Launched in a Los Angeles living room, a growing organization helps high achievers set goals, find purpose in postwork life
“I see it with entrepreneurs who created a business and have a hard time letting go,” said Helen Dennis, who started a support group called Renewment — combining the words “renewal” and “retirement” — 25 years ago for successful women who had trouble imagining the next versions of themselves. The group now includes “teachers, nurses, doctors, several attorneys,” all of them leaning on each other as they learn “how to navigate the next chapter.”
Los Angele Times column by Steve Lopez, July 4 2024
“I have to say it broke my heart, because I saw her diminishing in the eyes of the public … and that would be their last memory of her,” said Helen Dennis, a Los Angeles-based public speaker, columnist and advocate for aging well in work and beyond.
Dennis is co-founder of Project Renewment, which brings professional women together to talk about work and what comes next, and she’s co-author of “Project Renewment: The First Retirement Model for Career Women.” I asked her what advice she would have given Feinstein before her declining health got in the way of her work.
“I think I would have asked her what she thought would be the risks — the gains and losses — of continuing in her role,” Dennis said. “What would she be sacrificing if she left, and what would she be gaining if she stayed?”
The Joy of Being a Woman in Her 70s
New York Times
More Articles
- Remember that there are also positives to getting older
- Finding fresh ways to describe a life stage that’s new to everyone
- Important questions that will help you find your passion
- Maintaining a positive outlook helps in recovery and good health
- Bringing Older Americans Back Into the Fold
- Older and in Power, Unwilling to Remain Unseen
- Men and Women are Having too much Fun to Retire
On Our Book Shelf
Project Renewment: The First Retirement Model for Career Women
Bernice Bratter and Helen Dennis, Scribner, 2008
“Ageless Aging: A Woman’s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan and Lifespan
Maddy Dychwald (Mayo Clinic Press 2024)
“Independence Day: What I Learned about Retirement”
Steve Lopez (Harper Horizon, 2022)
“In the Country of Old”
Susan Abel Lieberman (2023)
Wisdom @ Work
Chip Conley, Currency, 2018
How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations
Marc Freedman, PublicAffairs, 2018.
Don’t Retire: Rewire!
Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners, Alpha, 2018.
“Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age”
Chip Conley (Little Brown Spark, 2024)
The Upside of Aging
Paul Irving, Wiley, 2014.
Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers: A Retirement and Aging Roadmap for Single and Childless Adult
Zeff Geber, Mango, 2018.
The Couples Retirement Puzzle: The 10 Must Have Conversations for an Amazing New Life Together
Roberta K. Taylor and Dorian Mintzer, Lincoln Press, 2014.
Retirement Game-Changers: Strategies for a Healthy, Financially Secure and Fulfilling Long Life
Steve Vernon, 2018
Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Age Bias and How to End it
Tracey Gendron
Getting Good at Getting Older
Laura Geller and Richard Siegel, Behrman House, 2019
Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live
Becca Levy, William Morrow; 2022
This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism
Ashton Applewhite, 2016
“The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul”
Connie Zweig (Parker Street Press, 2021)