By Heather Emberley
Begin with the end in mind. That’s what Jessica Smithies did in a masterful job of facilitating Shelly Dale’s book launch of Flourishing: A 5 Step Guide to Joy for the Post-Career Woman. That end being a career and all the possibilities awaiting women who retire or plan to retire. A packed house at 2 p.m. at Artspace on Oct. 6 was greeted by a colour co-ordinated author who complemented the décor of blue and yellow sunflowers. Even the cakes were decorated accordingly. And who could resist entering the draw for the writing tools door prize!
With the assistance of her daughter, who solved Wi-Fi connection conundrums, and the support of her husband, I felt we were in good hands to explore the challenges and possibilities of retirement in a safe and welcoming setting.
Workshop presenter, facilitator, retired public health nurse, wife, mother, grandmother and now published author, Shelly Dale realized after a cancer scare that she could help others flourish no matter what their life challenges.
Shelly believes “we can choose joy” and what gave her joy was “to write about flourishing in retirement.” Her definition of flourishing is, “to be positive in all aspects of life.” That positivity and belief in herself motivated her to ignore the advice of a book coach who told her she’d never be published. With the support of sixteen participants in a focus group she received feedback and edited and edited some more.
When asked if she would do anything differently, Shelly said she’d include men pondering retirement and speak more to people in their ‘50’s to help prepare them for life after formal retirement. A new MWG member in the audience offered to pass her book on to financial planners, as he believes it is important to include with discussions about money. Because it’s not just about the money.
Shelly was adamant that her aim in sharing the potential of flourishing was to be practical, informative and to provide a framework of exercises to help those open to thinking ahead to plan ahead. Key to Shelly’s presentation was the importance of changing one’s mindset of “stinking thinking” about preconceived ideas about retirement and joy. By sharing details of her personal journey she touched the hearts of the audience while explaining how in five steps one can give up one’s day job and flourish. I think everyone left Shelly’s book launch ready to flourish.
To learn more, visit www.flourishingmatters.com, e-mail Shelly at or follow her on Instagram.