481: I'm Retiring at 50 and Keeping My Business (Here's What's Changing)
School of Self-Image
Tonya Leigh
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What era are you ready to step into? Take the Next Era quiz and find out: https://schoolofselfimage.com/quiz-pod
If you've ever caught yourself fantasizing about retirement – the beach house, the Paris apartment, the day when you can finally exhale – this episode is for you.
So many women I know are living for "over there." Over there, when the money is handled. Over there, when the kids are grown. Over there, when we hit the number, lose the weight, build the business, or finally step away. Then, we'll enjoy our lives.
But what if you didn't have to wait to retire to start living beautifully? What if "retirement" isn't about escaping your life… but redesigning it?
In this episode, we're exploring:
• Why the retirement fantasy is really about a feeling – and how to access that feeling now
• What actually happens to people after they retire (it's not what you'd expect)
• The real reason you want to burn it all down (hint: it's probably not the work itself)
• Why changing your circumstances won't change your life if the same thinking comes with you
• A mindset shift that turns "I can't wait to retire" into "I'm living my life now"
• Two questions that will show you exactly what you've been putting off – and why you can stop waiting
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today's episode is for all the ladies who dream about retirement. Those of us who catch ourselves |
| 0:06.3 | thinking, I wish a rich man would come along and save me from all this. Or why can't my husband |
| 0:12.3 | just make more money and take the pressure off? Or maybe it's just, can I just run away, just disappear |
| 0:17.8 | and start over somewhere new? Those of us who are counting down the days, |
| 0:22.6 | maybe it's five more years, 10 more years until we don't have to do this anymore. You know the fantasy, |
| 0:28.3 | right? The one where you finally retire, sell everything, move to a beach somewhere, and just |
| 0:34.5 | stop. Stop being responsible, stop performing, Stop carrying the weight of it all. Maybe your |
| 0:41.2 | version is in the mountains or a small apartment in Paris or just anywhere that isn't here. Doing this |
| 0:48.8 | being this version of yourself. You tell yourself, just five more years, just until I hit this number, just until the |
| 0:55.2 | kids are grown, just until I can retire. Then I'll finally get to relax. Then I'll finally |
| 1:01.2 | enjoy my life. But can I ask you something? What about your life right now? How do you want to live it? |
| 1:07.2 | Not someday, not when you retire, not when circumstances change right now, today, this week, |
| 1:14.7 | this year. Because here's what I've noticed. We have this tendency to always think over there is |
| 1:21.5 | better. Over there when I retire, that's when life gets good. Over there when I've lost the weight, that's when I'll be happy. Over there, when I make more money. That's when I'm happy. That's when life gets good. Over there when I've lost the weight, that's when I'll be happy. |
| 1:29.3 | Over there, when I make more money, that's when I'll feel secure. Over there when the kids are |
| 1:33.7 | grown, that's when I'll finally have time for myself. We're always looking over there at some future |
| 1:39.1 | version of our life, some future circumstance, some future finish line. And meanwhile, guess what? We're missing right here. |
| 1:47.2 | Here where your actual life is happening. Here where you have agency and choice, here where you |
| 1:53.0 | could be making this moment, this day, this year, absolutely amazing. So what if instead of waiting |
| 1:59.9 | to retire we made here as good as we're |
| 2:03.2 | imagining there to be? What if that's actually possible? That's what we're talking about today |
| 2:07.4 | because I'm retiring at 50. But here's the twist. I'm keeping my business. I'm not selling. I'm not |
... |
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