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!”
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
#107: Melanie Curtis (From professional skydiver to life coach)
#106: Kathi Sharpe-Ross (A self-starter shares her secrets)
#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)
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 Ken Coleman Show
David Goggins Motivational Speech
Business Dad