High Five For New Adventures
Ziplining in Costa Rica 2013 (Above Photo)
Following a rewarding 25-year career at Sheridan College, in the fall of 2017, I made the decision to leave Sheridan to explore new adventures. It isn’t easy to leave a place you love and people with whom you love to work but I firmly believe it is important to know when it is time to make a change. So…....in the end, I took a deep breath, a leap of faith and decided to open myself up to exploring new opportunities.
What did I know for sure? Whatever my ‘next’ held, it had to allow me the freedom to pursue many of the same interests in the field of aging that I championed at Sheridan and to seek out some new ones too. Less than a week after leaving Sheridan I had registered my new consulting company, Kaleidoscope Consulting. My tag line is ‘changing the way we view aging’. I am so comfortable and happy with this decision and the name fits for me. I love the imagery of kaleidoscope patterns and the realization that, with a slight shift in focus, we have the power to change the way we see the world.
What is it, then, that fuels my passion? Population aging is a global phenomenon and a defining characteristic of the times in which we live. Longevity is a gift of these times and the extraordinary opportunity presented by this gift lies in seeking ways to bring meaning to these extra years.
My passion, then, is creating opportunities for older adults to continue to be engaged in their families, neighbourhoods and communities and to work with the not-for-profit, business and corporate sectors to help them to respond to an aging population in new and distinctive ways. Nothing excites me more than encouraging others to think about the way they view aging!
Through this blog, I hope to inspire conversation about many aspects of aging but you can expect posts about the arts and aging, health and well-being, innovative housing solutions, the business of aging, social inclusion and entrepreneurship! Please contact me with ideas of what you like to read here. Invited guest blogs will also be considered.