Reinvent Yourself

#117: Linda Olson (Accept, Adapt, Innovate)


Listen Later

At age 29, Linda Olson was strapped inside a van that stalled on a railroad track. A train hit the van and she went on to live her very full life as a mother, radiologist, and triple amputee. At 71, she has published her first book, a memoir called  GONE (https://amzn.to/2TQf85q), and is newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.  After the train accident, she says, “I had a choice to make: Do I want to be happy or not?” There were people standing at the end of her hospital bed unable to look her in the eye when she decided “I want to make them happy and so I focused on their mental attitudes.  It worked. They put me in a wheelchair, I went out to the garden and started making lists of what I am going to do when I got back home.” Growing up, Linda’s mother would post a list of her daily required activities on her door and the focus—both then and after the accident-- helped her get through each day feeling accomplished. “I still have the lists [I made that day],” she says. “They got me back into rehab and after four months I walked a mile with my prosthetic legs.” Today she is still pushing the boundaries of her physical abilities. “After 41 years there are new things I have to figure out,” she says, "—like filing my nails with one hand.” Her husband used to do it for her, but just the other day, Linda says she designed a way to do it herself. “It’s about accepting, adapting, innovating. Make a game of it, “ she says. 

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Reinvent YourselfBy Lesley Jane Seymour

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

80 ratings


More shows like Reinvent Yourself

View all
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast by Marc Maron

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

29,233 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,261 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

55,940 Listeners

Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

Huberman Lab

28,321 Listeners

Dear Chelsea by iHeartPodcasts

Dear Chelsea

3,798 Listeners

The Mel Robbins Podcast by Mel Robbins

The Mel Robbins Podcast

20,607 Listeners

Over 50 & Flourishing with Dominique Sachse by Dominique Sachse & Studio71

Over 50 & Flourishing with Dominique Sachse

824 Listeners