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What if doing less could actually give you more? Author and minimalist Christine Platt, known as The Afrominimalist, joins us to explore how letting go of clutter—physical and emotional—can lead to a life of greater intention, peace, and purpose. Her new book, Less Is Liberating, challenges the myth that our worth is tied to our busyness or possessions. In this conversation, Christine opens up about her own transformation—from attorney, federal government leader, to writer and minimalist—and shares how living with less helped her rediscover herself after parenting, career, and overwhelm. If you’ve ever struggled with the question “Who am I now?” or felt burdened by the weight of “shoulds,” you’ll want to listen closely. This episode is about redefining freedom—not just freedom from, but freedom for—the life you truly want in retirement.
Christine Platt joins us from Washington, DC.
In This Conversation, You’ll Learn:
– How Christine’s minimalist journey began—and what she discovered about consumerism and identity.
– Why overwhelm became her “baseline” and how she learned to listen to her body’s warning signs.
– What the “five wells” of wellness reveal about balance and self-care.
– How limiting beliefs form—and how they shape our behavior long after we leave work.
– The powerful distinction between freedom from and freedom for in retirement.
– How to reclaim your time, your energy, and your sense of self.
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Bio
Christine Platt is the author of
a multi-hyphenate, multi-genre author whose work centers the journey of personal liberation—inviting readers to examine, release, and reimagine the narratives that shape their lives.
From adult fiction and lifestyle to children’s literature and cultural commentary, Christine’s expansive body of work defies genre limitations by centering an empowering throughline: understanding and achieving personal liberation. With each book, Christine affirms what she knows to be true: liberation is not a destination—it is a way of being. And through the power of storytelling, she helps others find their way.
Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies, Master of Arts in African and African-American Studies, and a Juris Doctorate from Stetson University College of Law.
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For More on Christine Platt
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Podcast Episodes You May Like
Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff – Matt Paxton
The Joy of Saying No – Natalie Lue
Stop People Pleasing – Hailey Magee
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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast
There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.
About Retirement Wisdom
I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.
Schedule a call today to discuss how the Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one — on your own terms.
About Your Podcast Host
Joe Casey is an executive coach who helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a 26-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking.
Joe has earned Master’s degrees from the University of Southern California in Gerontology (at age 60), the University of Pennsylvania, and Middlesex University (UK), a BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his coaching certification from Columbia University.
In addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, ranked in the top 1% globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.
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Wise Quotes
On Overwhelm
“When overwhelm is your baseline, you’ve stopped listening to your body. The work is learning to pause and ask: which of my wells needs care right now?”
On Becoming an Empty Nester
“I realized I’d spent the majority of my adulthood mothering.It was like all I knew how to do. And so when our daughter went off to college,there were times that the the silence and the space felt very unsettling, right? When, as a writer, you have a project you’re always head down, it’s kind of siloed anyway. But when you don’t have a project, it’s even more quiet. And I just found myself like, filling, filling, trying to just fill that space. And coming to ultimately realize that overwhelm was kind of my baseline, like my body didn’t know, it felt unfamiliar to not be overwhelmed. And like, Man, I should be doing something, I should be doing something. And then I was doing too much.
On Less
I feel like [less] is a word that unfortunately has gotten a bad rap. I hope this book Less is Liberation: Finding Freedom from a Life of Overwhelm will give it a rebrand. But I feel like we tend to associate that word with scarcity, with loss, with lack – it has like a negative connotation. And almost because we never really fill in what comes after that, which is, it does leave you room for so much more of what you want and enjoy.”
On the Five Wells of Wellness
“She explained to me the five foundations of wellness. And she said, we look at your physical health – how are you? How’s your body? How’s your movement? How are you resting? How are you eating? We look at your mental health. Are you problem solving? Are you processing new information? Are you reading a book? Are you listening to an amazing podcast, and learning something new each day? We look at your emotional health, are you able to emote? Do you feel your feelings or do you suppress them, escape them, or try to outrun them? And she said, we look also at your social health. What’s your friendship circle like? What are your interpersonal relationships like? And then we look at your spiritual health, which is less about religion and more about how are you feeling? What contributions are you making to the world? Are you doing meaningful work? Have you done meaningful work before you retired? What do you want to do now in terms of volunteering? And she said, this is not, you know, alternative medicine. This is traditional medicine, I am a licensed medical doctor. And this is the diagnostic tool that we use. And she said, if any one of those areas of health is deemed in need of care, it can be anything from you’re not getting enough rest. If you’re just your physical health is deemed off.”
On Identity and Freedom
“…as opposed to just, how can I just fill up my calendar? Do I need to be saying yes to everything? I love that you asked about those two facets of freedom, because I think it goes so well with the debt identity. For so long, our careers are a big part of our identity. For so long, mothering was a big part of my identity. And so I didn’t really have the freedom of identity to just be Christine. I didn’t even know what that looked like. There were some people that didn’t even know my name, I was just Mala’s mom. And so, it really becomes a big part of your identity. And then all of a sudden, you’re retired, you have this time. You don’t have the sort of tethering to some of the titles and responsibilities that came with the work that we did. And you just find yourself almost kind of floating, like, who am I? And so that identity really allows us to think about this life that we’re seeking freedom for. And I feel like this is the first time probably since I was a young woman, that I belong to myself. A lot of the beliefs, behaviors, and identities that we know aren’t serving us anymore.”
On Overcoming Fear
“There’s, there’s fear that is there.Usually like what’s at the crux of it is fear, you know, and I talked to folks that are decluttering their homes for the first time and letting go of things for the first time. There’s a very real fear of: What if I still need this? What if I let this go and it’s a mistake? When it comes to our identities and beliefs, it’s a very real fear. How are people going to perceive me when I’m no longer the person who is so helpful? And it was a very painful experience to see how many of the relationships in my life were transactional…and which are genuine connections.”
