When One Day is Today

Are you ready to seize the day and transform your dreams into reality? Inspired by the captivating journey of Jean Smart’s character, Deborah Vance, from HBO's "Hacks," this episode is your wake-up call to stop postponing your goals. We delve into the poignant realization that "one day" is today, sharing personal experiences and reflections on embracing new challenges and the importance of acting now. Whether it's expanding a podcast, writing a book, or tackling long-held aspirations, we discuss how acknowledging our limitations can propel us toward a more fulfilling life. 

In a world that often seems to prioritize youth and novelty, "Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older" stands as a testament to the enduring relevance and vibrancy of the Baby Boomer generation. It underscores the idea that the chronicles of life are written not just in the days of our youth but in every moment that we choose to seize with courage and determination. This podcast is not just a listening experience—it is a catalyst for transformation and a beacon of hope for anyone who believes that their dreams, no matter how delayed, still burn with the promise of today.

For in the end, it is the dreams we dare to pursue today that will define the richness of our tomorrows.

Please be sure to click that LIKE and SUBSCRIBE button as well as leaving a review.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Embracing the Urgency of Today
• 9:05 Podcasts and Resources for Baby Boomers

Transcript

Bill Monty: 0:01

On this episode of Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older, we're looking at the concept of one day as in one day I'll learn to speak French, or one day I'll go back to college and get that degree. We all have a plethora of one days in our lives. What happens when you realize one day is today. We're talking about that and more on this episode. So sit back, folks, and cue the music. Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older.

Bill Monty: 0:34

The idea for this episode came from watching a show on HBO. If you're not watching it, you should be. It's called Hacks. It stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, and it's absolutely wonderful. They're in their third season now.

Bill Monty: 0:49

Hacks tells the story of a 70-year-old Las Vegas performer, a female comedian, think Joan Rivers a little bit, who finds herself at a crossroads in her career. She's lost her Las Vegas gig. She's being given this young writer of jokes to help her become relevant again. And in this one episode they were taking a walk in the woods and Jean Smart's character, Deborah Vance, gets injured. And they come to realize they're not going to be rescued. They're totally lost and they're going to have to make camp in the woods that night. And they start talking and Deborah Vance is talking about her missed opportunities. Now, understand in the show she's very rich and very, very famous, so it seems strange to hear her giving a poor me speech. And when the other character brings that up to her, she starts talking about one day and she says, you live long enough and you realize things don't change that drastically, but there's an inevitability of aging. As they sit on the ground, she starts talking about how she is struggling to come to terms with the fact that she is aging, that her body is not as reliable anymore as it used to be and for her, one day doesn't exist any longer. Everything she wants to do she must do now. No excuses, no postponing. She cannot afford to waste a single day. The talk that she gives during the show about that really resonated with me, because I had that same thought. You know, it wasn't that long ago that I said well, one day I will do a podcast about aging. And here I am and I'm doing it. But even that year ago because it really was a year ago when this all started, that year ago it seemed like I still had more options in front of me.

Bill Monty: 2:55

There comes a point in life and this is not trying to be maudlin or sad, because really it isn't, but it's a wake-up call. There comes a point in life when you realize you have more birthdays in back of you than you do in front of you. And even at a certain age, if you have, let's say, another 20 years, these are not 20 years where things are going to be getting progressively better for you. So when you're a child or a teenager and you have certain physical abilities, they will improve with age. You can get stronger, you can run farther, you can run longer. Everything is in front of you. When you get older age, you realize what you're doing now is probably the best you're ever going to be able to do it for the rest of your life.

Bill Monty: 3:53

Every day, it seems I have some new limitations to my body that didn't exist the day before. I've been battling hip problems for a long time now and come to find out from a doctor it might not be my hip at all. It might be my pelvis from a car accident from 20 years ago. So the things I can do on a physical level are diminishing, can do on a physical level are diminishing. I'm not happy about it, and I can exercise to some extent to try to stabilize and improve, but there are no more long runs in my future barring a miracle; a miracle pill, miracle surgery, whatever that might be. I wouldn't say that I'm sad about it, but it is reality. It makes me realize, as Deborah Vance did in this episode that

Bill Monty: 4:48

One day for me is now. I can't say, well, okay, okay, I want to do this, but life is busy right now I'm working and I'm trying to pay bills and this and that, so I'll do that one day, tomorrow. There are no more tomorrows. I don't feel there are anyway. I don't know how you feel about that. I think this is a great conversation to be having, but for me, I have an urgency that says I must do whatever it is I'm going to do and I must do it now.

Bill Monty: 5:17

There are so many things that can affect our abilities, physically and mentally, as we age, that relying on the belief that we will be able to do this as well as we think we can in the future, even the near future, might be a false hope. You know, to that end, I'm trying to do things that I want to do now. I'm not stressing out about the things that I can't do. I try not to live my life like that. Whatever it is I can't do, I can't do. There's no point crying over it, there's no point being sad about it. Find out what you can do and do it very well and celebrate it. And to that end, I've started expanding the podcast, my other podcast, Tales from South Florida, I've recently started doing video episodes, short videos about a minute and a half long, and this is a whole new skill set. I'm not comfortable on camera and you have to get equipment and I have to learn how to edit, but this is something I want to do.

Bill Monty: 6:20

I have long wanted to write a book. I'm probably not alone there. It seems like everyone you meet wants to write a book, maybe because self-publishing now is so easy, although still costly, that people do. But I've long been an advocate for customer service and ways that customers and corporations and organizations can make for a better customer experience, and I think I finally came up with the hook I've been looking for for that. So I have started writing a book because I don't have that many one days in front of me. If I'm going to write that book one day, one day better be today.

Bill Monty: 6:59

All right, real quickly, folks, I would love for you to get back with me. You can write me at BillMonty04@ gmailcom and let me know what your bucket list is. Remember that movie Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? So, do you have a bucket list? Do you have a list of one days of things you would like to accomplish? Let me know about them. Let's talk about them on the air. I can read it on-air or I can write you back. I'll email you back if you want me to and see what we can discuss.

Bill Monty: 7:29

I would love to find out what other people's dreams are. You know, do you want to learn how to scuba dive? Do you want to go scuba diving? Do you want to learn how to hike? Do you want to travel to Europe? You know what is on your bucket list. What is that thing that, "one day I will do this. If you only had one more day to finally do it, what would that one thing be? What would you accomplish, knowing that your one days are now starting to become limited?

Bill Monty: 7:56

With that, I'd also like to remind you to please look at the subscribe button and the like button. On whatever platform you're listening to this on, please subscribe and like. This allows you to be informed when a new episode is published. It doesn't cost anything to do this and your support shows up and helps the program, helps to grow the program. We want to keep it going. It's not expensive to do this, but it is not inexpensive.

Bill Monty: 8:25

The way that I ask you to help if you're enjoying the show this or Tales from South Florida is to please just go ahead and hit that subscribe button, hit the like button, leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. If you could drop an email or leave me a voicemail. If you just scroll down, whatever platform you're listening on, you can see that you can leave a text message or, leave a message it might say. Just click on that. It lets you do it just like on your phone, but you don't have to do anything, but just type on wherever you are. So, if you're listening to this on my Buzzsprout website or if you're in Spotify or if you're on YouTube, you can access that button and text me a message and I'll receive that. I do so appreciate it.

Bill Monty: 9:05

One final reminder my friends, if you could visit my friends over at babyboomerdotorg, babyboomer, that's singular dot org. Lots of podcasts there for you to listen to about aging and they're fun podcasts. There's trivia podcasts, there's local news, there's national news Anything you want to listen to. There's my podcast this one, Tales from South Florida. My friend Jeff Wolf has a great one called A World Gone Mad, a political podcast at babyboomer. org. They've also got games, they've got books, they've got audio books. You can connect with other baby boomers if you would like. Babyboomer. org is the place you need to go for all things Baby Boomer.

Bill Monty: 9:47

With that, once again, I'd like to remind you to please hit the subscribe button, the like button, write, leave us an email. I appreciate it so much. That will do it for this episode of Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older. Remember. I would love to hear what your one day wish is. Let me know and remember, as always, please be kind whenever possible because, my friends, as you know, it is always possible. Thank you, take care, be well.