Welcome to the Why Not Today podcast where we celebrate courage, determination, and the
power of saying, Why Not Today.
I'm your host, Leslie Cain, and in each episode we dive into inspiring stories of individuals
who have taken bold steps, faced their fears, and embraced the possibility of today.
From entrepreneurs to artists, dreamers to doers, we explore the moments when they said,
Enough Waiting, Why Not Today.
Join me as we uncover the heartwarming, the audacious, and the transformative, whether
it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles, or simply choosing joy.
Our guests share their journeys and inspire us all.
I started this podcast to honor my father, Patrick Cain, who often said, Why Not Today.
And remember, you're just one decision away from changing your life.
And I am excited to find out more about my guests.
I don't know really well.
We did a call the other day, but I felt like after our call, the introduction call, I feel
like I've been in you forever.
And we were connected with lots of different people on Facebook and things.
But I officially met Elaine, or saw you speak at Tina Johnson's Women's Summit about a month
ago.
And then, as I said, we did a call and you're just, we've got lots of great connections.
And I felt like you were my long-last friend when we talked the other day.
And so I'm excited to hear your story and share with our guests.
You've definitely got a health journey and lots of courage.
So before we officially get started with that, why don't you introduce yourself, Elaine,
and a fun fact about you.
Okay.
Well, hi, Leslie.
Thank you so much.
I felt the same way.
And what was so such fun is that our connections were like, they were all in left field.
And it was great.
And I love this whole thing and your connection with your dad.
And I have that special thing with mine, which is why I have 14 butterfly bushes around my
house because every time I see a butterfly, it's my father and my mother.
I've always thought that too, just another connection.
I'm not surprised.
And a good friend of mine passed away last year, unfortunately, in the day of his funeral
where he was sitting outside his mom's house and a butterfly flew on his cousin's hand
and just sat there.
And then it flew on my hand and I took a picture of it, literally sat on my hand for a half
an hour until I shoot it away.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I see them in these strangest places.
Yeah.
Go, hi, dad.
Hi, mom.
Thanks for coming.
I love that.
Another connection.
Introduce yourself in a little bit about who Elaine is.
Okay.
Well, I am Elaine Gibson and I am the ultimate Jewish grandmother from New York City.
Born in Chicago, raised in New York.
So I was the child my mother was told she could never have.
Oh, wow.
In those days, I mean, just in full disclosure on Mother's Day weekend, actually 80 years
old.
And in those days, so my mom had romantic fever.
And in those days, they were, which was like a gazillion years ago, they were very concerned
about the heart and all this and that.
So she was told she couldn't have any more children.
So my dad, who was in the retail business because during the Depression, he took his
father out of a ditch who was trying to get money to send him to medical school.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it was all.
So he was transferred to Chicago from New York.
My mom goes in for her checkup and they say the doctor says, well, Jeanette, how am I
going to be doing more children?
And she said, well, I was told I couldn't.
And he said, that's ridiculous.
You're healthy.
Your heart is healthy as an ox.
Go home and make a little girl.
Aw.
So 11 months later on Mother's Day, I was born.
Oh, how special.
No fun.
Yes.
That's not the fun fact.
That's just part of what.
Part of who I am, right?
For whatever that means.
So here's the fun fact.
I act.
So when I grew up in New York, I was certain I was fortunate of less than that my parents
could take me to Broadway in a very early age.
I actually saw Sammy Davis Jr. on Broadway.
I saw Mary Barrett and play Peter Pan originate the role.
So I just fell in love with it.
And I, so my fun fact is that with all the science and all those other things I have with
what I do, I actually have a graduate degree in dance.
Wow.
Yes.
And I see the world through music.
Yes.
And everything I do is filled with music and musical references and all that.
So that's my fun fact.
I actually have a graduate degree in dance and my most fun role was in a dinner theater
in Gypsy playing one of the strippers who lit up in the dark.
Yeah.
Have fun.
But I'm a city girl and I went to summer camp from the age of eight.
We did that in New York.
If we were fortunate enough.
I went away for eight weeks and now my children have gone and my grandchildren, everybody's
on the same thing.
I'm all about legacy and all of that.
Awesome.
But this is where I fell in love with my girlfriends.
It was a brother and sister camp.
And this is where I was happiest my whole life.
And this is why everything that I do now is for and with women.
So yeah, I had a great childhood, very, very, very, very much love, but very, very different
times.
So I never was encouraged to be my best.
Right.
Because women weren't doing this.
Right.
Gloria Stein and we're talking about, right?
Yeah.
So I grew up in New York and went to summer camp and then met my first husband, my children's
father.
And then we came to Washington, DC during the Ed Muskie campaign and now I'm remarried
and live in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.
We married for almost 34 years now.
I have six grandchildren and they still call me Gaga.
Even my six to grant six foot two grandson, who's 26 still calls me Gaga.
You know, that connection of a grandparents is amazing.
I know one time my nephew, I said something not really nice to my mother.
I don't remember what it was, but she annoyed me and my nephew looked at me and goes, don't
talk to my grandma like that.
And I'm like, you're on team grandma.
He's like, that is the only team to be on.
The only team.
Yeah.
That's so powerful.
So yeah, I love the summer camp.
I didn't get to go to summer camp.
I was the oldest of six kids and we from the age of 10, we lived on a lake and grew up
in Reston.
There were pools everywhere.
Oh, sure.
Right.
So like there was no summer camp.
We were summer camp.
You were.
Yeah.
And but you did all the fun things.
And growing up in New York, I mean, I never saw trees and stuff, you know.
So now, now I'm the, the now, you know, I, I work.
Yeah.
I'm in the Shenandoah Valley, I feel like I'm at summer camp.
Love it.
Oh, they long.
So Elaine, what does courage mean?
Courage to me means trusting your soul.
We are so bombarded with other things.
You know, we all have monkey mind.
We all are mind always tells us stories and creates so much doubt, but we know inside what's
right.
We know inside who we are.
And as you know, I, I now I work with women that have cancer, having beaten stage four
cancer without traditional protocols.
This is what I do.
But it's trusting how we're created because we know we really know inside us who we are
and what we want to do.
And trusting that is the seed of courage.
Yeah.
And I kind of call those sometimes my why not today moments with people.
It's like, you know, the thing and you wake up in the middle of the night or it's just
been ruminating your head and you finally say, yes, you trust your soul because there
is so much noise out there and so much comparison, so much judgment, so much doubt.
And you know, as women too, we do have that doubt that we just came naturally and we've
had to fight to be more confident, but to be able to trust ourselves and not look left
to right or back or forward just to go for it and trust that soul.
So I love that definition.
Oh, good.
I'm good.
Yeah.
So everybody's got a different one.
It's interesting.
The only person that's ever looked it up is my brother.
All right.
So you've had a journey and lots of courage.
And I always say where we start and where we finish are completely different.
So as a dancer to now working in the health field, you've come a long way.
So can you share maybe some why not today moments, part of your current journey that
would encourage somebody else and share your story?
Sure.
So in 2001, I was diagnosed with a very early stage cancer, non-Hatch-Kunstl-Sama.
I went out of the country, they didn't do the things I wanted at that point.
I just knew that at that moment, why not today trusting that I just wasn't ready to follow
traditional.
I had been in, I spent a lot of, you know, growing up when I grew up, the only thing that
I really was led to, and this is not judgment.
This is to have a teacher certificate in my back pocket.
Okay.
You know, and I did.
Were you a teacher?
I was.
Okay.
I was actually in New Haven, Connecticut during the riots in the 60s, and they built
a brand new high school in the middle of the city, and they bust in all the suburban
kids.
Wow.
Right?
Yeah.
And you started with a degree in dance.
I had started with a degree in education in CIS ed.
I grew up on third base.
I was in CIS ed.
It was a great way to get to kids.
But using that, so we did West Side Story, and we had a Black Maria, and a White Tony,
and things like that.
But I just never really had anything that I was passionate about.
That was in a line, in a lane, in a journey to be successful in this culture.
Right.
Yeah.
You know, we both know Tina very well.
She's been a mentor of mine for quite a long time, and she's sponsored everything that
we do as well.
And when all those archetype things like strength finders, or all of these things, I am way
outside the line.
I mean, I'm so far outside the line that it's almost not even digitized.
Wow.
And I'm usually right in between the lines.
Yeah.
Right.
Not strong on everything, but a little of a line.
I am the extreme creative, which makes it challenging to get things done.
But I never really had a path that, you know, my children have great careers.
My grandchildren have great, but I never really was taught to be my best, find my best.
But there was always something inside me, right?
Oh, it's there.
Yes.
And it was always there.
It was knocking at the door, and it was like, it was just always something more.
So I had my help, moment, defining moment, right?
Financing.
Yeah.
And so I, in six months, I was cancer-free, right?
You know, awesome.
18 months after being cancer-free for five years, I come back from the Galapagos Islands,
and I had some things because as a dancer and an athlete, I'm very, very, very tuned
into my body, right?
Right.
And it was like, so I thought I had a parasite, right?
What else would it be?
So two and a half months later, I found myself in front of a woman who said, we don't think
you're going to see your grandchildren draw up.
And it's like, have you ever met a Jewish grandmother from New York?
I mean, I don't understand who you're having this conversation with.
So I went on my journey, which was to do things in it, moderate, integrated, but did
a lot of building up my body.
How did the health, what are the healthiest people, what are the healthiest people do?
Right.
Later, I found myself cancer-free again.
Now, I had already started a business.
I was in, um, freeing healthy holistic homes, getting in that, doing some workshops and
stuff like that.
So now I, now I have a, you know, it's interesting the word that came to me was gift.
So now I have something where I think I can make a difference.
But you know what?
Starting your own business is insane.
Yes.
And that's why I do this podcast and do coaching for women because it's hard work.
It, yeah, it's very realistic.
And I'm not structured.
So I have a great team around me.
My team's been with me 10 or 12 years, but which is why I have somebody like Tina who's
there, you know, because somewhere in the middle, there, there is some things that can
get done.
Right.
But so here are some, some defining moments for that I have come across in my experience.
First of all, people are basically good.
Okay.
In camp, when everybody was away from everybody else, now I started at eight.
I went until I got married.
Then I went back with my kids were there.
Now my grandchildren are there.
But when kids are together without all the bombarding, they become brothers, they become
sisters and it's lifetime.
I have girlfriends from when I was eight from.
Wow.
Yeah.
And I see it with my children and my grandchildren.
So now my son, so my children are 54 and 56, my sons in California, his boys go to UT
in Austin.
He has, this is crazy.
Each one of those boys have fraternity brothers from my world.
One of them, Noah has a fraternity brother who is the grandson of one of the two, my
best friends from when we were eight years old in camp.
So it, you know, it's this connection.
I'm all about connections.
Yeah.
Somebody told me one time that was, I had a crazy connection with someone and she goes,
when you're living your life in alignment to your values, those connections appear.
Yes.
And not everybody can take that person that does.
I've had women say, you scare me.
I'm sorry.
And I think to myself, you need to get some of these toxins out of your body so you could
feel joyful, you know.
Yeah.
Feel the energy.
So here's what, here's what I started to see.
Aside from the, the, the wonderful, the wonderful way people were living just from the technologies
whether it's the water we use, the air, any of that.
So now I start putting together, because now I'm the counselor, the teacher, right?
And I can do it my way.
So, so, and I don't mean my way, the highway, just mean I can create it around joy and,
and legacy because that's what I'm all about, right?
So I started to see that as I was working with women, their lives changed, their businesses
changed, their careers changed.
And it was like, wow, that's kind of really cool.
So I was doing it.
I mean, I had one woman that came to me to lose weight.
We met at a business, business conference, because at that time I had lost 28 pounds
just trying to eat, right?
And all that.
And she was a nurse, but she was running her husband's dental office.
So now she's a very influential person in the hospice nursing space because the cleaner
your body, the deeper your thoughts.
Oh, true.
When you get rid of all the toxins and the chemicals in your body, it gets rid of all
that stuff that clouds us, that makes us feel less than.
So I am finding women doing amazing things.
And then I decided that from private coaching, which I love, I needed to touch more people.
And so now we do it in groups.
And it's just amazing.
But the deeper, the cleaner your body, the deeper your thoughts, and hence the greater
your impact.
And for me, that's what it's all about.
I have seen women do less because they feel less than physically.
You know, I mean, you heard me saying, and it's true, but it's hard to change the world
when you can't even poop, right?
But the same when you can't sleep or when you don't feel it.
Just don't get the stuff done.
And sometimes it just means that you're not going to your kid's sock game or whatever
that is.
So putting that together, you know, when at almost 80, I'm in a 55 and over resort community
and everybody's out doing all these things.
And I do them.
And I don't deprive myself of anything.
But I just love, love, love the women I work with.
And then I see what their impact is.
And that's, that is to me, the greatest way to have an impact and to change the world
and to have your legacy because we all have a ripple that they're just all different.
Right.
And that ripple effect.
And I often wear and I've got it on today.
I'm wearing a starfish necklace.
Do you know the story of the starfish?
I do.
Yeah.
So, you know, you just never know who that one person you're going to touch.
Exactly.
Or who that one person that's going to take your life, your business in a totally different
trajectory.
Right.
And it's being open to those people.
As you said, the energy, the friends be open to, you know, when people have been introduced
to a lot more people recently because of the podcast, people are like, oh, you need to
meet this person, you should talk to this person.
And I try to have a conversation beforehand and just to see if we have matching energy.
This is, this podcast is my baby and I want to make sure I have the right people on it.
And not just somebody because they wrote a book or they think they've done something
amazing to be, you know, to feel that energy, feel that connection with somebody and make
a difference because you just never know who's listening.
I've run into a couple of people, like one person I ran into, she's like, oh, you're
Leslie with the podcast.
And I'm like, and this was a year or so ago.
Yeah.
And I'm like, yes, she's my, your sister told me about it and I've been listening to it
on the way to work.
And I actually, because of listening to it, quit my job and my commute to have a job closer
to home because you gave me permission.
So that's why I love the journey and what you're doing.
And I'm bummed I missed the training you did with Tina's group the other day.
I need to try to find a recording.
But so if you could share, you know, we all know health is important and there's so many
different ideas and thoughts.
But if somebody wanted to like, okay, what's the first step to, or the first couple steps
to making a difference and in your own body and your own life.
That's a great question.
And I don't say that because you're supposed to say that's a great question.
Most people don't ask that question.
So remember, I'm the dancer and choreographer, I've done many much geographies professionally
and in schools and stuff like that.
But here's the thing for me, and because I'm so all I can be so all over the place, I must
follow the science.
And when we follow the science, there is a platform to stand on and be courageous with
because you know, my intention is to help women and everybody create bodies where where
disease and inflammation and autoimmune can't live.
So basically, most of the time, we're filling our bodies with calories, but our cells are
starving for nutrients and oxygen.
So we've gone to processed foods, we've gone to fad diets, people listen, I've got all
the badges, Weight Watchers, NutriSystems, Jenny Craig, my mother and I even did the
Rhybrid diet.
Did you imagine that?
I haven't heard of that one.
I know.
Well, you know, when you're in Jewish community, it was Jewish Rhybrid and you have that with
everything.
But understanding that this is not a religious statement, okay, that we are created to be
healthy, that God has given us everything that we need.
So everything that we do is turning to nature for all solutions.
Right.
And most people, you know, you people are dehydrated and all this and that is because
we are lacking nutrients and oxygen.
So when we look at the water we drink or the food that we eat, it must be natural.
And I call it eating from God's garden, right?
So giving up processed foods.
And I'm not about depriving anything.
I mean, there's nothing about me that screams deprivation.
Right.
Nothing, right?
It's not about, oh, do I have to give this up?
No, like I never care what you're eating as long as you're eating from the right list.
You know, so for people that are looking just to start, if you can look at things like dairy
and sugar and wheat, this is the science behind the cells.
Okay, we all hear without getting so scientific, but we all hear free radicals, free everybody,
here's a free radicals, but nobody knows what it really means.
And for, you know, we're walking around with more damaged cells and we have healthy cells.
So everything has energy, you know that everything has a positive and negative charge.
So a damaged cell when we have inflammation, we can't sleep or anything like that.
We have too many cells that have lost that negative charge.
And that's because we're not eating from the earth anymore, which is, you know, that's
all that's all.
Right.
And to whole foods, mostly vegetables, not so much fruit, I call the 80-20, you know,
for every fruit you have, which is has sugar.
Yes, it's natural.
Just be sure that you bounce it with like 80% of the other more green and stuff like
that.
And it's not difficult, but when you can just know that you are feeding yourselves, that
is the biggest form of self-care, which women don't do enough of.
So if you, you know, I start every day with hot water with lemon.
It's a way to honor yourself to begin the day.
Right.
And you can tell yourself first, and that brings oxygen and all that to your brain.
And you start to feel better.
Look at some of the, look at bringing some of the most alkaline, oxygen-rich foods.
Kale, spinach, celery, avocado, chard, all these.
All that stuff is good for you and makes you feel better.
But how come, and I don't know if it's just me or other people that, and it may be upbringing
too.
You're tired, you're fatigued, you're stressed, it's the end of the day.
I go, I don't, the healthy things, although I feel better after I eat it.
That's not what I go to.
Because you've gone too far without it.
Yeah.
If you're feeling here, if you're feeling tired, listen, you've been coaching women,
you know about business, you have a business, you have businesses.
What you do today is a reflection of what you did 90 days before in your business.
How you feel at this very moment is a reflection of what you've put in your body the last 24
hours.
Yeah.
So just making, and I know, make those better choices, eat those healthy things.
But so here's the thing, that's the courage of trusting your soul.
When you are, you are who you are and you want to be.
So in my, everything around me has to do with my family.
I wear jewelry that was my mother's and my late sister-in-laws.
Right?
I mean, this is, I surround myself.
This was my mother's vanity, her makeup table.
Right?
Yeah.
So this is, so when, this just goes back to courage.
When you understand that eating from God's garden, this, we have so much beautiful produce.
He has such great things.
You know, just do it.
And I know that, you know, we have X amount of time, but you said you feel better.
So why not feel better earlier?
Yeah.
It all makes sense.
And I know all that stuff.
Well, so here's a great quote.
Knowing and not doing is not knowing.
That's true.
Knowing and not doing is not knowing.
Right?
And then the other quote that I love is from John Wooden, who was the most successful basketball
coach in college history.
Is that it's what you learn after you know it all that matters.
And you say that again.
It's what you learn after you know it all that matters.
And that's just helping us let go, letting go of things that don't do, don't do a service.
You know, that don't support us.
You are so right.
And when you're trusting your soul and you're always there, then you, then it's easier to
make it's easier to make better choices because we are tuned into that soul, who we are, who
we want to be, what we want to do all the time.
And of course that has to do with being present all the time.
I mean, there's a lot we're talking about.
I could guess.
And I know we could go on and on.
And so it's having that courage to say why not today and get rid of the junk in your
house.
So if we could reverse that, if I may, sure, bring wonderful things in.
I was about to say bring good things in.
Yes.
So talking about bringing things in the positive things rather than I have to get rid of this,
I have to get rid of that.
So what, what, what can I bring in today?
Right.
And eat what you love.
Eat what you love.
Let me just say it's everybody knows when you are craving sweets, your body is asking
for fat.
Really?
Yeah.
So eat some avocado and cooking it.
Right.
It's just, it's amazing.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Last week and learn, we could go on and on forever.
Yeah.
And listen to the whisper of your body.
You said, when you're tired, okay, what, what is, what is it asking for?
Right.
Yeah.
Yesterday with this time change, I was very tired.
Like a nap would be good.
And I took the dog out.
I'm like, you know what, we're just going to go all the way around the lake because I'll
feel much better.
Did you?
I did.
Of course.
Yeah.
High exercising, moving and being outside and.
Yes.
All the things.
You go girlfriend.
I know all the stuff.
So how would you encourage somebody else to start that journey?
I know we kind of just talked about that, but encourage somebody to take, to say why not
today to take their health seriously.
And take care of themselves.
I would encourage anybody to get out in nature.
Let me just say these decisions are not made in the middle of chaos.
That's true.
Right.
Unless we are present, we will never make a decision.
So you said it.
You didn't even know why, but get out in nature.
Remember everything I turned to nature, nature, get out into in nature, walk out for five
minutes, just be by yourself, take a hot bubble bath, whatever it is, just sit, even
if you're just sitting quietly and breathing and you're thinking about who am I?
What do I really want?
And this has to come first.
Otherwise, it's very easy to be distracted.
You had a dog that you love that needed to go out.
You hadn't had that.
Perhaps you wouldn't have gone out.
Probably not.
Yeah.
So think quietly.
Find a way to be present, whether it's breathing, whether it's having a cup of hot water with
lemon, whether it's walking.
I'm telling you, walk out in nature for five minutes and you will have a different energy
source around you.
Yeah.
I know that for sure.
And I live on a lake.
So yeah.
Exactly.
And I want to be able to go out and walk around and make such a difference.
So we have some, I have a method called extraordinary living made easy, right?
And it's trade locked and all that.
But I have like, what are your my extraordinary vision?
What is my, and I have all these words, my extraordinary vision, my extraordinary intentions.
What are they?
Whether you think about them or write them down for me, you know, I intend to be there
for great and, and all of that, right?
So what are your extraordinary visions?
What are your extraordinary intentions?
And then what are your extraordinary must-haves?
Those three things in life will unfold.
It will unveil and you'll, you know, the, the cleaner your body, the deeper your thoughts
and it'll be like, where did this come from?
Yeah.
So much good stuff.
I've been taking lots of notes and I'm going to have to listen to this again and we could
go on and on, but I try to limit these so we're not going on too long.
So I always ask, you know, how did you know my dad or the connection to my dad?
And so first I'd say the first thing you mentioned was butterflies, which I feel like
that's definitely connection to my dad.
But I know when you were talking to him the other day, you said, trying to explain where
you lived and you're like, do you know where Berryville is?
And I'm like, yeah, that's where my dad is buried.
And there's a monastery or monastery and it's got, it's on the Shenandoah River and
it's absolutely beautiful.
And you're like, I know where that is.
And you had just bought a plot there.
We just did that right.
Well, and so that's an amazing connection.
That was like, oh my God.
A lot of people don't know about that place.
And it was something that my mom discovered with a friend and it's funny.
A lot of people, my parents' ages now are buried out.
People that have passed away are buried out there.
Oh my gosh, I love it.
I love it.
I didn't know about it.
And Pat Wurz, who is a friend in our community, everything really, and now she's out here.
So she and Jerry and Nevin and I have it, our anniversaries are like a week apart.
We were out for dinner and they, they were telling us and that's how we found out about
it.
Wow.
So yeah, I love going out there and just spending time.
So beautiful out there.
So, well, thank you.
So if people want to find you, Elaine, where's the best place to find you?
And I'm going to share all your contact in the show notes.
Renewedlivinginc.com.
That'll be in the show notes too.
So your website's the best place to find you.
Sure.
And, or Elaine at Renewedlivinginc.com, reach out and, you know, we do a lot more than,
than working with women that have cancer.
That's what I specialize in right now, but we've been, I've been doing everything for
years no matter what's going on.
Yeah.
Well, I'm excited to get to know you better and work with you.
So well, thank you for being our guest and for sharing your journey and your courage.
And I love just how it goes back to summer camp.
It does.
Isn't it wonderful?
It's just so much fun to be there.
Yeah.
So let me thank you for a whole group of women that listen to what you do and their stories
and having the courage to do something because your ripple is so huge that you won't even
ever really know how far it reaches.
You just never know.
So thank you for what you do.
Oh, you're welcome.
Thank you.
You know, and I just feel like, just like you said, in the heart of my heart and my being
that I know this is something bigger than me and we are making a difference.
And so some of the other things I'm doing to make a difference and like you, I'm very
creative and all the ideas.
So if anybody's looking for help with feeling a little overwhelmed in the chaos in your
life, I've started a course to support women in business with that.
Also do some one-on-one coaching.
And one of my passions, dreams that I've always talked about with this podcast and working
with nonprofits is definitely something that's near and dear to my heart.
And so I'm involved in so many.
So I've started kicked it off the end of October and for November that anybody that wants any
why not today merchandise, whether it's a t-shirt or a cup or a mug or just a vinyl,
20% of all the sales are going to go to a nonprofit called Spark, which provides places
for people with severe disabilities to go during the day and have activities.
So we're going to have another nonprofit every month and be able to give back and share
the word just to say why not today.
We need to be brave.
So thank you, Elaine for sharing.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
And thank you everybody for joining us on this inspiring journey.
Remember every day is an opportunity to take action, chase your dreams and make a difference.
So why not today?
Make sure you subscribe, share and review and just keep pushing forward until next time.
Remember always say why not today?