Meet Betsy Bush

We were lucky to catch up with Betsy Bush recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Betsy, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I view the years post retirement or even as an “empty nester” as one filled with possibilities. These are years in which we can explore all the things we set aside when we were younger: our creativity, our joy in creating art and making music, creative writing, and other areas… all the areas we loved as kids and teens when we put them aside to concentrate on earning a living. Our post 55 years can be a time of fearless creation — if we take advantage of the opportunity. At 56 I went back to get a second BA degree at Columbia University, majoring in architecture. I loved being challenged, seeing the world through younger eyes, doing new things I could not have imagined taking on. But I graduated into the pandemic, and created my first podcast, The Latest Version, talking to midlifers who had made pivots to new ventures, sometimes business, sometimes creative. I took a break from that first podcast before starting The Call to Create: Become the artist, writer or creator you want to be in midlife. So now I am focusing on the arts. I love hearing about my guests’ journeys into artistic pursuits. What I find most interesting is what many of them have shared: their fear of not being good at a doing something new — painting or playing an instrument, that sort of thing. The disconnect between being, say, 60 and learning an instrument vs. the social expectation of a 60 year old being an accomplished musician. There’s fear and there’s shame, and that should not be! Everyone should try new things constantly. It’s good for our brains and it’s good for our souls.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am the host of The Call to Create: Become the artist, writer or creator you want to be in midlife. I truly believe that post empty-nest or retirement years can be exciting and joyous if we allow ourselves to explore our creative abilities. The podcast talks to people who have discovered new talents or are rediscovering the things they loved to do as kids or even young adults. The couple who met in tap dancing class as aspiring performers now, decades later, directing plays and going out for roles. The lawyer who started writing one act plays that are being produced in workshops and festivals in NYC. The banker whose memoir about his hitchhiking adventures in his 20’s has been picked up by a publisher. All these people are exploring what’s possible in retirement. There are resources out there, there are communities of others just like you, if you can push past the fear and uncertainty and try it. For many of my guests, the best part is the feeling of accomplishment. When I ask, what does success look like to you, most answer, “I feel successful right now.”

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

A very concrete skill I have is “a good voice”. — it’s one people like to listen to (I’ve been told). To learn public speaking, how to read copy aloud and present yourself before an audience, is an underrated skill, whether you’re making a presentation in class or to an auditorium full of people. This is a life and job skill more people should develop.

Another thing I’ve brought to a podcast talking about the arts is just a broad exposure to a variety of arts through my lifetime. I try to expose myself to many types of music, art in books, museums and galleries, a range of films going back to my college film courses, theater whenever I can, and reading a wide variety of books and magazines. You begin to see connections of ideas and cultural currents. Being open to learning and new things, and understanding that everything in the culture is connected,

Connected with the above, creative thinking. There was a time when I was stuck behind a desk in an administrative role, and I realized too late that this was not my strength. I realized that I could creatively imagine what others couldn’t see, and that has been a gift and a problem. I say a “problem,” because my imagination always runs far ahead of what I can actualize.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

It has taken me a lifetime to appreciate all my parents, especially my mom, did for me. We always had books at home, including art books, history books, books about other cultures and countries. We had all sorts of LPs, classical, folk music, off the run stuff. My parents weren’t into popular culture, they were academics, and had interesting friends with interesting ideas spoken around the dinner table. I had a lot of arts enrichment as a kid and teen — arts and crafts, dance, music, singing, theater. I felt there was almost nothing I could not do, and in a way, I still feel that way. I’ve fallen back on those experiences a lot now, grateful that I can enroll in an abstract art class, pick up a brush and just “see where it goes.” I know there are others who would struggle to be that free in an art class, and my podcast, The Call to Create, aims to help others break free of that fear and enjoy the journey of creativity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.call2createpodcast.com
• Instagram: thecalltocreatepod
• Facebook: FB: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Call-to-Create/61571103047613/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/betsy-hills-bush-the-call-to-create-pod/
• Youtube: @Call2CreatePod
• Other:
  @call2createpod.bsky.social

Image Credits

Heather Tietjen