Welcome to her comeback, transforming your life
after 50. I'm your host, Michelle Thompson. If
you've ever whispered to yourself, there has
to be more than this. You are in the right place.
This show is for women over 50 who have hit their
breaking point and are finally ready to stop
going at it alone. You've tried the self -help
box, the vision boards, positive thinking, but
you're still stuck. And here's what I know. You're
not broken. You just need the right support.
And that's exactly what you're going to find
here. Each week, I'll sit down with incredible
women who have transformed their lives. You'll
hear their real stories, the messy middle, the
breakthrough moments, the practical steps that
they took to create the lives that they love.
Because your lowest moment, it can be your launching
pad. So if you're done settling and ready for
your comeback, Stay with me. Let's discover how
other women have made it happen and how you can
too. Are you ready? This is her comeback. Good
day, everybody. I am so excited to be with you.
And I have my special guest today, Tracy Bush
-Pate from here in Naples, Florida. Welcome Tracy
to the show. Oh, thank you. I'm so happy to be
here. Oh, great. Thank you so much. Well, can
you tell our audience, tell our listeners a little
bit about yourself? My name is Tracy Bush -Pate.
I'm the mother of about four grown daughters
now. They're all getting married all of a sudden.
By February, they'll all four be married, and
I'm a professional woman. I'm associate publisher
for the American Chiropractor magazine as well
as a realtor, and I'm a podcast host for the
Being Tracy podcast. Oh, wow. You can find on
YouTube. Yes, yes when you really have a lot
of different hats you wear. Yes, I do. Yes. Yeah.
Where did they grow up? Did you grow up in Florida?
Tell us a little bit about your history. I'm
an Indiana girl. I came straight down from Indiana
after college. I grew up in a small town in Indiana
and went to college at Indiana University in
Bloomington. And after getting a degree in elementary
education and a minor in English and another
minor in radio and TV, I ended up moving down
to Florida, met my ex. Now just I call him the
father of my kids because he's my ex -husband,
but I figured that's more positive. The father
of my kids. And I met him. Working at his restaurant
because I that was my dream after college Was
waitressing tables because I thought it looked
like so much fun So anyway, that's how I met
him and we got married nine months after we met
and had four kids in six years and had a 17 year
marriage 19 years on paper and then by that time
we'd moved to the Republic of Panama and We got
divorced there, but that's where my my parents
lived at the time and I'm the oldest of six kids
the three youngest live there. Wow, how exciting.
I live in another country. Panama that kind of
sticks with you or something you took away from
that experience? Well, we decided to take the
kids there because it was an international way
of life. We wanted the kids to get a second language.
And so when my husband came home and said, you
know, that he wanted to move, I was like, well,
it seems like a no brainer. We have family in
Panama already. So we ended up taking the kids
there. And I loved it. I did love life there.
But it became obvious to me after a few years
there that I wasn't going to find the man. of
my dreams or the man that was going to take me
seriously enough to marry as a gringa in Panama.
So I ended up coming back after 10 years there.
Okay. All right wow well and as I understand
it from hearing a little bit of your story before
you've had quite a few moves and like even in
your 50s it seems like that you've moved to a
few different places. Well when I came back from
Panama I went I was like well I've been to Naples
so I don't want to go back to Naples again so
I went to the other side of Florida and so my
exercise my father of my kids, came back and
met his wife, now wife, at church, our church.
And I went to five years in South Beach, two
years in Coral Gables, where I got my driver's
license before I moved to Coral Gables. So that's
when I felt like I grew up, because I got a car
when I moved there. And when I lived in South
Beach, I just rode a bicycle around with two
baskets. you know, worked out of my home for
the American Chiropractor magazine. And then
when I moved to Coral Gables, I started doing
the real estate. And after two years there, I
moved to Boca Boca East, which is what I lived
in Meisner Park, which is just beautiful. And
then I moved to Boca West for about five months.
And then I moved to Palm Beach and I was only
there a couple of months and then decided, what
am I doing over here? It's a lot like Naples.
I'm going back to my kids. So that's what happened.
Now, what was key for you as you move to these
different towns, like kind of creating a new
life as you move to these different places? What
would you say was key? You mean that why did
I want to keep moving? Well, just kind of like
every time you move somewhere, you have to like,
there's new friends, new, you know, you create
a new life in that space, you know, in that town.
How was your experience in doing that, creating
a new space for yourself? My father always said
change is growth, and I really believe that change
is growth. Now that I'm back in Naples again,
where I started, I'm grateful that I had that
time, that I had that time to travel around and
see different parts of Florida and know exactly
why I want to be back here in Naples. And I really
enjoyed every moment that I spent in Panama and
in all over Florida. I'm an adventurer. It was
an adventurous trip, but and I'm grateful for
all the friendships that I made and I still have,
but I'm really happy. me back where I came from.
Awesome. Now it's so exciting, your podcast that
you do, The Being Tracy Show. Tell us some more
about that. What do you want listeners to take
away from your show? Well, what drove me really
is that I want people to understand that they
need to have a calling to inspire themselves,
to believe in themselves again, and that we've
all got a story. We've all been through trials
and tribulations that make us the wonderful pieces
that we are today. And so I love to hear people
go through their stories and pick out the little
nuggets of wisdom that we can all gain from those
stories to become better individuals ourselves.
Yeah, awesome. What challenges or adversities
have you faced in your life that's kind of shaped
the woman that you are today? Well, very young,
at the age of 20, I had a car accident where
I was driving to it. I worked for the National
Cheerleaders Association. I don't know if you
ever worked, was a cheerleader, you were ever
a cheerleader. I was not. Big association, National
Cheerleaders. My mom used to work for them when
she was young and she worked for a man named
Herkey, which there's a Herkey job, the Herkimer.
And Lawrence Herkimer was her boss. And anyway,
I worked for that camp and I was driving to one
of the camps in Tennessee because they were all
over different states. And my car overturned
three times and threw me back into the road 75
feet. Oh, wow. I don't remember. I don't remember
that. But it was I was airlifted to the hospital
and I was in it for five days. And when I woke
up, I couldn't move the right side of my body.
And I didn't know who my parents were. So I had
a time there where I had to regain my strength
back, regain my mentality back. And the way that
I did that was my father was a chiropractor.
He passed in 2023, but he founded the most famous,
the American Chiropractor Magazine, which we
mailed to 40 ,000 chiropractors, each issue 13
issues a year now. that teaching, he knew what,
what I needed was to get back to doing what I'd
always done, which is I was an athlete, I was
a swimmer. So he threw me back into the pool,
but I couldn't use the right side of my body.
So that was like a little bit of the first time
after me. But soon enough, the, the muscle mentality
came back, the remembrance of what my body used
to do came back and I was swimming laps. And
that's how, when my My parents did a word association
test with me and they said life and I said school.
I wanted to go back to school, Indiana. So I
got back to school a week late, which had. living
in a place that they called the Virgin Vault
in the top floor of Forest Dorm, because they'd
already given my room away. But, you know, so
that just started me back again. And, you know,
that was a little bit of a challenge. But other
than that, in Florida, I did run across some
challenges when I lived on my own over there
on the other side of Florida. And those were
what, I guess, strive, gave me the desire to
keep moving forward and not look backward. At
any point, did you ever feel like you were just?
Stuck or you didn't know what to do or I just
want to quit Yeah, and so that's another that's
another cause for my story for my podcast is
for people not to know that they have a place
where they can feel seen and heard and not judged
because because I went through that in my travels
and and it's very scary and hard to be out there
alone. And when you have a wonderful family like
I do here in Naples, I was like, what am I still
doing over here by myself? You know, and for
people that don't have family, I would say reach
out to your friend family, because most of us
have a friend family. If you've been a good friend,
you have friends. So that's kind of the people
that I try to associate myself with during that
difficult time to keep myself moving forward
and remembering, because they kept speaking.
life into me remembering what I had to offer.
That's so awesome. That's right. And is there
any particular thing that comes to mind as far
as these different mindset shifts of how you
were able to turn adversity into something good?
Was there any particular thing that helped you
through that? I think it's important for people
to remember that I think when I realized that
the adversity wasn't happening to me, it was
happening for me. And I think it was really important
for me to keep asking myself, what is this? Why
is this happening to me? Why does this keep happening?
What am I supposed to be learning from this?
What are you trying to teach me? And then finally,
at the end, I was just like, OK, God, I get it.
bad things kept happening to me when I lived
in Miami, like about five or six really bad things
happened in the course of about six months. My
sister said, Tracy, anybody that those things
would have happened to would have just crumbled.
But she was really impressed and I kept going,
you know? And I tell this story on my podcast
called The Bein' Tracy Show Podcast. It's called
Why Did You Leave Miami? And so that is... You
know what the idea is not to get stuck in the
pain but to move from it Yeah, I love that. That's
awesome I've heard it said that pain can be the
touch point of growth and I can identify with
that in my own life. Yeah I'm sure everybody,
everybody has a story, right? That's the idea
here. Everybody has a story. My show is called
Being Tracy, but I can see what it's like to
be Tracy. I can't see what it's like to be you,
Michelle. And that's why you were such a good,
great guest on my show. Thank you. Oh, it was
an honor being on your show. Thank you. Put that
show down in the bio so everybody can see it.
Absolutely. I will definitely put that link there
too. As we reach out to women, we talk to women
our age every day. What is one message that you
hope that our friends and family hear? Well,
I want everyone to know that we all have a story
and your story. You're not broken. You have.
The world needs you. The world needs you and
your story and. your story can help somebody
else. So I also believe in not keeping things
quiet, which is sharing what you've gone through
and sharing the pain that you've gone through,
but also not wallowing in it. You know, I think
it's really important for people to remember.
OK, there's my my sister would say to me, she'd
say, it's OK, Tracy, cry, just cry, feel the
pain, feel the pain. But there but I have heard
that said a number of times. I mean, it's important
for you to take that time to yourself, feel the
pain that you're going through at that moment
and then use that pain to. boost you into something
better. And sometimes we have to pray and we
have to go inside ourselves and to hear what
it is we're supposed to do. Like in my situation,
I finally had to come to the realization that
I wasn't meant to be in Miami. I thought I was.
I thought, boy, I'd be so great in Miami. But
when these things kept happening to push me out
of Miami, I finally said, OK, God, I give up.
What do you want? from me, where should I go
now? And then all the building blocks started
falling into place for me to move to Boca. And
it just happened in an instant. And when I became
open to that idea, and then it just became easy.
And as soon as I moved, it was just wonderful.
My life started really opening up again. And
so I'm glad I've gone through all those different
phases in my life. Isn't it incredible as you
were describing that like when we're holding
on to something like you're saying I need to
be in Miami and I've had things in my life where
I've just held on to them. This is where I'm
supposed to be when we take ourself through so
much pain. But then when we let go and we become
open to hear. another way, another path, how
things just kind of can fall into place, just
like you were talking about. Get rigid and think,
oh no, I'm supposed to do this. I'd be so great
in Miami. But then I thought, you know what,
I was in Miami Beach for five years, Coral Gables
for two. And then the grand finale was that all
these things just started happening to me to
push me onto something better. That's right.
That's awesome. I love that. I love it. Anything
that you would say if you could speak on the
world stage, if we were gonna send your message
to the world, is there anything different that
you would say that you haven't already said?
What do you think that message is? Well, I just,
I want everybody to know that they are enough,
that people deserve to be seen and heard. And
I want everyone to feel like their story is important
and that we want to hear their story. And so
I'm in the process of producing a book, my first
book. Wonderful. That's great. And I'm getting
on the speaking stages, too. So it's going to
be a much larger stage for me here coming forward.
Thank you for you. That's wonderful. Yeah. So
you're still growing and transforming and creating
that life that you want. That's amazing. I love
it. What do you do for fun? For fun, I love to,
well, when I'm invited on the boat, I love to
go on the boat. And I love to travel. I love
to travel. And I love to just go out and walk
by myself a lot of times. I just go out and walk.
And I don't even like to listen to music. I like
to walk along the beach and listen to the waves
and just meditate and talk to God and find out
what my next step should be. That's kind of what
I love to do. We're so blessed that we're both
in southwest Florida and it's just a paradise
here. I love it. It is, yes. What's the best
way that our listeners can get in touch with
you? How can they reach out to you? Okay, I have
an email. It's info at the being. Tracyshow .com.
That's B -E -I -N -G -T -R -A -C -Y show .com.
And then I also have a podcast that I just mentioned
on YouTube, which is the Being Tracy Show podcast,
B -E -I -N -G -T -R -A -C -Y. And that is...
is up there and it has all of my contact information
in it as well. And I also have a pretty big page
on Facebook, which is called, what do you think?
It's called Being Tracy. That's it. Those are
all great ways to get a hold of me. Well, I thank
you so much for being with me today, Tracy. You're
an amazing woman and just a real inspiration
to others out there that you can recreate your
life and make the life that you want at any time.
And you have provided a great example of that.
So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's so nice
to talk with you further too. Yes. Thank you
so much. All right. Well, until next time, check
out the Being Tracy Show out there on her YouTube
channel. Thanks, everyone. Bye bye, guys. Thank
you so much for spending time with me today.
I am truly grateful that you chose to listen
in and I hope that this conversation sparked
something meaningful for you. Please take a moment
to subscribe, leave a review. It helps other
women to find us who need to hear these stories
too. And if you know someone who is ready for
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