When Ann Dowsett Johnston attended her son’s graduation from Smith College she felt a “deep pang” that she says sounded like, “I will die and never have done this.” With her son’s encouragement, Johnston applied to Smith and moved into the student dorm with 25-year olds the next year. “I had broken my ankle and was in a wheelchair,” she says. “I was as old as many parents or grandparents. It was a phenomenal experience.” After graduating Johnston, a Canadian, who had been a journalist, then vice-principal of McGill University, launched her career as a psychotherapist at age 67 dealing with women in transition--”to post-retirement, wrestling with substance abuse or career disappointment”. When she found she missed writing, she dug into a topic she knew well: alcohol addiction (she is now 13 years sober). In 2013, she wrote the best-selling book, “Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol.” Today she runs memoir-writing workshops (“Writing Your Recovery”) in which she encourages women to tell their own stories of triumph over grief, substance, or burnout. “We have book proposals in the alumni group before international agents now,...articles in major magazines... pieces submitted to contests,” she says. “My approach to life is that we live in chapters. When friends are retiring, mine is fresh and inspirational. It’s very new. I plan to work until I’m eighty to pay off my student debt!”
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#207 My Reinvention Took Me from Poverty to the White House (Rebecca Contreras)
#207 From Bartender to Social Media Maven (Stacey Birch)
#205 Reinvent Your Approach to Self Promotion In The Digital Age (Alice Draper)
#204 The Near-Death Experience That Forced My Reinvention (Geralyn Ritter)
#203 When a Health Crisis Becomes a Transformative Journey (Elena Sonnino)
#202 When Your Personal Reinvention Leads to Groundbreaking Change for Autism (Dr. Joan Fallon)
#201 Reinventing Your Mindset About Aging (Judy Katz)
#200 When Your Reinvention Leads You to Run for Political Office (But You Lose) (Claire Campos-O’Neal)
#199 Using Reinvention to Navigate Grief (Katty Douraghy)
#198 Reinventing Your Time Management Skills (Ashley Whillans)
#197 Reinventing Your Career Mindset After Decades in One Industry (Jackie MacDougall)
#196 Walking Away from the Golden Handcuffs that are Literally Killing You (Monica Froese)
#195 Reframing Your Career (After Burnout) to Make it New Again (Stephanie Smirnov)
#194 Reinventing Because You Can’t Walk Away from the Paycheck (Heather Frimmer)
#193 When You Don’t Fit Into the Corporate Box Because You Are Multi-Passionate (Sarabeth Berk)
#192 Ditching the Financial Security of the Legal World to Fight for Women’s Equality (Taina Bien-Aime)
#191 Reaching the Pinnacle of Corporate Success and Walking Away (Traci Schubert Barrett)
#190 How to Make Big, Bold Reinvention – Without Regrets (Diann Wingert)
#189 How to Cultivate Reinvention Support Systems – and Ditch the Nay-Sayers (Elizabeth Rosenberg)
#188 From Technical Writer for Railroads to Stand-Up Comic (Jennifer Turbo)
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