This month, we have *two* very special guests—Lois Shaw and Mary Lou Keller—with whom we discuss the pains and gains of being a ‘mature student’ and returning to higher education later in life. After 30 years as a family welfare attorney in Colorado, Mary Lou chose to pursue a Master’s in Human Rights and Democratization at the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice, Italy. Lois trained as a journalist before moving to Kenya with her family and, at the age of 70, finished her PhD in Transformational Leadership at Africa International University in Nairobi. In this episode, we chat about lifelong academic journeys; why our guests chose to pivot and the challenges of going back to school; navigating loss and grief, as well as feelings of isolation and geographical removal from one’s support system when studying abroad; and the challenges of maintaining work-life balance as a mature student with an established career and home life. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review! You can also subscribe to BeDo’s quarterly newsletter for exclusive updates about upcoming episodes and events. Is there a topic you'd like to see covered? Know someone we should talk to? Get in touch at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you. Happy listening!