At age 29, Linda Olson was strapped inside a van that stalled on a railroad track. A train hit the van and she went on to live her very full life as a mother, radiologist, and triple amputee. At 71, she has published her first book, a memoir called GONE (https://amzn.to/2TQf85q), and is newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. After the train accident, she says, “I had a choice to make: Do I want to be happy or not?” There were people standing at the end of her hospital bed unable to look her in the eye when she decided “I want to make them happy and so I focused on their mental attitudes. It worked. They put me in a wheelchair, I went out to the garden and started making lists of what I am going to do when I got back home.” Growing up, Linda’s mother would post a list of her daily required activities on her door and the focus—both then and after the accident-- helped her get through each day feeling accomplished. “I still have the lists [I made that day],” she says. “They got me back into rehab and after four months I walked a mile with my prosthetic legs.” Today she is still pushing the boundaries of her physical abilities. “After 41 years there are new things I have to figure out,” she says, "—like filing my nails with one hand.” Her husband used to do it for her, but just the other day, Linda says she designed a way to do it herself. “It’s about accepting, adapting, innovating. Make a game of it, “ she says.
#105: Barbara Waxman (Reinventing the definition of midlife as “Middlescence")
#104: Heidi Diamond (Reinventing your job when your boss is sent to jail)
#103: Jeanne Rosner (From pediatric anesthesiologist to high school teacher)
#102: Candace Freedenberg (Opting back in after opting out)
#101: Mary Lou Heater (Landing her doctorate at age 60)
#100: Celebrating 100 episodes and reinventions
#99: Bonnie Chan Woo (A more purposeful way of shopping)
#98: Cherie Buziak (Reinventing for motherhood)
#97: Diane Bruno (From speech writing to funeral directing)
#96: Shai Littlejohn (From lawyer, to musician, and back)
#95: Marla Ginsburg (Reinventing after losing everything)
#94: Ariane Daguin (Reinventing because your brother got the family biz)
#93: Tanya Ezekiel (From Wall Street to Uber coach)
#92: Suzanne Steinbaum (Rethinking the way doctors deliver medical care)
#91: Julie Foucht (My history was just programming)
#90: Meg Jordan (Everything is a learning opportunity)
#89: Dr. Cecilia Dintino and Hannah Murray Starobin (How to reinvent during a pandemic)
#88: Amy Giddon (Helping others connect and belong)
#87: Terri Bryant (When a disability forces you to reinvent)
#86: Deborah Jackson (In this new world, where are the opportunities?)
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Reaching your Goals
Insights@work
The Wall Street Skinny
The Cardone Zone
The Ken Coleman Show