Reinvention Revolution

My Own Story

I was in my late 30’s when both of my parents died in quick succession.

This rocked my world because I realized how quickly it could all end.

Obviously I had known this intellectually but somehow when that happened, I got it on a different level - in my bones.

I had been working for a large corporation for years. I was very successful, financially and in what I had achieved. But it wasn’t me.

For years I had been think about reinventing myself. It started as a niggle and it had grown into a knowing, and suddenly I was galvanized into action. I knew I must get on with it.

By that time I also had outgrown my long term relationship, had grown weary of living in downtown Chicago, and because I was ’stuffing’ my true desires and longings, my health was starting to take a major hit.

So, everything was up for grabs.

In one sense, it was terrifying! But in another, it almost made it easier for me, because the choice to reinvent was so suddenly and startlingly clear. I will save the specifics of my ‘big’ reinvention story for another time, but suffice it to say that I ended up reinventing everything in my life.

I became fully engaged with life in such a way that I never would have, had I not chosen to reinvent. My reinvention was one wild ride, with it’s ups and downs, the ’scaries’ and the exhilarations, but for me at least, it was such a coming home to my real self that it was all worth it, by far.

The Story of This Blog

Many years ago, I rode a commuter train to my job in downtown Chicago from the suburbs. I would sit on that train, simultaneously mesmerized and horrified at the faces in my midst: the hollow eyes, the slumped shoulders, the looks of quiet and determined desperation. It was like I was living in some disturbing sci-fi or horror movie. Not all, but most of my companions weren’t alive, certainly not how I knew in my heart that we are all meant to be.

It all started to wear me down, and eventually, of course, it began to dawn on me that I must be ‘one of them’ too! This scared me.

When the train pulled into the station in downtown Chicago and opened it’s doors to disgorge all of us, there was a sudden surge as everyone moved in rapid lockstep out the doors of the train, into the station, and outside. There, we all spilled onto the sidewalk and moved towards our respective steel and glass buildings.

It was as if that mass of humanity suddenly had come alive and we were moving almost as one, toward our programmed destinies. This scared me too, because it felt like we had lost our individual identities.

For those of you who have never had the experience of commuting on mass transit downtown to a massive city, this may seem over-dramatic, to say the least. But, trust me, many people have shared similar experiences with me as part of the basis on which they felt the need to flee, and to reclaim what was authentic and unique about themselves and their lives.

Eventually I moved into the core of the city, where I took a bus, an el train or a subway to work (another story!). But that train experience was forever burned into my soul and my brain.

What, you ask, could this possibly have to do with the Reinvention Revolution? Everything. Because, as I rode that train every day for a year, I committed to myself to do everything I could to help free those bright, individual souls and spirits from the prisons of those anonymous shells, when and if they ever wanted to be freed.

There were only two problems with my commitment to myself, and they were big ones:

• I had to free myself first, and it would be many years before I accomplished that.
• I had no idea how to free myself or anyone else.

Fortunately, we can fast forward this story into present time, and now I know how souls and spirits are freed into their glorious, full, true potential and energy. I know how to reinvent. I know this because from that day forward, I began to reinvent myself and to learn everything I possibly could about the How of reinvention.

And, I subsequently got the training and credentials to be a professional life coach so that I can live my passion, which is my commitment to myself all those years ago, to help others reinvent themselves and their lives.

And, as the old saying goes, if I knew then what I know now, I could have done my own reinvention more quickly, more effectively and more joyfully, for sure. That old ’school of hard knocks’ is a tough one sometimes.

I created the Reinvention Revolution Blog to help you reinvent yourself and your life. So that you can ride happily off into the sunset and live the life of your wildest dreams!

My Misson

As I mentioned, I have had one major, full-blown, all-out reinvention, and since then, several minor ones too (once a reinventer, always a reinventer!).

And I stumbled and blundered my way through my major reinvention without anyone’s help or reassurances, much less a community of support.

This is how my current mission and vision came to be.

It is my commitment to help midlife reinventers navigate the rapids of change. I intend to create a community of support and strategies for midlife reinventers, so they will never have to feel isolated on their journeys of reinvention. And, most importantly, to offer hope, inspiration, and ‘how’, so they can enjoy the journey that is likely to be the most exciting adventure of their lives.

And Now, the Credentials

Lynne Fairchild, MBA, PCC, is a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation. She has had an international professional coaching practice for over ten years, working with coaching clients in the U.S., Canada, Central and South America, Denmark, France, and the U.K. She is an individual and group coach. She has also worked extensively with groups as a facilitator, trainer, and retreat leader.

Prior to establishing her coaching business, she worked for two multi-national banks, First Chicago Corporation (now Chase) and Bank of America. She had positions as VP Relationship Manager in Global Banking (financing companies and large corporate real estate projects) and VP Head of Corporate Training and Development.

Post-reinvention, she now lives in rural Northern Illinois, on five beautiful, magical acres, with her husband and two dogs. She operates her international coaching practice from her home office.