Lynn, a “fit retiree,” as she refers to herself, from Harvey Station, New Brunswick, had such a journey.
“I have an undergraduate degree in Business Administration. Shortly after graduation I went to work for our local telecommunications company. I worked there for 31 years. My last role which I held for 15 years made me responsible for sales and implementation of products into our retail stores.
I have been in a relationship for 21 years with my partner, Mack. He has a grown daughter and we have our beautiful 3 year old Labradoodle, Scarlette, who we do a great job of spoiling. We are very independent people and each have our own home. It is not traditional but works for us💗.
At the age of 50, I started packing on some extra weight, all in all 25 pounds. I traveled for work and the stress overall was crazy. A very high pressured sales job was starting to take its toll. I was not eating healthy, and I was not getting in any physical activity.
I was working too many hours in my job and not looking after myself. I was resentful of the number of hours I felt I had to work and I just could not see a way out. The stress made me neglect myself. The frustration caused my unhappiness which caused me to eat more. I spent all my time complaining about working too much.
At 53, I decided enough was enough and whatever I could get done in 8 hours would suffice and whatever the outcome of that was, I could live with it. In turn I had more time and decided to focus on getting healthy. In the beginning I would lose only to gain it back because I would diet instead of looking at a lifestyle change.
I joined a virtual accountability group that I checked in with daily. We motivated each other to live a healthy lifestyle: good nutrition, water & exercise. We followed the 80/20 rule of eating healthy, watching portion sizes, eating lean meats , low carb and lots of fruits and veggies. Once I started working less hours, exercising and eating healthier, my outlook started to change. In this process I learned that happiness and health are a choice and you do not have to be a victim of your circumstances and I wanted to help others realize the same thing and be healthier.
Prior to retirement in 2017, I was already coaching as a side gig so I just continued on after retirement. The transition was easy because I love coaching and the supportive community that comes with it.
There are daily business activities that are recommended and I set time aside 5 days per week to do them. It is actually harder to work, being “retired” as you can have a tendency to put the things you need to do, off, and do them later as you know you have all day. Now being retired 3.5 years I am learning to get things done in the morning when I am at my best.
While I was afraid to start a new career at my age, as at almost 59 years old I was well above what I believe to be the average age of a coach which is 35. I decided to do it though because I believe people my age need support and encouragement to lead a healthy lifestyle and need to know they can still do anything they want. Age should never limit us. It is great to be in my late 50's and still look forward to trying new things and living a fulfilling life.
I am not the same person I was prior to becoming a coach, just happier, healthier and more active and open to trying new things.
You can follow Lynn’s journey on Instagram @lynn_macpherson26
