BarbaraSher.com

Good memory, irminator. As expected I got busier than ever the first year or so - produced (with help from my friends) the Survival Guide for Dreamers which sends a short message to your inbox every morning for a year. (Lots of it is about Resistance, which was something I wanted very much to do.) It's been surprisingly popular, and people really love it. I'm very proud of it. (You can find it over at Barbarasclub.com) And, of course, I'm always interacting with the WriteSpeakers to help them turn out their books, with wonderful success! Of course, I can't keep away from the discussions in Hanging Out With Barbara Sher and the wonderful conversations in all the book clubs as people slow down, do the exercises and discover more about who they are and where they want to go than ever before. These are just fascinating.

But at the end of that first year of 'retirement,' I had some surprisingly heavy health problems thrown at me and really had to stop doing much. Broke vertabrae in my back 4 different times - for no discernable reason, and had a serious gall bladder infection that almost did me in.

I've recovered nicely but all those ambulances and hospital stays interrupted my more creative enterprises. I had to lay on my side for hours and hours every day for almost a whole year. Binge-watched a number of barely tolerable youtube shows. I confronted boredom for almost the first time in my life, and it was just awful.

Physically, I had to limit myself. I stopped training coaches or running retreats. And I stopped traveling much, so I didn't do many speaking engagements - which I really missed. (I loved running those short workshops with the Idea Parties at the end!) It has become so strange to have all that time on my hands! I guess that's what people experience when they retire, I guess.

I did a lot of reading, but it's not my style to just take things in. I like to turn things out, too. I love to learn, but I also love to make things, and invent and create things, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels this way. So I've been wondering how many people have run into that problem, especially later in life.

To my surprise, I actually feel satisfied that I did the work I really wanted to do in my life most. And I'm very happy that I've trained so many talented people to carry on that work. But I'm not sure what kind of thing I want to do next. I'm still working on answers. I'd love to be driven by something new for sure. Maybe it's time to start a discussion on this subject. What do you think?

So sorry to find out about your health problems, Barbara. I hope you have healed.

Was there anything about this experience that might inspire a new endeavor? Having been handed this big bag of lemons, is there a batch of lemonade in the works?

I just found this board recently and noticed you retired four years ago. Congratulations! Now my next question is who is taking over for what you were doing?

Matthew Pearl, my editor, is working with Patty on most of the projects. He's now starting the WriteSpeak program in Germany where he lives. They're both doing a smashing job, and I get involved in the telephone workshops for WriteSpeak once a year, and work on the newsletters.

Barbara, I just hope you're okay. I read on this board that you retired for health reasons. It makes me feel like crying Please take care of yourself, Barbara. Mike

PS: If s genie came to me to grant me one wish this moment, I would wish that you would check out Dr Al Sears in Florida. I suspect he is in the forefront of anti-aging medicine.