm gonna try this. And I mean, worst case scenario, if it doesn't work out, I [00:41:00] really love the people that I'm gonna be around. So what a huge win-win for me, right. I love what I'm doing and I love the people that I'm doing it with. .  

creative, the creative channel.  

Gina Ostarly: I do consider myself creative. The thing that I have had the most fun with in the past in terms of creativeness is reinventing myself in a sense. 

I was in the fitness world for. 25 years. It kind of started in my thirties and my big mission when I was 30 with three small kids was to, you know, break this society's myth of you've had kids. Your life is done. You'll, you know, just give it up, life's over. And I just thought it is not over and we're gonna figure it out. 

Right. We're gonna figure out why life's not over. And I'm gonna prove to other women that life is not over. And I [00:42:00] don't just mean in terms of fitness, just in general, you can still be a mother and a woman and all these other things you were before you were a mother , you just have to learn how to combine them. 

That's all. And then, you know, I played that out all during my thirties and,when I was turning 40. I was in a really great place in life. And I thought, wow, I really I've always heard people talk about 40 being, you know, this horrible thing. Like you're gonna be over the hill. You're again, life is over, you're over the hill. 

Now you're 40. Oh my God. Life's over. And I thought, mm, I don't like that idea either. I'm gonna prove that that doesn't have to be true either. So at the time social media was not what it is today. my space was my avenue and I,would like to [00:43:00] think that I could really almost take credit for coining the phrase, the new 40, because that was my MySpace tagline. 

And I did that right before I turned 40. And that, decade was because for 10 years I had this, the new 40 brand and it segued into areas that I never expected, not just health and fitness and clients and a business, but it also filtered into writing publications, modeling. It was fun. 

And then fifties came along and I thought, wow, I can't be the new 40 anymore. And I'm not gonna be the new fifties. kind of play it out. That one. so I thought, okay, this is 50 and that's the tagline for now. I do feel like there've been some detours. I don't know that I've really figured out completely. 

I don't have a, a [00:44:00] defined what is 50 yet. I still have a few more years to figure it out. So, from a creative standpoint, that's been fun for me. Just reinventing myself in a sense, who am I going to be this decade? And how am I gonna impact other people that are in this decade to live a  

Bree Luck: better life? 

there's something about having it be, this is 50. That actually feels even more expansive than the new 40, and that you haven't been able to define it yet is actually even more exciting because what I actually feel is the unfolding, the, opening, like creating greater openings for yourself to receive, to reflect, to connect, to take things in. 

And, this is what it is. This is what it is. There's no there's definition. It doesn't have to have any [00:45:00] kind of qualifiers. It doesn't have to be called great or terrible or awesome or whatever, or new or old or anything. It just is . I love that. . because it's, it's pretty beautiful I feel it as something beautiful and liberating. 

So thank you for creating space for that. 

let's move on to the next one. Physical.  

Gina Ostarly: I love this one. I think I've said that for everyone, but I do love all these channels, cuz I just resonate with them physical. I am going to, again, I can't help it. I've spent 25 years coaching others in health and fitness. So  

as far as physical. Because I was so passionate about helping others to be in a better place, physically meaning their physical health, how they move, how they eat, never really about [00:46:00] being super fit, but just how are you gonna take care of your physical wellbeing? How are you gonna take care of your body? 

Gina Ostarly: If you don't take care of it? No one else is going to take care of it for you, but related to physical. And another reason why it is so important is I would tell this little story and compare it to a three-legged stool, like a bar stool, you know, a bar stool that has three legs. And I feel that in life, you kind of have those three legs. 

You have a physical leg, you have a mental leg and you have a spiritual leg. And if you are not taking care of all three of those that stool's gonna go down, it's gonna go down. So mental being your wellbeing, mental health, your mind that's lead. Number one, physical is your body [00:47:00] and then spiritual your soul. 

We all have a soul and you need to take care of all three of those. so physical health is very, very important to me cuz. You feel that there's three legs and that on that stool and that stool of life, if you don't take care of 'em, you're just not the best that you  

Bree Luck: can be. 

I love that. the bodies that we're in, we have to live with them. So so we better take care of them. 

Gina Ostarly: Absolutely.  

Bree Luck: And the last one is one that we touched on before, which is social. so I love that your job has given you these social connections, but I bet it's even bigger than that for you. So how has social been important for you?  

Gina Ostarly: This is a really interesting area for me because people that do not know me well or very surprised when I tell them that I'm very introverted by nature. 

[00:48:00] If you're familiar with Myers Briggs, I, I test straight up the middle, but innately I'm an introvert. I can be very social, but it's usually on my terms. I'm not, really innately a social person, but what I do in terms of social, what makes me very, very happy is. Connecting with likeminded people, that's very, very fueling to me and very important, or in terms of all of the ways that I was trying to reach people in my fitness career, it started with personal training, which was one on one, maybe a small group. 

And then I wanted more like, I'm like, how can I reach more people? How can I, you know, let more people know that this is so important. And so then it kind of moved into, [00:49:00] writing because you can reach way more people when you're writing articles. Right. and then social media kind of grew over those years. 

And the social platforms for me really bring me joy. When I know that something I said touched someone's life. And this literally just happened yesterday. I had posted something about a week ago and I just am incredibly busy these days. And I am, not on social media a lot. And I had posted something on Instagram that ended up on Facebook and I go to Facebook even more rarely than I go to Instagram and I was like, oh, let me just check in. 

I haven't been on my page recently just to make sure, you know, there's nothing like that. [00:50:00] Someone else posts on there or whatever. And I had no idea that I hadd. Gotten all of these comments on this post that I had written, and one of the comments was from someone. Saying that she more recently was going to get her yoga certification. 

And I responded back yesterday and said, I'm so excited for you. This is so wonderful because part of her comment was, you know, I'm getting my yoga certification. I wanna be strong and, you know, fit until I die. And I said, this is wonderful that you are not only gonna do something for yourself, but you're gonna inspire other people to wanna be strong and fit and beautiful until they die. 

And this morning I noticed that she had replied back in her comment [00:51:00] was. thank you so much for responding. I had the worst day at my conference and I so needed to hear this. She didn't go into detail, but whatever it was, something had not been good 

something had beat her down. And I thought when that one comment that that's all I needed. That's all I needed because you just, you never know how you're gonna change that one person's day or life or week or whatever.  

Bree Luck: You hadn't checked. So there was a little delay and, it's like, oh, I hadn't checked. And I was a little late and getting back to it, but that is what lined up perfectly with what she needed. Again, that brings back faith. Right. It's like, right. Isn't it so amazing. 

All of our hands ,  

Gina Ostarly: it's just, it was so amazing. And I just thought that was not a coincidence. That was, I'm [00:52:00] gonna use the word again. It was just divine. Right. She needed to hear something. Mm-hmm that? I had no idea she needed to hear, but  

Bree Luck: there it was but there it was. So before we wrap up. What is one piece of advice that you have for women who are in the midst of their own transformations in midlife? 

Gina Ostarly: Do not let fear get in your way and what I have experienced later in life. And what I really believe is that 

in the future, We're not gonna regret what we did for the most part. There might be mistakes that we make, but we will have more regret about what we did not do than what we tried to do. Or we did successfully. I don't wanna lead this world thinking I wish I had, I wish I had tried that. I wish [00:53:00] I had done that because today I'm thinking about things that I was scared to do when I was 20 or 30. 

And they, it feels so silly right now. Right. And I feel that every year you get older, the things that you were so fearful of or so scared to approach or do just feel so trivial now. And you're just wondering, why did I not, why did I not do that? 

Bree Luck: Yeah. And if you're feeling afraid, 

finding the support that you need to move through, that fear, whether that's spiritual support or social support, baby steps, good strategies , which is analytical support right. But finding that, and it seems like you are really good at finding multiple ways to help you overcome your fear. You're such an example. 

Thank you.  

Gina Ostarly: Thank you, Brie. [00:54:00] this was wonderful. I love your show. and thank you for doing what you're doing.  

Bree Luck: Here. Are my key takeaways from this conversation with Gina Osterley. Number one, I loved Gina story about getting a divine or universal message. And having multiple opportunities put in front That she wasn't really acting on. Remember she says she got slapped down a little bit before she made her action.  

Are there opportunities that are coming your way right now that you are ignoring? Number two. There should be nothing taboo about failures. Don't let feel a failure hold you hostage because failures give us the opportunity to learn and grow.  

Number three. Jena compares life to a three legged bar stool. You have a physical leg, a mental leg and a spiritual leg. [00:55:00] And if you aren't taking care of all three of those legs, your bar stool is going down. How can you tend to your physical, mental, and spiritual self today?