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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#147 Using a Fragrance Business to Fund New Treatments for Depression (Audrey Gruss)
#146 Embracing the Humility of Starting Something New (Kristin van Ogtrop)
#145 Finding a Way to Marry Life-Coaching and Interior Design (Carrie Leskowitz)
#144 Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder atAge 31 (Sarah Nannery)
#143 From PR to Tony-Nominated Broadway Producer (Robin Gorman)
#142 From Acting to Making Wishes Come True (Alexa Fischer)
#141 Sometimes You Have to Make Sacrifices to Start a New Dream (Tammi Leader Fuller)
#140 The Power of Uber-Positive Thinking (Ashley Miles)
#139 Going from Invisible to Visible When Taking Over the Family Business (Azra Khalfan-Kermali)
#138 From Women’s Rights to Animal Rights (Tharaka Sriram)
#137 Finding a Lucrative Hole in the Dying Journalism Market (Tharaka Sriram)
#136 Grabbing Coffee with Strangers on LinkedIn ‘till She Found Her Bliss (Kate Isler)
#135 Using Generosity and Altruism to Transform the World’s Health (Danielle Butin)
134 Reinventing the Way the World Thinks About Imperfect (Emily Rapp Black)
#133 When Trying CBD is Your Aha Moment (Kerrigan Behrens)
#132 It Gets Greater Later (Bevy Smith)
#131 Breaking Down So You Can Break Through (Laila Tarraf)
#130 When Getting Laid Off is the Biggest Shock of Your Life (Linda Fears)
#129 If it’s a Passion, then Just Do It (Jennifer Degenhardt)
#128 From Lawyer to Walking Guru (Joyce Shulman)
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