Ep 14. Kathy Wood: Living Into Later: Purpose and Possibility Beyond Work

In this episode, I talk with Kathy Wood, a former Relationships Australia leader who resigned just before she turned 70 and is now consciously “living into later” on her own terms.

Kathy shares how a long-planned trip to the UK, becoming a hands-on grandmother, and her love of structure helped her navigate the profound identity shift of leaving a 15–year role without “retiring” from purpose, growth or contribution.

She describes experimenting with new roles and interests – from learning the cello again to volunteering on an ethics helpline and writing her Substack, Purposeful Transitions: Living into Later – while also making room for unstructured days, deeper self‑reflection and an ever‑present awareness of time feeling more finite.

Along the way, Kathy challenges ageist assumptions about women over 50 and over 70, and offers a hopeful, grounded picture of this phase as one of opportunity, adventure and preciousness rather than winding down.

Key topics

• Finishing well: planning her exit after 15 years at Relationships Australia, including part‑time leadership, succession planning and leaving with strong relationships intact.

• Why she says she “resigned, not retired” and how language shapes our expectations and assumptions about life after full‑time work.

• Creating a meaningful “next phase” through grandparenting, volunteering, mentoring and taking up the cello again as a stretch and a joy.

• Learning to live with less structure, noticing discomfort on “empty” days and experimenting with new rhythms rather than recreating work‑style busyness.

• The growing awareness of time as finite in her 70s, and how that fuels both urgency and gratitude for everyday opportunities and relationships.

• Starting her Substack Purposeful Transitions: Living into Later as a space to reflect on inner transitions, purpose, contribution and being a role model for women coming behind her.

Keywords: retirement, life after work, purpose, aging, personal growth, transition, women over 50, life stages, self-knowledge

Guest: Kathy Wood

Kathy on Substack:https://substack.com/@kathywood185085

Kathy’s Blog: https://kathywood185085.substack.com/p/purposefult-transitions-living-into

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-wood-a7a684326/

A message from me:

This episode, alongside Episode 13, is the topic for the Flourish After Fifty Circle in July 2026. Come along and join a group of curious, clever women who are exploring what life after fifty can be for them.

Find out more here: https://www.flourishafterfifty.com.au/flourish-after-fifty-circle

Get in touch: https://www.flourishafterfifty.com.au/contact-us

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