What a Difference a Year Makes!

Exactly one year ago, March 27th, 2018, I gave my first presentation under the auspices of my new formed company, Kaleidoscope Consulting. The talk was to launch the Hamilton Council on Aging’s ‘You’re Never Too Old’ campaign.

How well I remember that day and my rattling nerves just prior to the presentation. At that point, I had given too many presentations to count and I loved doing so but, for 25 years, I had done so as a professor at Sheridan College, with the comfort of a whole organization backing me up!

This was my first time going solo and, as I was saying that I was from Kaleidoscope Consulting, the words stuck in my throat. Wow, I was truly on my own, to sink or swim! I was determined to swim and, one year later, I am going strong and the name feels just right when I say it. No more jangly nerves (at least not often!) and no name sticking in my throat!

In some ways, it might have been easy to decide this path wasn’t for me but I know that I am right where I am meant to be at this stage in my life. It is such a gift and privilege to be able to do work that I love and to be able to encourage people to look at things from a different perspective with just a slight shift in the way they view the world.

So, here I am one year later. For those readers who have looked at the Kaleidoscope website, the same interests you see there endure today with two notable additions.

After reading Marc Freedman’s 2018 publication “How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations”, I have a renewed commitment to finding meaningful ways to transition from an age segregated to an age integrated society. Physical integration is a start but does not go far enough; all ages stand to benefit from social integration as well.

Second is my growing interest in social prescriptions. Social prescribing is a growing movement, with innovative models coming out of the United Kingdom, through which family physicians write prescriptions for activities (e.g. walking, dance, fitness classes) that address concerns that are deemed to be primarily non-medical in nature. Please note, however, that these prescriptions may also complement medical interventions. Social prescribing represents a move away from the assumption that medicine is always the answer. It is a change from a physician asking questions such as “What seems to be the matter with you?” to “What matters to you?

My list of interests keeps growing as I continue on my own lifelong learning journey, learning more every day as I keep my both mind and heart open. Be sure to check in with me in another year to see what I have added to my list!